Sponges come in all shapes and sizes, as well as flavours. But making the perfect sponge can create its own problems if you don’t follow the recipe to the letter. Just follow the guidelines below to make the perfect sponge every time!! How to Make a Sponge The ingredients required for a Victoria sponge are often referred to as 4:4:4; that is 4oz/100g flour, 4oz/100g caster sugar, 4oz/100g fat and 2 large eggs, which, when shelled, also weigh 4oz/100g. You can use self-raising flour or plain flour plus Vi level teaspoon baking powder. Use caster sugar only; coarser-grained sugars such…
Author: Treeca
What Are Fruit Teas? Fruit teas are made with various fruits, botanicals and flowers. Flowers and botanicals are used to give flavour and to impart that fruity flavour, and a lot of fruit teas can be a blend of fruits and other herbs such as Lavender and Jasmine. For more information on herbal teas, take a look at our recent post here. Noted for their refreshing and invigorating qualities, fruit teas also have many health benefits. They are often used as an antioxidant or anti-inflammatory treatment, along with herbal teas. As you can imagine, there are a wide range of…
The tart and the tea ring are key features in any afternoon tea session worth its salt. The tart is a type of pastry with an open top and is eaten as a desert. The fillings consist of fruit, custard, jelly or nuts, baked in a pastry shell. It is often dusted in sugar, topped with ice cream or whipped cream and has a soft filling. The tea ring tends to be, traditionally, a circular pastry that have a number of fillings. For example, the Swedish tea ring is usually filled with cinnamon, brown sugar, and lightly dusted with icing…
There are two main reasons why you should incorporate herbal tea in your everyday diet. The first one is the great aromas and tastes you get from a lot of these teas. The second is the huge benefit to one’s health. Herbal teas have been used for centuries to help support a variety of different ailments. The teas themselves are different to every day teas. Black, green and white teas tend to use the leaves of the plant, whereas herbal infusions use the dried fruits, spices, herbs and flower heads. Oh How Civilised offers a number of recipes from Peppermint,…
CHEESECAKE According to the Daily Mail, cheesecake has been voted the top teatime treat of all time – beating the classic Victoria sponge. A poll of 2,000 adults revealed chocolate cake and carrot cake in second and third place, followed by lemon drizzle. Let’s gets started on a few old recipes This is a basic recipe for cheesecake taken from the ‘Supercook’ set of recipes This popular sweet-sour confection probably originated in Greece and is now world famous. There are hundreds of variations, but the basic ingredients are similar, cottage, curd or cream cheese, eggs and a thickening such as…
Welcome to Day 3 of our Afternoon Tea Week. After yesterdays post on how to make white bread, here’s some old vintage sandwich fillers. You can also check out our vegan sandwiches here Each filling will spread 4-6 large slices of bread. .Egg and Watercress: Roughly chop the hard-boiled eggs and place in a bowl with the mayonnaise and salt and pepper to taste. Spread onto the slices of bread (no need to spread with butter). Garnish with sprigs of watercress. Cheese and Cucumber: Combine the cheese, chutney and softened butter in a bowl and mix well together. Spread onto…
 The question is are there any other foods or drink that have been reported to have as many health benefits as green tea? The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times. It is made using the leaves of the Chinese Camellia sinensis plant. The leaves are then applied to heat quickly after picking which minimizes oxidation. This is thought to give the green tea it’s many benefits. 1. Researchers have suggested that it can help slash the risk of developing cancer by shrinking tumours. 2. It has been known to stabilise your cholesterol…
Day 2 of our afternoon tea week. Yesterday we served up some traditional homemade recipes for scones. Today we look at making some basic and easy bread making. Tomorrow we will look at sandwich fillers Let’s go!! Basic White Bread Recipe Use plain white flour, preferably strong ‘bread’ flour. For ore 2 lb/1 kg loaf, two 1 lb/J kg loaves or 18 rolls use the following quantities: Prepare the yeast: If you are using fresh yeast, blend It into 2 pint/4.5 dl warm water For dried yeast, dissolve 1 teaspoon sugar into 3 pint/4 5 dl warm water, then sprinkle…
Black tea is the term used to describe a variety of tea that undergoes a more extensive oxidation process than green, oolong and white teas. All of these tea varieties are actually made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, with black tea generally exhibiting a stronger flavour and containing more caffeine than the other varieties. In China and other counties with a similar linguistic culture, tea commonly goes by the name “crimson tea”, which is a more accurate description of its colour. The name black tea is still appropriate however, since it could be used to refer to…
Happy Afternoon Tea Week!! Scones have become synonymous with afternoon tea over many years, so what better way to start off our celebrations all week than to put together a few vintage recipes of scones taken from recipe books and recipe cards from the 1950’s into the 1970’s. Here’s a few 1950’s recipes from Be-Ro SCONESBE-RO Rich Scones Ingredients: Makes about 14 sconesBE-RO Plain Scones Ingredients: BE-RO Victoria Scones Makes 4 Scones each with 4 Quarters Ingredients BE-RO Brown Scones Ingredients: BE-RO Girdle Scones Ingredients: These scones may be varied by using Oatmeal or Ryemeal, instead of Wholemeal Check out…
It’s National Bakewell Tart Day! What’s the difference between a Bakewell tart and a cherry Bakewell? According to erudus.com, ‘A Cherry Bakewell is a version of the Bakewell tart where a layer of almond fondant is added on top of the frangipane and topped with a halved glacé cherry. Cherry Bakewells are usually small and served as individual tarts, whereas the traditional Bakewell tart is a tray bake cut into slices post-oven.’ Did you know there’s also a local variation called the Gloucester Tart? This recipe uses ground rice instead of almonds in the filling. Try this vintage recipe below.…
Welcome to our vintage recipe slot. This week we are taking a recipe from the Marshall Cavendish Supercook Encyclopedia Of World Cooking APPLE AND SPONGE PUDDING A traditional, inexpensive English pudding, this is an appealing dessert for an informal family lunch or dinner. It should be served hot and can be accompanied by cream or custard sauce. It is easy to make, but care must be taken when preparing the sponge topping. 4 SERVINGS Ingredients Method © Copyright Marshall Cavendish
August 9th is National Swiss Roll Day. According to Slurp, Swiss roll is a type of sponge cake that is commonly served as a dessert or snack. It is also known as a jelly roll, cream roll, or roulade. The cake is made by baking a thin sheet of sponge cake, spreading a layer of filling on top, and then rolling the cake into a spiral shape, creating a cylindrical shape This delightful dessert has been enjoyed by people around the world for over a century, and its origins can be traced back to 19th-century Europe. The exact origin of…
CREAM OF RICE GARNISHED WITH CHERRIES AND BANANA SLICES (Riz Montmorency) Here’s a great recipe from 1971 taken from the archives of Fanny & Johnnie Cradocks cookery program The recipe asks for Patna rice but you can use general pudding rice which is short grain. Amazon do their own pudding rice which is cheap. There’s an affiliate link at the end of the recipe. Enjoy! Ingredients Method © Copyright in the text Fanny and Johnnie Cradock 1971 © Copyright in the illustrations BPC Publishing Limited 1971 There’s also a couple of great links to rice pudding recipes below. The first…
With National Afternoon Tea week almost upon us (starts the 12th August), I thought I’d give a ‘shout out’ to a local scone company from Cornwall that I stumbled upon. A small family business that specialises in cream teas. You can buy their home made scones as well sampling local Cornish tea. The company also caters for vegans as well as offering a gluten free range. Check them out! Cornish Scone Company or you check out our review from 2023