REVIEW: Cambridge Food Tours

A few weeks back I was invited to join Gerla at Cambridge Food Tours for a different view and tour of my home city, thanks to a Facebook competition that saw me win 2 tickets... It was all based around food pit stops around town and I didn't need inviting twice! We joined Gerla and our fellow food-loving companions for the tour at the Fitzbillies bakery for coffee & a taster of their world famous Chelsea Buns before walking around the corner to the infamous (and hideous) clock that attracts so many tourists each year. From there, we headed to "The Eagle" pub, of which is said to be haunted by children who perished in a fire. Interestingly, we went into the back of the building where we saw the scrawlings on the walls and ceilings from 2 air forces during WW2 by candle, lighter & lipstick. I had no idea this was even here, having only ever enjoyed a tipple towards the front of this pub over the years, it was stupidly interesting and I most likely would have never known these scribblings were here otherwise. From here we hopped over to the market to see the fresh fish stall and Gerla talked a little about the history and produce of the market and included a viewing of the bizarre and very modern statue on the edge of the market square, built in honour of a local legend, Snowy Farr. Snowy was an animal lover, raising £thousands for various animal charities over the years and each local man and woman remembers him visiting their school with his menagerie of animals over the years, myself included - very happy memories indeed! We were also lucky enough to get a sneak preview of a new Italian coffee shop opening that very weekend, "Aromi". We were allowed inside to have a taster of some of their homemade biscuits and take a quick look around before heading back out on the road again. Gerla does try to incorporate her knowledge of new openings in every area of Cambridge, which makes each tour completely unique to the last. We then made our way down Kings Parade to The Cambridge Fudge Shop, which was about to celebrate its 30th birthday, pretty exciting for them, now owning 7 shops on the High Street, including a stand at Selfridges and even one in a theme park! We headed back up the Parade to Kings College, being told that some of the Cambridge colleges occasionally let you can dine a few times a year with the fellows. Once sat down you can't leave - if you get down to pop to the ladies or gents, you can't come back in apparently! Gerla sometimes hosts supperclubs with St Johns, so do watch out for these throughout the year. In fact, this is the only college allowed to eat swan. They used to serve it at their May Ball, once called the "Swan Ball", very interesting information, having never heard this before, just shameful as a local ; ) The Cambridge Cheese Company was our next stop, fuelling us with melt in the mouth scotch eggs with pork & pickle pie tasters whilst we browsed this Aladdin's cave - I'm heading back here next time I need my picnic hamper filling up! As we walked to Norfolk Street Deli (a superb Portuguese bakery with the most delicious homemade custard tarts I've ever tasted!), we were educated on the Cam Cattle and the whereabouts of this superb meat throughout the summer season. The green areas and commons in Cambridge are unusual, as you will see cattle grazing from April to October. Mill Road Cemetery is just behind Norfolk Street and creates a peaceful meander to "The Sea Tree" fish and chip shop on Mill Road where we enjoyed some freshly cooked Cod Goujons, chunky chips & mushy peas. Gerla had recently been to a "Museum of Chips" in Bruges a few weeks prior to this and regaled us of stories and amusing titbits on the trusty chip, said to be introduced by a nun in Spain before become famous on the continent. By this point we were starting to fill to the rafters, but there was plenty more to see including a visit to meet Matthew Barrister at Cambridge Wine Merchants who allowed us to sample spirits with cheese, apple and fruit cake and we had a lesson in matching spirits with food. It was a refreshing change from wine tasting and the whisky & port sent us on our way in a snoozy haze. A great piece of local general knowledge was a quick stop outside the Sally Ann Charity Shop on Mill Road, which used to be a cinema years ago. The side wall used to be where people would queue for their tickets along the road and there are hundreds of little circular pockets indented into this wall. It's said that people would get bored and bore holes into it with coins whilst twiddling thumbs in the queue.... I truly love this thought! Nearing the end of our food tour, we stopped at "Bacchanalia" where we matched beer with South African meat and chocolate brownies, heaven! We sampled Cambridge moonshine beer, a Black Chocolate Stout and a "Wild Beer" from Bristol. The guy that runs this shop is enthusiastic and was one of the highlights of the food tour for us personally, we will be back there shortly to stock up, he was just fantastic. The tour finished at "Chocolat Chocolat" the most indulgent chocolate shop in Cambridge and the entire food tour lasted much longer than the 3.5 hours it said - 5 hours by time we left - fantastic value for money! Book your food tour now, there are so many to choose from or you can arrange a tailored tour to suit your needs, either would be highly rated, this lady know her food! There is an afternoon tea at Sidney Sussex College in August and it's going to be an exclusive look into one of our most beloved Cambridge locations, I will be going for sure! www.cambridgefoodtour.com

