Prêt a Portea at The Berkeley

Recently for a belated birthday treat that I have wanted to do for aaaages my friends and my mum and I all went out for Afternoon Tea at The Berkely, a gorgeous hotel in Wilton Place, London. Their afternoon tea features couture cakes inspired by the latest season on the catwalks, and you can read more about it here.

When you first enter the hotel, the foyer is gorgeous, not huge but filled with a gorgeous flower display and friendly stage waiting to help you. The Caramel Room where they serve the tea is off to your right and is full of lovely tables with sofas and chairs. To start with the crockery is beautiful (which you can purchase if you want) and your name will be printed on a fuchsia pink shoe to show you to your table.

Some of the delicious varieties of tea on offer

Each menu comes with a special booklet to tell you all about the fashion collections that have inspired each of the individual sweet items. This changes by season so will never be the same twice depending on how often you go!

The selection of tea is huge, and you can try as many as you want, which is a fantastic change to other hotels where you have to choose one and stick with it. I tried the peppermint flavour and also the apple, which instantly reminded me of Christmas and was not particuarly welcome, seeing as it was 30 degrees outside in the city!

The first course is the savoury section, and we had some delicious sandwiches, but alongside these sat a selection of savoury amuse bouche which I have never encountered before. These included a beetroot gazpacho, tuna on a slice of pickled radish and duck with goats cheese. There was only a mouthful of each, but all were completely different and made the savoury course even more interesting.

And then came the cake...!

Our waitress explained what each of the different items represented with regards to the fashion collections of Spring / Summer 2015. These included an Anya Hindmarch handbag with googly eyes, the Phillip Treacy for Alexander McQueen butterfly hat and a Lisa Marie Fernandez bikini. All of the items were delicious and it was hard to pick a favourite, but I did very much enjoy the handbag made with a blueberry sponge and covered in blue chocolate. 

This tea was a fantastic experience and set in gorgeous surroundings, and was definitely one of my favourite afternoon teas. Others I have tried have all had a time limit and the waiters will bring you the bill the moment your time is up, however with The Berkeley they were quite happy to let you sit and chat (and people watch) which in my opinion is what afternoon tea is all about. 

Gin and Tonic Cupcakes

I was recently asked to make some Gin and Tonic cupcakes for a birthday party, and as I had never tried an alcoholic cupcake recipe before, I was keen to give it a go! Plus Gin and Tonic is one of my favourite tipples, so to be allowed to combine it with cake, what could be better!

I started by making the candied lime peel for the decoration. Using a vegetable peeler I stripped off the top layer of the lime and sliced the zest into thin strips.

I then boiled sugar and water to create a syrup, and soaked the zest strands in it until soft before transferring them to a bowl of sugar. 

The end result looked lovely with their sugary crystal coating, and they passed the 'drop' test by making a tinkling sound when dropped onto a plate.

The cupcake batter was a basic lemon sponge, and then soaked with a lemon juice, tonic water and gin syrup, at this point it's best to think of it as a lemon drizzle cupcake! I used Bombay Sapphire gin for my cupcakes, and was worried that the slightly subtle taste would get lost. Unfortunately I couldn't taste the gin flavour when I tried a sample, but on a couple of taste tests, it was decided that the quantity of gin was enough to give an alcoholic twang. I would have maybe used slightly less lemon juice as it's such a strong flavour and can overwhelm more delicate ingredients. 

The butter icing also contained the gin syrup, which gave a lovely smooth and glossy appearance to the icing when piped.

The silver '70' decorations were cut from fondant and then painted using an edible silver paint. I loved the contrast between the pale icing, silver numbers and sharp green of the zest, and in silver foil cupcake cases and with a sprinkle of silver glitter on top, I think they looked perfect for a birthday celebration.