Scandalicious Baking

It's been a while since I last posted. So apologies - it's been incredibly busy (but that's not an excuse!)

I was sent the new book, Scandalicious Baking by the lovely Signe Johansen to review a couple of months ago and I wasn't disappointed. Take a look here for more info: http://www.signejohansen.com/

Nordic is big business in the UK at the moment, thanks to the likes of the Nordic Bakery and Signe's books, Brits are beginning to realise there's more than meets the eye to Scandinavian cooking, including baking.

Scandalicious Baking is a fantastic book which gives you plenty of recipes to get stuck into which give you a taste for baking these delights without being too intimidating. From Chocolate and Orange Marmalade Loaf cake, through to Queen Maud muffins and Grilled Cheese with mushroom and hazlenut, there are plenty of recipes to satisfy a sweet or savoury tooth.

The photography in the book is a good enough reason to buy this book alone. Beautiful images that conjure up ideas of being the domestic goddess I'd always imagined I could be.

The first recipe i've had a go at from the book was the Cinnamon Bun Sharing Cake. Absolutely stunning. I'm always a little intimidated by any recipes which involve yeast, but this really wasn't a tough one to do...and the results were so impressive.

My lovely cinnamon bun!

 

I'll be using this one regularly - especially when I want to impress guests.

Pick up a copy from your local bookshop or on Amazon.co.uk

Spor-tea at The Dorchester

You know those gorgeous looking little cakes you see in french patisseries and occasionally stumble across here in the UK? I've always wanted to try some.

They look amazing, but with a nut allergy they also look like danger. So i've always avoided...until my trip to The Dorchester for their Spor-tea themed afternoon tea the other week.

The amazing people behind the scenes made me a nut free afternoon tea and literally for the first time in my life I was able to try those amazing little cakes i'd always assumed would be out of my reach. 

I can honestly say that this was the best afternoon tea i've ever had.

It began with the glass of Laurent Perrier (always a good start to any meal in my opinion) and was followed by a selection of lovely sandwiches in speciality breads eg Chicken in basil bread.

We then moved on to a fruit salad in a cone for me and for everyone else not allergic to nuts, an amazing olympic torch pastry!

Then came my little slice of heaven....or a plate of them. Raspberry and chocolate, passionfruit and more. The flavours were fantastic! All the little pastries had an olympic theme.

                                           My plate of deliciousness

               Everyone else's plate of delicious sporty themed cakes

If you get a chance, go to The Dorchester for literally the best afternoon tea EVER.

It was all finished off with a drink at the bar which came in a fab teapot and my glass was a china teacup with a tall stem. Fantastic way to end the day.

http://www.thedorchester.com/afternoon-tea

Afternoon Tea at The Botanist

Time Out listed The Botanist as one of the top places to go for Afternoon tea in London, so we headed there with high expectations. A glass of champagne accompanied a delicious selection of hand cut, tiny sandwiches - cucumber, egg and smoked salmon. Two gorgeous melt in the mouth scones and a Victoria sponge cupcake each - break into the centre and jam oozes out.

If you are looking for a classic afternoon tea - then head to The Botanist.


However, if you are looking for good service - give it a miss! Having had the most fantastic service at Bob Bob Ricard the same week - I was expecting roughly the same at The Botanist - but received nothing like it.




We arrived ten minutes early for afternoon tea and were told we would have to wait before placing our order. Making us feel stupid, just sitting there without a menu. We then ordered our afternoon tea with a waiter, asking him to make sure that there were no nuts in the cakes. He came back ten minutes later telling us that as they didn't mill their flour on site, this couldn't be guaranteed - Please, Mr Waiter, point us to a restaurant which does mill it's own flour - as that is something I want to see. Finally he accepted our order!

45 minutes after placing the order, I asked another waiter where our afternoon tea was - he took our order again. Turns out the other waiter had gone on a break without passing on our order. So roughly 3 hours later, we had finally finished our tea.

Check out The Botanist at www.thebotanistsloanesquare.com

Venue: Lovely, traditional setting 4 stars
Food: Amazingly delicious 5 stars
Service: minus 1 - Explained above