High Coffee is the New High Tea??

This week has been rather hectic for me and I'm exhausted! So today I leave you with a news piece on a 'High Coffee' in Sydney, Australia. Personally, I feel like I need a coffee right now! It sounds intriguing, but I'm not sure that it will become as popular High Tea. I guess we'll see if it catches on...

http://au.totaltravel.yahoo.com/news-opinions/news/a/-/14077867/high-coffee-is-the-new-high-tea/

Have a fabulous weekend.

H xo

Chocolate Caramel Tartlets

Lately I have found myself slightly more obsessed with high tea than usual, to the extent that I’ve been requesting high tea recipe books from the library to read. This has been a dangerous move as I’ve spent lots of time (when I should be doing other things) pouring over the pages and marking recipes that I want to try. I find a huge conflict in myself in how much I enjoy making/eating sweet foods and how much I also value healthy eating and a balanced lifestyle with exercise. Everything in moderation I suppose. So in saying that, I want to share my favourite recipe that I’ve found so far – Chocolate Caramel Tartlets. They are so cute and yummy (and tiny so you don’t need to worry about your waistline unless you eat 10 in one sitting). I really need to find some ‘healthy’ high tea recipes (if there is such a thing)…

 Chocolate Caramel Tartlets

Ingredients:
Tart cases
110g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
125g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence

Caramel filling
1/2 a 395g tin sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
80g butter
2 tblsp golden syrup

Chocolate topping
100g dark chocolate (I used 70% cocoa)
15g butter

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Grease two 12-hole mini muffin tins.
2. For the cases, mix all of the dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Add melted butter and vanilla essence, mix until combined. Press firmly into tins to cover the bases and sides. (NB. The recipe I used suggested that the base mix would make double the tart cases to what I made, so I guess it depends how thinly you can spread the base. I quite like a thicker base because it means the tart isn't so sweet with so much caramel. If you do make more cases you will need to increase the amount of caramel filling and chocolate topping that you make).
3. Bake the tart cases for 12 minutes, or until light golden and crisp. Every oven is different, so keep an eye on them.
4. To make the caramel filling, mix all of the filling ingredients in a saucepan over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes or until the mixture darkens - make sure you are stirring it constantly so it doesn't catch on the bottom of your saucepan.
5. Spoon the filling into the tartlet cases straightaway and bake for 5-8 minutes until caramel is bubbling around the edges.
6. Allow to cool for 10 minutes  and then transfer to a wire rack to cool. If you have greased the tins they should come out easily enough - I just turned the tins upside down and tapped the bottom of the tin.



Tartlets after the caramel filling has been baked.




7. For the topping, break the chocolate up into small pieces into a microwave safe bowl and add butter. Melt in microwave for 30 second bursts on medium, stirring in-between, until chocolate has mostly melted. Continue stirring until topping is smooth. Using a teaspoon, spoon each tart with enough topping to cover the top of the tart. Leave to set.

Makes 24. Apparently they're meant to keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks, but mine haven't lasted that long...

Recipe adapted from High Tea: Recipes with a Sense of Occasion.

Sponge Cake (Mis)adventures

A couple of weeks ago I had a complete sponge fail from a recipe that I had followed perfectly. (Well, at least I believe that I did). The sponge cake came out chewy, and as you can imagine, chewy sponge cake is not particularly pleasant. Not quite sure how I managed that, but at this stage I’m still blaming the recipe! A proper high tea is incomplete without a good sponge so I was slightly distressed over my inability to make one. My Nana, having tried some of this sponge offered to send down my other Nana’s (now deceased) recipe for never fail sponge. My Mum often talks about how my other Nana was one of the best sponge makers she knows, so I was ready to test my skills to discover if it really was a recipe fail or if I just can’t make a good sponge…

Sponge cake - looks can be deceiving...

I was given the opportunity to make a sponge cake for a friend’s birthday, and jumped at the opportunity to try my new recipe. I pulled out the Kenwood Mixer and measured everything exactly according to my Nana’s recipe. I even sifted the dry ingredients 3 times! Everything seemed absolutely perfect, and I poured the mixture into the two separate 8-inch cake tins and then made sure I was close by to watch them bake. On pulling the sponges out of the oven, everything appeared to be fine and the sponge had risen beautifully.