Afternoon Tea Etiquette With Miss Sue Flay - High Tea Vs Low Tea

With my new offering of Afternoon Tea Etiquette Workshops in partnership with John Lewis Brasserie in Cambridge, I thought I would share some advice with my readers over a matter of varying topics on this subject. Afternoon Tea is famously known for being the mealtime favoured by Anna Maria, The Duchess of Bedford, starting off most likely in her boudoir before she realised how much more fun it would be to invite her friends along for a catch up and nibbles in her Blue Drawing Room before it caught on in other homes and venues across the nation. As this mealtime evolved, some good old fashioned manners and rules went alongside it to make it enjoyable for all involved, however, nowadays people may not be aware of the basic "rules" that partner with this. I for one wouldn't be slapping your wrists for not following all of these rules through to the end, but it is always great fun to learn some lessons in these subject areas! High Tea Vs Low Tea - And The Differences Between Them Think, for a moment, as though you were standing within the (many walls) of Downton Abbey...or any grand stately home you care to envisage, Woburn Abbey perhaps. High Tea would usually be served "downstairs" in the lower quarters as a means of energy for the person eating it, it was far from a dainty offering. It would have been served as a bigger tea or meal at a high or kitchen table for the servants to keep them fuelled as their meals were usually limited and their daily chores were hard work and would need a lot of energy to keep at them all day, nearly 7 days a week for most. High Tea  would usually be Served between 5 - 7pm in place of dinner. Labourers would usually have protein filled platters and hot dishes, followed by cake, a scone or bread & jam. Sometimes they would get ham & salad if they were lucky. Low Tea, or afternoon tea would usually be served "upstairs" in the living quarters of the home. It would be served on a low coffee table for the upper class beneficiary And traditionally served between 4 - 6pm. For us, afternoon tea is a meal nowadays, but go back a few years and  it was like an "Elevenses" for most, which would simply be a biscuit & a cuppa for us now! Dainty finger sandwiches would be served, along with pastries, scones and cakes. There's plenty more to say on this subject, but I could be here all day ; ) Not many people are aware that John Lewis's afternoon tea is in fact freshly prepared on the premises, with their own pastry chefs on site, it's one of the best afternoon tea tiers in Cambridge, with a fabulous view to boot - see here for more information on these workshops with Miss Sue Flay. Available for face to face and virtual/online workshops too! So, it truly doesn't matter where in the world you are, you could even be on the moon - you can enjoy an afternoon tea etiquette session with Miss Sue Flay too! I hope to perhaps meet you very soon over a good strong cuppa.

