Growing up my mum would sometimes just make scones for a treat, but an afternoon tea is one of my favourite treats, and there is something about them that just screams spring. I didn’t do a full afternoon tea, normally you would have a sandwich course, a scone, and a cake. I eliminated the cake because there was already so much Easter candy in the house that I didn’t think any more sweets were needed.
This is my absolute favorite black tea, the Harney and Sons Paris Tea, it’s a bit like an Earl Grey, but a bit more floral and definitely more vanilla. It’s so lovely. I get it at Indigo, but it seems to be available many places. I highly recommend it, I’ll even drink it black, which is highly unusual for me.
In an effort to add some fruit and a bit of health to it, I wanted to do berries and cream (and yes I now have the TikTok stuck in my head), and this is simple but it looks so luxe. Just whipped cream and wash your berries and that’s all. Also shout out to my current pet sit for having beautiful dishware.
As you can see I am a jam then cream person. I think the debate only really matters when you are using Devonshire cream, if you are using whipped cream I think it’s too difficult to put jam on top of whipped cream. Devonshire cream is thicker and firmer, and you actually can spread jam on top of it without making a massive mess. But it’s also entirely personal preference or cultural differences, so up to you.
The most important component of the cream tea is the scone. I used this recipe from Joy of Baking, I tried Martha Stewart’s recipe a few weeks ago and it was honestly quite awful. I was in shock, I’ve never made anything from Martha that didn’t turn out. This recipe turned out very well, and honestly scones are super easy. The longest part is the cutting out bit. I now understand why my mum would sometimes just whip some up. They really feel so fancy but is quite easy.
That’s slightly my overall take for the whole cream tea. It seems so fancy, but it’s not that difficult to whip together. If you were to go all out and do a Victoria sponge or another cake or tart, it wouldn’t be that hard to add in.
This is the menu that I followed, but you could swap out the sandwiches for others. Personally, I’m not that fussed on a cucumber sandwich, I would probably prefer to do a chicken salad, a Coronation chicken salad is very traditional (but I’m also not that fussed on them), so maybe a Waldorf chicken would be nice? Or an egg salad? I also added some red onion to the smoked salmon sandwich for a bit more flavour. I also prefer to use white bread for a tea sandwich. You could also cut the crusts off, but I didn’t bother.
This is such an easy way to do something fancy, and you can also very easily make it fancier or just keep it super simple. And remember, scone rhymes with gone.
Enjoy!
Laura
Thoughtful Millennial 