I put cream and homemade strawberry jam in the middle of the sponge and sprinkled icing sugar on the top. By all appearances it seemed that this would be my sponge success story. I nervously watched as the sponge cake was cut and served, observing that it was sponge-like in appearance (always a good thing!).

Now I don’t like making cakes for this very reason – you can’t really sample a slice before you take it out with you. So you just have to hope that you got it right. Well, I wouldn’t call this sponge cake a complete fail, but I was a little disappointed in the texture. It seemed a little dry to me, and I can honestly see why people usually just buy sponge cake. But that said, it had a good sponge cake flavour and my friend was very appreciative of my efforts. I will not let this experience deter me, practice makes perfect as they say. Next time I will adjust the cooking time to see if this makes a difference.

And if you have any sponge cake making advice please send it my way!

High Tea Deal at the Heritage Hotel - Today Only

Grabone deal - get in quick.

http://www.grabone.co.nz/auckland/heritage-auckland-7?utm_source=GrabOne+Auckland&utm_campaign=ET_24388_nz-main_auckland_20120621&utm_medium=email

High Tea Overseas

A link to a high tea review in London at The Goring Hotel. It sounds fabulous! I have a dream to travel the world one day when I finally finish studying. Not long now...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10813759

Parnells on the Rose Garden

Date of Visit: 16 June 2012
Location: Parnells on the Rose Garden, 85 Gladstone Road, Parnell
Website: http://www.parnells.co.nz/index.php?page=high-teas
Cost: $35 pp


High tea at Parnells on the Rose Garden is lovely – I can’t think of a better word to describe it. The day was one of those crisp and clear winter days – some of my favourite winter days. The large windows overlook the gardens and the gas heater kept everyone warm and toasty inside.

I came here with my Mum after I found a voucher on ‘Grab One’ last month. I haven’t heard of high tea being offered here before so wonder if it is a new thing? I made a reservation a week and a half in advance, and the date I originally wanted was fully booked. This is probably because everyone was using their vouchers before they expire in July… Regardless, it was a full house when we arrived.


There was a selection of six teas on offer, all loose leaf and served in individual teapots with extra hot water on the side. I had the strawberry and cream tea which lived up to its name. It was a nice tea, though I don’t think that I would choose it again. My Mum had the Breakfast tea which she said was fine.

Everything was served in matching rose patterned bone china. There were also vases of roses around the restaurant and one in the bathrooms – it’s amazing how a vase of flowers can really lift a room. My only real gripe was the size of the table – it was a square table and hardly felt big enough to hold everything on it, everything felt a little cramped.

The food was really quite good. Parnells on the Rose Garden excelled in their savoury selection. I would go as far to say that this was the best savoury selection I’ve had at a high tea. There were three delicious sandwiches, but also a mini quiche, a spinach and feta roll and a salmon choice. The spinach and feta roll was a bit unusual (I haven’t seen the popular spinach and feta combo presented in this way before) but really yummy. I was really impressed. Their sweet selection was good, though nothing amazing. The fruit tart was quite tasty. The unusual thing that I noticed was that instead of the usual two scones, there was a date scone and a mini chocolate muffin. Wasn’t so keen on the muffin, a plain scone may have been a better complement. Also new to my high tea experience was the rum baba. Luckily I had Mum with me to explain what it is, it’s basically a yeast cake soaked in rum (check out this Wikipedia link if you’re curious).

The food however, is only one part of the experience. The service here impressed me. They were a little slow at first (I wondered at one point if we'd been forgotten?), but there were a lot of people arriving at once. Once they got into their flow, they were attentive and friendly. There was only one incident that reflected badly on the experience. When the high tea plates were brought out, Mum noticed a hair on one of the rum babas, which the waiter straightaway took away and replaced it (as he should). He was very apologetic and dealt with it in a highly professional manner.

Really enjoyed this high tea. As usual, it is the setting that really makes a high tea, and this restaurant really has it made when it comes to this. It’s difficult to describe, but the atmosphere felt how a high tea should – that touch of elegance and tradition mixed with a welcoming familiarity. On a side note, the venue also does weddings and conferences. When you come here, make sure you book in ahead and request a window seat, which is away from the bathrooms. Make sure you have enough time to go for a stroll in the Rose Gardens afterwards, especially if the weather is as good as it was when we went.