The Cambridge Bake Off - Final Round

We hosted the final of The Cambridge Bake Off at "The Big Weekend" on Parkers Piece and WHAT a day for it... It was so hot, the food marquee that we had taken over for this event was like a sauna before we had even started! I genuinely felt sorry for the 3 finalists, as the heat hit you as soon as you walked into this large tent and some of the bakers had prepared chocolate elements to their concoctions... I would have been a gibbering wreck had I been piecing together a cake at this live final! The fact that they all looked so cool and calm throughout such a pressured environment just had me in awe of them all, just impressive. So the rules were to create a summer celebration cake... However they wanted to present it was entirely up to them - and boy did did we get three very different cakes for this! Alice Ryan from the Cambridge Evening News joined us to help judge, but to also interview each finalist as they pieced together their works of art, asking them to tell the fast-growing crowd what they were putting together. They also talked through their previous cakes from the first 3 rounds, including the Chocolate Cake round and even the Victoria Sponge Round, not forgetting the semi-finals with some INSPIRING creations brought to the table. They had baked the main elements at home, as there was no means to bake (thankfully for them!) in the marquee. They had then been given just over and hour to out together their celebration cake, all of which had a wow factor to rival all other wow factor cakes! Sarah had put together a colourful two layer cake, with a very groovy/psychedelic marbled vanilla sponge and different coloured chocolate piped stars all over. It was then finished with chocolate dipped strawberries, handmade chocolate butterflies and finished off with fresh fruit and sugared rose petals (picked from her own garden), it was stunning and fit for a civilised garden party. Rachel had drawn out an actual plan of her cake, having decided not to practice it beforehand, she had said to me that she didn't quite know how it was going to turn out. She went for a salted caramel sponge with salted caramel buttercream and even a separate sauce within its three tiers. She then got extremely creative and produced a seaside inspired "rock pool" cake fit for a wedding or birthday celebration. Each decoration was handmade, with chocolate shells, jellyfish and even liquorice seaweed, it was a work of art! Fiona surprised us all, as up to this point she had a very obvious look to her cakes and we were starting to get to know her style (and we loved it). She threw a topsy turvy three layered cake with a sophisticated wedding or christening feel to proceedings. It was simple to look at, but elegant, with intricate sugar crafted flowers and even butterflies on wire surrounding the cake. She went for three different flavours, with the bottom tier offering us strawberry & champagne, the middle tier offering Lemon & Limoncello and the top layer giving us White Chocolate & Passionfruit. Each layer was tastier than the next and it was a winner for us in the end. It was SUCH a close call, the cakes all being delicious and just jaw-dropping to look at, we decided that overall Fiona had been the most consistently inspiring baker and she was a worthy winner of the final for all of her cakes, not just this final creation. The new Mayor of Cambridge gave out the prizes to each of the finalists, including a KMix for the main prize for the lovely Fiona, of which we know will get a lot of use out of it (With thanks to John Lewis for donating this fantastic prize!) As one of the runners up prizes, I have offered a baking lesson and cannot wait to work with the lovely lady over the coming months and catch up about this amazing competition, a real first for Cambridge. We all left happy, I went straight to the pub for a refreshing pit stop and I cannot wait to discuss next years Bake Off, with exciting plans already afoot! Make sure you sign up to the Facebook page to keep in touch with updates on this competition. And for anybody inspired by this version of the Bake Off, why not book a baking lesson or afternoon tea etiquette workshop with Miss Sue Flay?! Soggy Bottoms be gone... For my full photo album from the Cambridge Bake Off Final, you can click here. Miss Sue Flay

