Tipsy Tea at Mr Foggs

Last week, I was lucky enough to be invited to Mr Fogg's tipsy afternoon tea in Mayfair. Unfortunately for me, one of the perils of a full time job is that I can't just pop out for a few hours to drink cocktails and nibble on sandwiches on Friday afternoons, as much as I'd like to. Therefore, instead, I sent the first lady of our family- my mother. Here's what she had to say about it...

"In the winding backs of Bruton Lane, Mayfair, lay the doorway to Mr Fogg's quirky victoriana experience. The long bell is wrung, the door slowly opens outwards, careful not to knock the unaware off the step. Visitors are greeted by a tall, red waistcoated server who waves us inside with a friendly "welcome to Mr Fogg's." Inside, music drifts towards us, setting the scene. (For those who have timed their evening bar visit right, there's apparently live music later on, but we were on the recorded variety.) The walls are cluttered with travel memorabilia- conversation pieces, stuffed animals, hanging bicycles and hot air balloons. (Even the restrooms, I later discovered, echoed with story time of Mr Fogg's adventures!) Seating is of the low level leather buttoned variety with afternoon tea served on battered travel chests, although a few traditional table and chairs were scattered about. 

Then came the afternoon tea. Three gin cocktails, presented in teapots, were offered with names like '1840', 'Woburn Abbey' and 'Catherine of Braganza' (with a quality base of Tanqueray No TEN). The champagne offered, Ruinart, is an offering from the first champagne house established in 1729, perhaps a little less known than some of the more heavily marketed brands. Four novelty champagnes with names like 'Belvoir Castle'  were also available as cocktail bases. Mixers were presented in iced teapots with separate milk jugs containing either gin or champagne. The cocktail is taken in teacups poured according to taste. My favourite had to be the '5th Duke of Rutland', a concoction of Tatratea, cognac and angostura bitters, plus a kick of absinthe!

 A tired cake stand was full of sweet offerings and finger sandwiches, although the experience is less about the food and more about whimsy and drink. After all, the mirrored bar which stretched the whole length of the room was stuffed with quality boutique brands of alcoholic beverages. I could tell that sitting at the bar on an evening would be a whole new vibe!

This is a Friday/Saturday afternoon venture with a lively, quirky vibe and the odd unexpected surprise- keep an eye out roaming magician, Mr Singh!"

Recipe: Lemon Curd and Raspberry Cream Naked Cake

Although Autumn has crept upon us, this week has been beautifully sunny. To celebrate the season's last salute to Summer, I set about baking this little naked cake. To me, nothing screams 'Summer!' more than raspberries and cream and, well, I just have a weakness for lemon curd! Put the two with cake and I must surely be onto a winner?

To recreate this little beauty, you will need the following...

For the lemon curd:
The grated rind and juice of one and a half lemons
50g butter
65g sugar
2 eggs

For the raspberry cream:
150ml double cream
5 or 6 raspberries
2tbsp icing sugar

For the Sponge:
100g butter
100g sugar
100g self raising flour
2 eggs
juice of one and a half lemons
1tsp baking powder

I always start by making the lemon curd. This is very simple. All you have to do is whisk up your two eggs in a bowl with your lemon juice and rind. Then pour this over your butter (cut into little bits) and and sugar which should be in a heat proof bowl. Place your bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir together the mixture until the butter melts. Continue to stir until the mixture starts to thicken which should take around 7mins. Once it has thickened, take it off the heat and let it cool- it should thicken more as it gets cooler. Once it is cold, you will have a tangy lemon curd, ready to be used on your cake. (And don't worry! You should have a plenty extra left over as well!)

Next, the cake. This is a super easy no fuss 'all in' recipe which my family has championed since before I could reach the mixer. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees and then simply bung all your cake ingredients into a bowl and whisk. Once you have a fluffy mixture, separate it out into two well greased cake tins- the ones I used were fairly small and shallow, with a roughly 6inch diameter. Then, pop your tins into the oven and let them cook for about 25-30mins, until golden brown. As soon as they're done, upturn your cakes onto a wire rack and leave them to fully cool.
N.B. you could also use one deeper cake tin and cut this in half once it's cool, although personally I never manage to cut it straight! If you do this, you will also need to adjust the cooking time appropriately. 

While the cakes are cooking and cooling, take the time to create your cream filling. Simply pour your double cream into a mixing bowl, add two tablespoons of icing sugar and your raspberries. Then, beat hard until the cream thickens to make stiff peeks. This can really take some work if you're doing it by hand but the end cake is definitely worth it!

Once you have your cakes, your cream and your curd, it's just a simple matter of assembling your cake! Take one cake and smear one face with lemon curd and do the same to the other cake, just with the cream. Sandwich together and vôlá, you are done! I used a sieve to dust mine with a little extra icing sugar and stuck on some raspberries and blueberries with some icing paste (icing sugar and a couple of drops of water, mixed to a thick paste) to make it a bit prettier.

