Royal Wedding Tea Party

"Let us have a sip of tea. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things." 

Okakura Kakuzo, Book of Tea

 Oh how I wish I could be in London right now!  It would be a fairytale dream come true to have the opportunity to live in England for a year. To roam the country side, play in the cities, and explore the culture... Oh, and of course, all the afternoon tea a girl could ever dream of!  Nothing is more exciting than the hustle and bustle going on in London right now during the Royal Wedding Festivities.  Since I can't be there, I decided to do a little tribute to the Royal event and do a small tea party with our Royal Albert china.

For those of you who don't know what Royal Albert China is, it is one of the world's most popular tableware.  This tableware was inspired by an English country garden and is the epitome of the English floral style.  The Royal Albert Old Country Rose set is the china set that I grew up with and have displayed today.

In honor of the Royal Wedding I just had to have a celebration Tea, I wanted to display a traditional style tea and make a British scone smothered in Devonshire Cream (American Style for lack of proper cream) and beautifully topped with lemon curd.  I added English tea sandwiches which are reminiscent of those I have had in England with their wonderful English Cheddar, incorporated in a creation of my own.  Since you simply can’t have a traditional English tea without the sweet, I decided to go to a local bakery Dippidee where I picked up a white chocolate caramel mini cake, as our Royal Cake in honor of the Wedding, lemon and shortbread cookies for the traditional afternoon tea.

"Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use excercise, and will not use abstinence."

Samuel Johnson (1709-84) Afternoon tea by: Jane Pettigrew

 Basic British Scone

Ingredients:

- 2 Cups all-purpose flour

- 1 t. cream of tartar

- 1/2 t. baking soda

- 1 pinch salt

- 1/4 c. margarine

- 1/8 cup white sugar

- 1/2 cup milk

- 2 T. Milk

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Sift the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt into a bowl.
3. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and enough milk to mix to a soft dough.
4. Turn onto a floured surface, knead lightly and roll out to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut into 2-inch rounds and place on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with milk to glaze.
5. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 10 minutes then cool on a wire rack. Serve with butter or clotted cream and jam

Devonshire Cream

(This is just how my family makes it, because we can't get Devonshire Cream in the states this is the best 

we can do!)

Ingredients:

- 2 C. Heavy Whipping Cream

- 2 T. Sugar

- 1 t. Vanilla

- 1/2 package of Cream Cheese at room temperature.

In your kitchen aid put the 2 cups of cream on high until it becomes soft peaks.  Next, add cream cheese in chunks slowly at a time letting it incorporate into the cream mixture.  Mix until the cream is thick almost a buttery consistency.  Next add sugar and vanilla on low speed for a minute and then serve!

English Cheddar Tea Sandwich


Ingredients:


- 2 slices of English Cheddar cheese
- 4 slices of cucumber
- 1 t. Fig and Ginger Jam (or Plum or Cherry)
- 2 slices of white bread
(Per sandwich)


To start cut off all the crust to make an even square (you can also use a cookie cutter.) Next spread some Fig and Ginger jam on one side, then cover with cheese and cucumber.  Cut diagonally and serve!


I hope you enjoyed my little tribute to the Royal Wedding this week, stayed tuned for my next blog post from when I was in California and had High Tea at Paris in a Cup!