Review: Afternoon Tea at Poets House - Ely

Poets House is a new boutique hotel in Ely which has literally opened up within the last few weeks, with a stunning view of the cathedral from most bedroom windows throughout. Situated on St Mary's Street, opposite The Old Fire Engine House, this large townhouse-style hotel has brought us the sort of style I've personally been craving for a long time when it comes to an afternoon tea venue - Cambridgeshire truly does have a serious lack of stylish venues to enjoy afternoon tea. It's very light in feel with glass & mirrors everywhere, so even though the decor as you walk through the main reception is very dark with it's black & white furniture & tiling, it's very light throughout the common areas. The reception desk is made to look like a library, with a huge shelf filled with hardback books, it's very hard to keep your eyes off them as you are greeted, should you be a book lover like me. To the left of reception is The Dining Room with soft grey carpets & furnishings And an extensive menu to choose from throughout the day, with an a la carte menu through to Sunday roast with all the trimmings or even a more relaxed burger. It should suit everybody and anybody... But I was here for one thing in particular, naturally... afternoon tea. This saw me seated in The Study overlooking the courtyard complete with well kept topiary (although I think they need to be in the shape of books!), which was a simple, yet stunning bare brick walled bar, with comfortable seating surrounded by lamps for a real homely feel. It was peaceful, just what I enjoy the most and I didn't feel rushed at any point throughout my visit here. I was seated in a pre-set area, ready & waiting with a pot of tea to my liking brought over for me to start unwinding whilst I waited for my food to arrive. My afternoon tea companion for the afternoon was Leah Jenson, Executive Head Chef at Poets House and what fun she was too, she talked about her plans for Poets House for the future and their upcoming projects including a new venue near Newmarket. It's a very exciting time for her and you could see this in the way she was talking about her experiences, an extremely interesting lady she is too! The first word that slipped from my mouth as my afternoon tea was presented to me was "WOW"...
This is a colourful afternoon tea with some of the most beautiful cakes I've seen on a cake tier in a while, with the finger sandwiches being served together, shaped and sized precisely the same all the way through the selection of fillings, I almost didn't want to tuck into them, so as not to disturb them! Or perhaps that was the OCD in me... Leah had said to me before the food came out that she wasn't sure she was happy with the afternoon tea stands, she felt that were a little too "white" and she may need something a little nicer or quirkier for the presentation. I have to say, I said it to her on the day and I will say it again looking back, I didn't even notice the stand as it was presented to me, I was too busy admiring the food to notice the tiered stand. The finger sandwiches were my favourite element, it was the sandwich geek in me, I loved the symmetry, the perfectly aligned sandwiches, they were literally a work of art, placed with a lot of love. There was a choice, cucumber & sour cream, Salmon & Cream Cheese, Ham & tomato Chutney, all delicious. There was a choice of fruit or plain scones, all served warm with plenty of strawberry jam or lemon curd (a new addition to my afternoon tea loving eyes in a venue such as this, I liked that a lot) and clotted cream. You really couldn't say there wasn't enough food on this afternoon tea stand, honestly. I was there a good 2 hours and couldn't finish everything, to defeat Miss Sue Flay is becoming tough to do hehe. The cakes were ALMOST too pretty to demolish. There was a raspberry jam & cream macaron, a chocolate brownie with dark chocolate frosting, fruit tartlets with crème patissière and my personal favourite, a lavender & vanilla cream eclair, which was so light, I could have eaten another had it not been for the rest of the treats on display. It's already been named by The Times in its 2013 list of World Top 20 Cool New Hotels, Poets House in Ely has just opened. This is an independent boutique hotel that overlooks Ely Cathedral, it's a venue worthy of a visit for any occasion, be it a business meeting, romantic dinner or most importantly, a luxurious afternoon tea. Whilst visiting, I was also given a tour of the bedrooms, which was a big mistake for me to agree to as I truly didn't want to leave without a sleep in one of those king size beds and a soak in the bath whilst enjoying some butler service whilst visiting, but no such luck this time! The bathroom was bigger than my own one, with a double shower, perfect for a romantic shampoo if you stay. Poets House also offer some locally sourced gin from the Ely Gin Company as well as luxury nibbles for those late night munchies, who needs those dismal tea and biscuit offerings when you can have these?! After my visit to Poets House, I had to take a walk around the stunning Ely Cathedral across the road to wake myself up again before driving back to Cambridge, this was a welcome option even in the slight summery drizzle outside, Ely really is an overlooked town. I will be back to try their evening menu with my friends shortly, it's already in discussion. Some exciting plans are also afoot for this hotel and it's not going to be long before you all hear about their second venue locally... I personally cannot wait for this one to open for my own geekery and ideas, pinkies crossed that I will be seeing more of this fabulous team shortly! You can see my full photo album for this venue by clicking here. Miss Sue Flay http://www.poetshouse.com Please note - This particular afternoon tea was complimentary, following a visit to view this venue and meet the team. I am in no means obliged to blog or write about their offerings, but I simply choose to share the experience with my readers, should I enjoy the experience.

