3 Simple Afternoon Tea Treats

3 Simple Afternoon Tea Treats

Who doesn’t love a good afternoon tea?!
While the crazy lockdown world continues - we have just celebrated my Nan’s Birthday!! 🥳 It’s such as shame that were not allowed to go out and celebrate properly - I would have lived to take her out for a proper afternoon tea at one of the little cafes not far from where we live or out to one of our favourite restaurants, but it is what it is! I love making an extra effort, spoiling those I love and making them feel special so as per usual I threw everything at making sure she had a good day!
I put together this ‘high afternoon tea’ which we enjoyed in the sunshine on a lovely May afternoon. With tea, bubbles, sandwhiches (egg and onion, cheese and cucumber and salmon with cream cheese) , a large strawberries and cream birthday cake, mini chocolate choux eclairs and of course scones with jam and clotted cream!!! Cream on first, controversial!!!
To add to the spread and to give as much variety as possible I also made, these three extra treats - great little finger food ideas for any tea party!


Coffee & Walnut Sandwiches
I made these at the same time as the lemon drizzle below as I only wanted a small mixture and was surprised how many came out!

For the cake:
- 1/2 of a regular 4,4,4,2 cake batter
- 2 tsps coffee shot
- crushes walnut pieces
For the Buttercream:
- 5 tsps coffee shot
- 25g butter (softened)
- 50g icing sugar

I made these in cupcake cases, which I removed as soon as they were out of the oven after about 12 minutes baking. Once cooled, simply cut the cakes in half with a sharp knife, fill with a layer of cream and inverted so the slightly larger top piece gave a more stable base.

Adding the crushed walnuts gives a lovely crunchy texture to the cakes and the amount of coffee you add is completely dependent on how strong you’d like it - I didn’t want to make them too overpowering as I know my mums not a fan. Great excuse for keep having to test the mixture too!!!



Lemon Drizzle Fingers
One of my Nan’s  favourites and an all time classic! Fair to say no tea party is complete with it!! Again this was made from half the separated batter but cooked in a lines baking tray to give a rectangular sponge which I cut into thin finger food portions.

For the cake:
- 1/2 of a regular 4,4,4,2 cake batter
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
For the drizzle:
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- caster sugar (to taste - you’re aiming for a sweet but lemony taste and a slightly gradually texture)

I always make sure to leave the drizzle til about 20 mins before serving - while it needs time to soak in you want it to be fresh and not too soggy and want to keep some of the sugar crystals as a topping



G&T Chocolate Cups
Everyone loves a G&T right!! I’d never tried taking this flavour combo to any baking or cooking so was experimenting and a bit out of my depth when I made these. The cups are an regaular buttery biscuit base - moulded into a cupcake tin and left to set in the fridge overnight.
The filling was a milk chocolate ganache with a couple extra ingredients for a fresh but boozy taste - love how grown up and sophisticated a dash of alcohol makes a sweet treat!!

For the Cups (approx):
150g crushed digestives
90g melted nutter
1 tbsp golden syrup
For the Filling:
150ml double cream
80g milk chocolate
2 shots of gin
1/3 individual can of tonic mixer
1 tsp lime juice

Decorated with lime zest for a splash of colour, these are a great bit of variety to any tea party, are perfect for a sweet treat or can be made into a larger sharing dessert!