Service: 3.5/5
Food: 4/5
Tea: 4/5
Atmosphere/Ambiance:  5/5
Layout (of restaurant): 4/5
Setup (of table):  3/5


Overall: 4/5

NZ's Hottest Home Baker

I've never really watched NZ's Hottest Home Baker before, but happened to switch the TV on tonight and their challenge was to make a full high tea in five hours. Some great ideas for some high tea goodies!

Check out the latest episode here:
http://www.tv3.co.nz/Shows/NZsHottestHomeBaker.aspx

Heading out to High Tea on Saturday, stay tuned for the review.

H xo

Appreciating the Small Things

My family are predominantly coffee drinkers. To be honest, I've always been more of a social coffee drinker, tea or chai lattes are my preference. We have family gatherings on Sundays for lunch, and these always end with coffee. This week I decided to brew a pot of tea instead. So I pulled out the teapot, a teacup and saucer and the milk jug and served it all up, much to my family's amusement. I don't know what you can attribute this too, but I do believe that the tea actually tasted better out of a teacup than it does out of a mug! My family weren't convinced, and I don't think I'm converting them to drinking out of teacups anytime too soon.

However, I think sometimes in life it's important to take pleasure out of the little things, and that includes drinking tea out of teacups (if that is your desire). If there's one thing that I'm continually learning, it is that we can never take things for granted. Life is too precious, in one moment, everything can change.

So with that in mind, check out this link to a cafe in Blenheim that serves tea in china cups! Love!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/7056547/Tea-must-come-in-a-china-cup

Have a fabulous week appreciating the small things!

H xo

A Cup of Tea...

What is high tea without a good cup of tea? A good cup of tea really does make everything better. So with that in consideration, I want to tell you about my new favourite tea – Dilmah Vanilla Ceylon Tea. The aromatic tea has a delightful light and smooth flavour, with a hint of vanilla. I take mine with milk, making it slightly creamy though I imagine it would also taste good black.

Dilmah Vanilla Ceylon Tea is also ethically grown and produced, so really, what more could you ask for in a tea?

I’ve found it a little hard to track down, tasting it for the first time when staying at a friend’s bach (holiday house). Another friend who has done some work for Dilmah managed to get some for me, but I have now seen it in my local supermarket.

Note: I am in no way affiliated with Dilmah or any other company that does work with Dilmah.

I’m excited to be going to high tea at the Parnell Rose Gardens next weekend, so watch out for that review coming soon…

Gluten Free Red Velvet Cake

I know this is a little unrelated to high tea, but I had to share this gluten free recipe that I found online last week. I had dinner with some friends over the weekend and offered to bring dessert, and was given a joking request for gluten free red velvet cake (my friend is gluten free). Not one to shy away from a baking challenge, I spent a lot of time online searching for a recipe and below is the one that I found that looked the best. My friend was amazed at how good it was (she has previously had some bad gluten free experiences) and I was impressed at how it turned out as it was my first attempt at baking gluten free. I altered the recipe a little due to availability of ingredients and the comments below the original recipe so I’ve included the original link so you can check that out too. The texture is a little different due to being gluten free but it’s moist and tasty and doesn’t take too long to make. A winner I would say. I like to serve a sponge cake when serving high tea so this could be an alternative?

Gluten Free Red Velvet Cake (this was all that was left when I remembered to take a photo)

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups canola oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten


2 1/2 cups gluten free flour mix (I used Orgran Gluten Free all purpose plain flour which is a mix of maize starch/cornflower, tapioca flour and rice flour and the vegetable gum guar. This was just bought from my local supermarket)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk (or 1 tbsp white vinegar and 1 cup milk left for five minutes to stand)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp red food coloring
2 tbsp cocoa

Cream cheese icing:
50g butter, softened
150g icing sugar (this is approximate, I generally just keep adding icing sugar until I get the desired consistency)
125g cream cheese (I like using low fat cream cheese but this makes the icing quite soft)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Cream the oil and sugar with an electric beater. Add one egg at a time while still beating, ensuring that the eggs are well combined with the oil and sugar mixture.
   
