6 great afternoon tea recipes. ( You need a day off)
Lemon Drizzle Cake
Mention Lemon drizzle cake and you will either get a joyful response or you will be told where to stick it. But for some reason the universal love of cake will force the nay-sayer into having a small slice and they will like it as much as the lemon cake lover.
Here is a great lemon cake recipe for you to try.
You will need…
250g unsalted butter
250g caster sugar
4 eggs
zest and juice of one lemon
250g self raising flour
juice of three lemons
85g caster sugar
Combine your very soft butter with the sugar and mix until its well incorporated and light and fluffy. Add your eggs one at a time, with a portion of flour with each one and then finally incorporate the lemon juice and zest.
Spoon your batter into a greased loaf or round cake tin, and bake for 35-45 minutes in the middle of the oven. While it’s baking make the lemon drizzle glaze!
Combine your lemon juice with the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Once your cake it out of the oven and almost completely cool, poke a few holes in it gently using a fork and then brush over the lemon drizzle glaze and let it soak in.
Chocolate cake
There are hundreds of chocolate cakes and there is a reason for that. They are blooming great. Despite being the enemy of the waist we estimate 1.36 million are eaten in the Alps alone each season.
Try this simple Chocolate cake recipe that we found.
You will need…
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
Instructions
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the
bowl and mix until combined.
In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 350, until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Cookies
The best cooki recipe that I ever found was on the side of a French cookie recipe. I have since lost it and then found it. It is currently lost again. So here is the second best cookie recipe I have ever found. Thanks Nigella.
You will need…
100 grams butter
140 grams brown sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup (or golden syrup)
1 egg (straight out of the fridge)
200 grams plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
½ vanilla pod (seeds only, or 1 packet of vanilla sugar)
200 grams white chocolate (chips or finely chopped)
Method
In a bowl over a pan of simmering water melt the butter, brown sugar and syrup. In another bowl mix the flour, salt, vanilla and baking powder. Beat the egg into the butter mixture, followed by the flour mix. Cool in the fridge for an hour while the oven preheats to 175°C. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.
Into the cooled dough mix the chocolate chips. With gloved hands shape walnut-sized balls out of the dough, place them on the baking sheets and flatten them slightly. Be careful to leave space between them, about an inch or 3 cm should be enough.
Bake for 12-15 min. They should look done but still be soft. Don’t place the baking sheet too high in the oven, or the white chocolate might catch. A bit of caramelization is expected and desired but burned chocolate isn’t a nice thing.
After taking the cookies out of the oven, leave them on the baking sheet for 2 min, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Millionaire shortbread
Shortbread, caramel and chocolate, what is not to like. Also you get to pretend you are eating something that only rich people can afford to eat. It is the L’Oreal of afternoon tea, because you are worth it.
Have a go at making it yourself, you cheapskate.
Shortbread Ingredients:
125g (5oz) butter (at room temperature)
50g (2oz) caster sugar
175g (7oz plain flour)
Topping Ingredients:
400g condensed milk
50g (2oz) butter
50g (2oz) soft brown sugar
150g (6oz) chocolate
Mix the butter and sugar together
Add the flour and mix to form a dough
Press the dough into a baking tin (approx 23cm square)
Bake at 190°C (Gas mark 5) for 20 minutes
Leave to cool
Meanwhile make the topping:
Pour the condensed milk into a pan and add butter and sugar
Boil gently for 5 minutes stirring continuouslyuntil it forms a caramel consistency
Pour the topping over the shortbread and place in the fridge to set
Once set, melt the chocolate either in the microwave (on full power for approx 60 secs) or place chocolate in a heatproof bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water. Pour melted chocolate over the topping
Place it in the fridge or a cool place and leave it to set
Cut into squares and serve
Ginger Bread Men
They taste great but they also act as a secret voodoo doll. Who are you thinking of as you bite the head of, or snap the arms. What no one? It is just me? Opps. In years to come this will be quoted back to me in a court of law.
Make your own ginger bread voodoo doll.
350g plain flour
175g soft brown sugar
100g butter or margarine
1 egg
1 ½ tsp ginger
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Vanilla essence
4 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4
Put the flour, butter, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda in a mixing bowl. Mix it all together with fingertips until crumbly. Add sugar, syrup and egg and mix until it forms a firm pastry mix.
Using the rolling pin, roll out the pastry to about 5mm thick. Make sure the surface and the rolling pin are well dusted with flour. Cut out the shapes with a knife and/or pastry cutter
Place the cut out pastry on a greased or non-stick baking tray, each 2cm apart to allow for them spreading out.
Put the baking trays in the pre-heated oven. Remove after 10 minutes (check after 8 minutes).
Fruit Muffins
All I am going to say is – Part of your five a day.
Make some for your health kick this recipe comes from weightwatcher too!
2 spray(s) cooking spray
1 cup(s) whole wheat flour
2/3 cup(s) uncooked wheat bran
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup(s) regular butter, softened
2/3 cup(s) unpacked light brown sugar, or turbindo sugar
1 large egg(s)
1 cup(s) buttermilk
1 cup(s) raisins, chopped
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat a 12-hole muffin tin with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, wheat bran, salt, baking soda and cinnamon; set aside.
Using an electric mixer, in a large bowl, cream butter with sugar until sugar is dissolved; add egg and beat thoroughly. Add 1/3 of bran mixture and 1/3 cup of buttermilk; mix until just combined. Repeat, alternating, with remaining bran mixture and buttermilk; fold in raisins.
Fill each prepared muffin hole about 2/3’s full with batter; place in middle of oven. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm or cooled. Yields 1 muffin per serving.