The Cambridge Bake Off - Rounds Two & Three

Round Two: I was lucky enough to be invited not only to judge The Cambridge Bake Off, but for the second round I was also invited to come to the Cambridge cookery School to watch all 3 physical baking sessions for this round and see the contestants baking their concoctions in *real time*. After 100 chocolate cakes in the first round, we had whittled the number down to 36 for this round, where they were invited to bake their Victoria Sponge recipe. The rules were simple, bring along ingredients to bake a traditional Victoria Sponge, but how you make it, what methods & ingredients you use, is completely up to you. Every cake was so different and the concentration on everybody's face was brilliant, they all wanted to win and were sussing out their competition around them as they whipped & baked away. I would have been nervous as heck, but they all seemed very cool, calm & collected. We got to wander around to watch them all in action and very much enjoyed learning some new skills and baking tips ourselves from the bakers. This was a fantastic element of the bake off in itself. The background music helped to relax the nervous bakers and break through the initial silence, with the fantatastic support from the cookery school team supporting them as they helped to load up the ovens and set timers, etc. Lots of "tongues of concentration" were poking out in the third session of this round in particular - it was hilarious to watch. They all said how nervous they were, but they did brilliantly. "Bonne Maman" Jam had helped to sponsor this round, having got in touch with us to send the jam and some cookbooks for the contestants to use afterwards, this was fantastic news and did this round proud with their delicious conserve. One lady had even made her own homemade jam, this was gorgeous too. The contestants had to be whittled down to just 6 for the next round and it was even harder than the first week to decide on which were to go through. But the winners were all worthy for a combination of taste, texture and appearance. Round Three: The 6 semi-finalists were invited back to the Cookery School on Sunday 30th June for a 2 hour baking session to make a cake or treat featuring fresh fruit and crème patissière, but no other rules around it, they could get as creative as they liked. It was a very exciting round indeed, with some very creative concoctions and some serious faces for this tough round. The bakers had been practicing all week and one lady had said she was feeding her husband lots of samples, even though he was diabetic... she sounded like she was trying to off him with cake, what a way to go hehe ; ) Alice Ryan from the Cambridgeshire Journal joined us for this round, helping us with the tasting, naturally, as well as getting to know the semi-finalists, finding out more about their backgrounds and the support from their friends & families throughout the process. It was fantastic to have this lovely lady joining us for the judging, as she is also a big cake fan and she will be joining us for the final too, hurrah. Some cakes were SO good, that Debora (From Biscotti Di Debora) and I even went in for a second sample of the same haha, we were naughty! When it came down to the tasting, it was difficult to choose just 3 of them to go through to the final, but the winners were Rachel Stonehouse, Sarah Crosby and Fiona McDuff - well done girls, all 3 treats were stunning and very different in their own way. It's a shame the other 3 contestants didn't get through, but they did amazingly well too and were sent home with some fabulous goodies as runners up, I was in fact a little envious of them for that ; ) I think the choices we made will make for some VERY exciting hours in the final this coming Saturday 6th July at the "Big Weekend" on Parkers Piece, come down and watch from 12:30pm - we even have the mayor coming to join us for the prize giving! As a judge, I have also had such a great time being part of the process, not only in learning new tips and tricks myself along the way, but I have really enjoyed getting to know my fellow judges a little and I will miss seeing them every few weeks once this ends... I am hoping I will be involved next year so that we can join forces again, it's been amazing so far - bring on the final! It's now getting very exciting indeed - with the final round being a test of their "Celebration Cake" style! Who will be the ultimate winner?! - It's anybody's guess, they are all fantastic bakers, so I'm genuinely EXCITED about this, with the prize being a KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer amongst other great giveaways including a baking lesson with yours truly! You can view my full Facebook photo album of round two here. And view my full Facebook photo album of round three here.