3. Sift dry ingredients into a clean bowl.
4. Add dry ingredients to the batter in four parts, alternating with the buttermilk, mixing each part in before adding the next.
5. Mix a paste with the cocoa, red food coloring, and vanilla essence. You may need to add a bit of water to this to make sure that it becomes a paste. Gently stir it into the mixture.
6. Pour the mixture into two cake tins (I used 8-inch cake tins) that have been lined with baking paper and the sides sprayed with non-stick baking spray. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for approximately 25 minutes
7. When the cakes are completely cool, ice with cream cheese icing.

Cream cheese icing: Beat butter and icing sugar together so there are no large lumps of butter remaining. Add cream cheese, beating slowly until combined. Increase speed of electric beater and mix until soft and fluffy. (You can use your favourite cream cheese icing recipe on this cake as long as it's not citrus based.)

Adapted from http://www.glutenfreecookingschool.com/archives/gluten-free-red-velvet-cake/

Bacon, Cheese & Parsley Savouries

Ingredients:
3 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 cups grated cheese
4 rashers rindless streaky bacon, chopped into small pieces
2 eggs
3/4 cup cream
2 tablespoons parsley
Salt and pepper

Bacon, cheese and parsley savouries

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius and spray two tartlet tins with non-stick baking spray.
2. Cut 24 circles out of the pastry (use a cutter that fits your tins) and place into the tray. Sprinkle these with equal amounts of cheese and bacon. (Make sure to not overfill them).
3. Beat eggs, cream, parsley, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Pour into and small jug and fill each tartlet to 3/4 full.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes until puffed and golden. Twist the savouries to loosen them from the tins and cool on a wire rack.
5. Serve warm or reheat later. Apparently they also freeze well but they didn't last long enough at my house to find out...

They were quite rich but delicious! They are also really quick and easy to make.

Recipe taken from It's Easier than You Think by Jo Seagar. (I definitely recommend this recipe book, it has some fantastic recipes).

Custard Fruit Flans

Ingredients:
1 pack of sweet short pastry (you can make it yourself but I prefer to buy it premade - it tastes just as good and is much faster!)

Custard fruit flans (top and middle tier of the cake stand)

Custard Cream
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
1/3 cup cream, whipped

1. Grease two 12-hole mini muffin tins. Roll out half the pastry between sheets of baking paper or on a lightly floured bench. Cut out rounds to fit the mini muffin tins and press into pans. (My Mum always recommends using a small ball of pastry to push it into the tin to avoid stretching or poking holes in the pastry). Repeat with the remaining pastry. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celcius.
3. Bake cases about 12 minutes (different ovens will take different lengths of time, just keep an eye on them). Cool on a wire rack. (I made these the day before I needed them to save some time - store them in an air tight container).
4. Custard cream: Combine milk and extract in a small saucepan; bring to the boil. Meanwhile, beat egg yolks, sugar and cornflour  in a small bowl with an electric mixer until thick. While still beating, gradually beat the hot milk mixture in. Return custard to pan and stir over heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Cover the surface of the custard with Gladwrap and refrigerate for one hour. Fold cream into custard in two batches.
5. Spoon the custard into the pastry cases and top with fresh fruit - raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, kiwifruit, mandarin segments, grapes, etc.

These are really good! The custard cream isn't too heavy and has just the right balance of vanilla and custard flavouring.

This recipe was taken from The Australian Women's Weekly Afternoon Tea recipe book.

Mother's Day High Tea

Wow, I hadn't realised that I hadn't written in this since February!
Mother's Day was a couple of weekends ago and I decided to host a high tea at home for my Mum and Nana. I enlisted the help of my sister, brother and Dad and baked like crazy and pulled off a fabulous afternoon tea (if I may say so myself!).
I spent a fair amount of time planning the menu and finally settled on the following:

Savoury:
Club sandwiches
Asparagus rolls
Bacon, cheese & parsley savouries
Scones

Sweet:
Raspberry cream sponge
Custard fruit flans
Melting moments
Caramel slice

We pulled out all of the fancy china and cake stands and had a lovely afternoon together! I've included my favourite recipes (click the links above).

It has inspired me to be more creative in my baking attempts because it's just so much fun!

I know it's late, but Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers out there. You are amazing!