Afternoon Tea
Jam Jamboree – Pimp My Jam
This week it’s the JamJamboree, a celebration of all things fruity and jammy that comes in a jar!
Blueberry & Vanilla Battenberg
A Battenberg with a subtle nod to the Jubilee – Battenberg goes red, white and blue!
Ingredients:
200g butter, softened
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
200g self-raising flour
90g blueberries
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or the seeds scraped from one vanilla bean pod.
Carrot Cake
A traditional cake but still one of my favourites, it’s good for feeding the masses too!
Ingredients:
225ml sunflower oil
3 eggs, large
120g golden syrup
150g soft light brown sugar
240g self-raising flour
1½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice (if you don’t have allspice you can just leave it out!)
Chocolate Orange Cake
This is a really unassuming cake, looks like nothing but tastes amazing.
It’s not often my boys ask me to make something in particular but the other half will beg for this cake. I see some bribery tactics up my sleeve….
Chocolate Frosted Traybake
Super quick, make it faster than you can say Jack Robinson, no mixer required chocolate traybake. Tastes blooming lovely which is a shame – I promise it will be gone in next to no time too!
I suppose this is a strange one for me to be posting, I’ll hold my hands up, it’s not my recipe, it’s an old American classic that I converted many moons ago.
Day 7 – Pastry Spoons
On the seventh day of Christmas The Pink Whisk sent to me…..Pastry Spoons.
These make perfect canapes for your dinner parties or posh do’s – well I think they are, if I was a posh girl hosting a score of parties then this is what I’d go for.
Day 4 – Parmesan and Poppy Seed Crackers
On the fourth day of Christmas The Pink Whisk sent to me…..Parmesan and Poppy Seed Crackers – perfect for your cheeseboard!
Makes 24 thick crackers.
Ingredients:
300g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp onion salt
115g butter
2 tbsps vegetable/sunflower oil
2 tbsps poppy seeds
130ml water
30g parmesan cheese
Begin by adding the flour, baking powder, sugar and onion salt to the bowl of a food processor.
Toffee Apple Tart
So to kick off The Pink Whisk October Challenge here’s my apple recipe for Toffee Apple Tart.
Ingredients:
Pastry
150g plain flour
65g butter, cold
25g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
enough water to combine (2 -3 tablespoons)
Filling
70g fresh breadcrumbs (about 2 slices of fresh bread, blitzed)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2-3 large apples
(unpeeled my apples weigh about 550g, you will need enough apple that when peeled, cored and diced will cover the top of your tart case.
Afternoon Tea – Eclairs – Two ways! Vanilla Choc & Coffee
Now I’ve done the Choux pastry how to (here) lets see what we can do with them.
Vanilla Chocolate and Coffee Eclairs
Before I give you the low down on the eclairs I thought I’d share a couple of my other tea party essentials.
How to make Choux Pastry
Choux pastry is a really versatile pastry to have up your sleeve, it gives some people grief so I thought I’d do a quick how to before using it in a recipe.
Traditionally used for profiteroles, choux pastry can also be made into a great variety of lovely things, eclairs and gougere included!