Ceviche Peruvian Kitchen On Tour - My Lucky Day

I recently won a Twitter-based competition to join Martin Morales from Ceviche in Soho for a masterclass and pop up Supperclub in Suffolk. Ceviche is a Peruvian kitchen based in London's Soho, having previously been an underground supperclub whilst Martin worked with the likes of Steve Jobs at ITunes in his day job at the time. I knew of him back when it was early days for "The Secluded Tea Party" myself, however I had never gotten the chance to visit... until now! When opening it's doors just over a year ago, Ceviche had a mission and clear idea of what their new restaurant should be: it had to be fuss free, neither stuffy nor fine dining, but offering exciting cooking with flair and using the best locally sourced ingredients, led by some key ingredients from Peru. Above all, it had to capture the essence of Peru. So off I skipped, having never dined with one of the forerunners of underground dining, very excitedly I must add, to Aldeburgh on the Suffolk Coast for the opening night of their sold out pop up Supperclub tour. It's actually a sponsored event in which the Ceviche team have been planning for months and is the first of its kind, as it's going to be touring around the UK, partnering with many different venues as they go, 10 venues across 3 countries in fact...all within the space of 2 weeks, wow! So a day in Aldeburgh was just the ticket, it was quiet there due to summer holidays being only weeks away, I enjoyed turning the beach into my make shift office during my working hours, with the sound of the water lapping on the stones relaxing me into some of my best work in weeks, I was one proud baking tutor! In fact I enjoyed a small bag of chips on the beach for an early lunch, ducking from the seagulls as I walked, followed by a pot of Darjeeling at The Cragg Sisters Tearoom later that afternoon as a treat - I love this place, I really do! I was to join Martin and some fellow workshoppers for a "Don Ceviche" (their signature dish) Cooking Masterclass early that evening at the Dean Fryer fish Company, a small beach hut on Crag Path, situated literally on the beach. It was the perfect location for a lesson in fish, something I'm personally petrified of and have never taken part in before. The sun even came out to play for a stunning view of the sea from our workbench, it was a wonderful experience. What an honour it was, Martin led the 1 hour workshop, where 10 of us chopped, diced, sliced and peeled our way through this spicy fish recipe. What was very exciting was that this dish (using freshly caught seabass from the fish hut itself) was "cold cooked" in the "tiger's milk marinade" and it tasted divine! In fact, we were lucky enough to enjoy this dish twice, as it was on the menu for the supperclub that evening too, double whammy! We came away with lots of inspiration from this cooking lesson and a recipe card to re-create it at home later on, of which mine has lots of scribbled notes on, naturally. After the cooking lesson, we hopped over the road (quite literally hopping over the stones, then crossing the road ; ) to The White Lion Hotel for the pop up Supperclub at 7:30pm, where we joined the eating guests for the rest of the event. I must say, the hotel didn't look much from the outside, a lick of paint would do it the world of good, however, once inside, well it was a different story altogether, a gorgeous hotel with a room to make all supperclubs proud, host to 2 extremely long and candlelit communal tables to dine at. The menu was as follows: A glass of Pisco Sour (a Peruvian Cocktail made from a grape-based spirit) or a Cusquena premium beer *** Don Ceviche: Fresh seabass ceviche in Amarillo chilli tiger's milk, limo chilli, sweet potato & red onions *** Arroz con Pato: Confit of duck leg in coriander and dark beer rice with amarillo chilli & choclo corn *** Ensalada de Quinoa (V): White quinoa, tomatoes, avocado, butter beans and coriander with lime & limo chilli vinaigrette *** Chocolate y café Enamorados: Machu Picchu chocolate & coffee mousse pots *** Each dish was truly delicious, but the stand out dish for me was the duck, of which Martin mentioned when I asked him, was marinaded and then the juices were transferred to the beer rice, to make it the most delicious duck dish I've ever eaten. This one dish alone is worth me buying the book, I want to make it for my friends this weekend, it's definitely a winner! There was an entirely different menu for vegetarian guests, all dishes made according to their needs, but along the same lines, so nobody was or would be excluded, which I loved. We were joined on our table by two peruvian ladies who had travelled from Stowmarket for the supperclub, they had been licking their lips and giving their seal of approval throughout the whole evening, so if it was good enough for them... As I was dining alone and had a 2 hour drive ahead of me to get home again, I had to say my goodbyes fairly quickly after eating and use my caffeine kick from the dessert to fuel my homeward journey, a dark chocolate pudding is always a hit for me, this was small, but plenty as it packed a punch. I'm not a huge fish fan, however I had heard nothing but great things about Ceviche, so there wasn't a chance in hell that I was missing this opportunity, it was fantastic and I'm thrilled to have been invited, even more so to have gone along. Next time I'm in London, I'm heading straight to their restaurant to try out some more of their Peruvian inspired food, I cannot wait! If you have an iPhone, to celebrate the Ceviche Peruvian Kitchen on Tour, they've launched a free Ceviche App, where you can access a whole load of fun information relating to the tour. Download it from here: bandapp.com/CevichePeruvianKitchen You can see all my photos from this awe-inspiring day on my Facebook photo album, here. www.cevicheuk.com Saludos, NB- I've not been paid or bribed to write this blog post, it's simply a venue worthy of the support. These are of course my own personal views, sometimes a venue may have a very good day or a very bad day, so I can only comment on my own experiences at the time of visiting, if I don't go regularly. I hold no responsibility for a bad experience after my ratings! It's also nature of the beast that places do close down or sell out, so if I am not aware of it, I may continue to recommend a venue. It's well worth calling ahead for any Afternoon Tea or menu that requires booking as common courtesy and checking the finer details directly with the venue to book if necessary.