I have to say, personally I think this cake is one of the most elegant and tasty things to come out of my kitchen. One mouthful and you can practically taste the summer sun! What do you guys think?

The Travel Diaries: Cheung Chau and Chloé Afternoon Tea at the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong

With our Vietnamese adventures behind us, Joss got ready to show me more of Hong Kong. Our first stop was the Mandarin Oriental's Clipper Lounge for their Chloé afternoon tea, so we dusted off our heels and set out to gobble up lots of cakes and catch up with a mutual friend.

I have to say, we were very excited about the afternoon tea. We were expecting the Chloé theme to come across strongly, maybe in the form of handbag shaped cakes or sandwiches fashioned into little dresses. Sadly, we were rather disappointed. The only hint of Chloé seemed to come from a chocolate bow atop one cake and a little chocolate plaque stating the brand name adorning another. It just wasn't the fashionista experience we were expecting!

Having said that, the afternoon tea was still rather enjoyable and reasonably priced, especially when compared to English afternoon teas. Our teapots were routinely refreshed and the scones were particularly delicious, as were the savoury tartlets. We had a lovely time nattering over cake, just not quite the time we were expecting. However we did manage to do a little celebrity spotting since the Hong Kong pop star William So and his entourage ended up sitting at the table behind us!

Our next excursion took us out to the little island of Cheung Chau, an old fishing island. Here, we sampled delicacies such as deep fried ice cream and balls of crushed ice, flavoured with a rainbow of different sauces.

After stuffing oursleves full of yummy snacks, we walked up along the steep seafront to the secret cave of Cheung Po Tsai, the notorious Hong Kong pirate.

 The cave opening was a tiny gap in the rocks which took a little climbing to get down to. Once we had scraped our way down, clutching our phone torches tightly we proceeded to wiggle and squeeze our way through the narrow cave opening and then climbed down an old, rusting ladder, before bravely creeping down the dark, narrow cave passage. We could see how a wanted pirate could hide down there and evade capture since the cave was so well hidden! It was also rather scary however, so we dashed through it quickly, eager to return to the sunny outdoors!

After our little caving adventure, we decided to spend the rest of our afternoon along the sea front, where Jossi had a chance to get more familiar with a bicycle. Recently, I was a little shocked to discover  that Joss had never learnt to ride a bike and so with this in mind, we hired one and I set about attempting to teach her. We must have been creating quite a spectacle however, since one friendly fisherman abandoned his work to come help, while restaurant staff cheered us on from their restaurants!

Cheung Chau is a wonderful little place for a day trip- there's plenty to do, despite the island being tiny and we had a great time! Although later that evening, the pair of us crawled into bed tired and just a bit bruised from the day's excursion!

The Folly Tearoom, Norfolk

At the weekend, my friend Ayesha and I went to visit our good friend Frannie. Frannie was working at a family friend's tearoom in Norfolk for the summer and so had promised us a day of relaxing on the beach in the sunshine, followed by tea and cake at The Folly Tearoom. However, upon our arrival, our plans quickly flew out of the window and we found ourselves having a rather fabulous time, a long way from any sand.

We met Frannie at a little Norfolk pub where we were introduced to some new friends of hers. Soon after, we were invited back to theirs for a dip in their pool. Conveniently remembering my pet hate for sand, we eagerly accepted...

...and ended up at one of the most beautiful houses I've ever seen!

Not a bad place for a dip!

After a rather happy splash around, we were invited to a pool party that evening...at another estate! Feeling a little blown away at this point, Ayesh and I happily went along with the flow and found ourselves dancing (and swimming) the night away.

The next morning, after a little paddle in the pool, we went with Frannie to work and finally got to see the little tearoom she'd been raving about. It really was incredibly pretty. The whole place was kitted out in a vintage style (without being too fussy) with beautiful mix and match tea cups and cake stands. I especially loved the duck egg blue and gold theme running throughout the whole establishment. It was very apparent that a lot of care and attention had been taken in putting The Folly together, and our little Frannie looked at home amongst the home made cakes and brownies (some of which she'd baked herself!).

Ayeshie and I tucked in. I'd gone for a slice of Frannie's very elaborate chocolate cake (decorated with live flowers and glitter!) and Ayesh went for cheese scones with caramelised onion chutney on the side, all washed down with pots of tea, I have to say, the chai tea I ordered was incredibly delicious- I'd been told the teas had been specially blended for The Folly and I wish I'd asked if they'd sell me some of the tea leaves to take home with me!

Ayesh salivating over her scones

Sadly however our trip had to come to a close, partly because we couldn't eat any more, but also because the car park meter was running out... So we said our goodbyes and headed homewards.

Ayesh and I had a wonderful trip. We'd met some lovely people and had a fantastic brunch at The Folly. My only regret was that I hadn't bought my proper camera (sorry!) but needless to say, I will be going back as soon as I possibly can!