Baking For A Children's Tea Party - Joseph's 7th Birthday

I was recently asked to help a family prepare some treats for a boys 7th birthday party, complete with traditionally homemade lemonade, cupcakes and finger sandwiches according to his fancies - I was in my element! As I'm no longer baking to order, but teaching my afternoon tea treats, I set to work devising a menu and recipe book to help this family whip up a storm. It was a fantastic project to help with, as it got the entire family bonding and chipping in, getting them excited about the party ahead of them. We were baking to cater for 20 kids and their parents, so there was a heck of a lot of work to be done over the one day workshop. I had worked out a precise schedule to the minute, to ensure that we were ready and I could duck out and let them take the deserved credit for their hard work when their guests arrived. On the menu: Victoria Sponge with raspberry jam and vanilla buttercream for the main cake Chocolate Cupcakes with a chocolate & hazelnut filling Homemade Lemonade Finger Sandwiches, to include: Tuna & Cucumber Strawberry Jam And Ham & Garlic Jam The family also added bowls of popcorn, cocktail sausages, sausage rolls, pizza and a fruit bowl to the table. Needless to say, nobody went hungry! The Victoria Sponge was made with my trademark buttercream swirls and the family took it in turns to have a go, decorating with a number 7-shaped candle and fresh strawberries on top - the birthday boy was thrilled to bits to see his favourite cake on the table. With the cupcakes, we hollowed them out with my new toy from Lakeland, a cupcake corer, which saves so much time should you wish to fill the centre of your treats in future. I used to cut holes manually, with a sharp knife, however this is a time saving gem - I love those guys! The kids had fun filling the centre with their favourite supermarket-sourced spread and then piping with chocolate buttercream in a "Mr Whippy" stylee, before dropping M&Ms on top to finish them off. We also had time to make some fun birthday cake bunting with some coloured card and some bamboo sticks for the cupcake tier, so easy to make and it looked brilliant! My homemade lemonade is so simple, yet a truly summery beverage and one enjoyed by the kids (and the parents between pots of tea!) so no excuses, this is a must in replacing the tasteless supermarket tripe out there! I had also diced a lemon into inch thick pieces and put them in a bowl in the freezer, using them as lemon flavoured ice cubes at the party, it is a simple, yet effective idea for your own fruity ice cubes. No tea party is complete without dainty finger sandwiches, with the main rule being "one filling per sandwich", however we did add cucumber to the tuna for a delicious crunch. The birthday boy had also requested jam sandwiches, something that I must admit I've never tried before - well, they work so well, I've made up a batch since too - The kids loved these and they went the quickest, by far! Next time, I would be tempted to cutter them into fun shapes for a younger children's birthday party. We had also set out a trough full of ice and cold water to put cartons of juice into to keep cool whilst they were running around and bouncing on the inflatable castle during the party. It was a hot day, so this is a great idea, with a few bottles of water too. The parents also loved the finger food... the treats went over to their more grown up table once the kids had finished eating, so nothing was left, hurrah! This pre-party baking workshop was so much fun and I'd be delighted to help cater for any function in this way, as then it's all your work, I just help you along ; ) For more information on my baking tuition, simply click here. To see more photos from this birthday party baking lesson, simply click here.