Frills and Fizz...The Pommery Afternoon Tea at The Signet Library

It is August and Edinburgh is ALIVE.  The festivals are truly underway...there are people everywhere and it is awesome.  Last year I avoided festival hotspots like the plague, with a itty bitty teeny weeny brand new baby there was no way I was going to expose her to the hustle and bustle, bumps and crowds of Edinburgh in August.  But this year we are embracing it with gusto, I just strap her into the baby carrier on my chest and away we go...into the crowds, into the noise, into the fun.  She has loved the people watching and the food trucks...like mother like daughter I guess! 

This past weekend we treated ourselves to Afternoon Tea at The Pommery Champagne Bar, which has popped up once again at the Signet Library on The Royal Mile.  I love this venue, it is stunning and the tea is pretty good too! Last year I took The Babe when she was just a month old...this year she is just over a year old and I think it is safe to say she really enjoyed herself.  

The Babe last year

The Babe loving the mirrored tables this year

We ordered the Afternoon Tea, with a glass of fizz for me (woop) and a IPA for Dad.  The cake towers held just the right amount of treats for us two greedy guts.  A selection of sandwiches and oatcakes topped with creme fraiche and smoked salmon, fruit scones with jam and cream, and small sweets made up our feast.  

The staff were very kind, and attentive.  I had booked our table on line, which was easy enough, and also called to enquire about a high chair.  We were in luck, the venue does have a high chair (I didn't ask if there was more than one) and they were happy to add it to our booking so that it was already at our table when we arrived.  When we ordered our Afternoon Tea I asked for an extra cheese sandwich for The Babe, so she would have something of her own to eat. Sadly, they weren't serving egg mayonnaise (her favourite)...but she happily munched her way through THE WHOLE SANDWICH! 

Dad was kind enough to share his mini carrot cake with her.  I was all up for asking for an extra cake since I wasn't prepared to share (yeah I know...rotten mummy) but Dad offered his instead.  She wasn't a fan of the raw carrot slivers on top of the icing, in fact she dramatically threw one on the floor, but I thought it was a lovely touch.  

This is the third year I have been for Afternoon Tea at the Pommery and, while I knew what to expect, it was completely different experience dining with a small child.  I was happy that she loved looking in the mirror and watching people coming and going and the attention from the staff, her squeals of excitement were fantastic. 

While the Pommery Bar is only open in August for the festival season there is a cafe open year round in the Signet Library, which also offers Afternoon Tea (without Champagne) so The Babe and I are already planning our return visit! 

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Baby Shower

I've been awake since 5:45 this morning...I don't know if it is baby related or the fact that the sun is shining through my rather thick curtains...either way...I'm up. Yesterday some friends threw me a lovely afternoon tea baby shower.  It was gorgeous...along the lines of the one we had before Christmas at my house...everyone brought something and we sat and chatted, ate, drank tea and whiled away the afternoon.  

The Spread, including my savoury platter with gougeres and artichoke bites

tomato and bacon tart 

cheese scones 

pea and asparagus flan 

the infamous MTB

banana cream pie

fruit scones with all the fixings

pear and ginger cake

mini cheesecakes with an Oreo and pretzel base

A truly lovely afternoon with some fantastic ladies and one of the cutest little men (3 month old Alfie) in all of Edinburgh.  

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Brown Velvet...Red Velvet Au Natural

The last few months have been pretty hectic over here in urban housewife world...we've officially moved out of our gorgeous (but totally freezing) rented flat and into our very own home.  We've been busy painting and buying furniture and trying to get things settled.  I say we...but really David has been doing most of the work because I've been busy baking...a bun! Between the new house and expecting a baby and all the organisation and work that comes with that and...oh our regular lives...I've just not had much inspiration lately.  

I can't decide if I want to stop posting altogether, or just take a break...or what. For the time being, though, I thought I'd give you a little look at the first cake baked in our new home...

I called this ridiculously heavy to carry (although light and fluffy) 3 layer monster my Brown Velvet cake.  It is, in reality, a red velvet without the food colouring.  In all honestly I had intended to make a red velvet cake...in fact I had my heart (and the baby's) set on a gorgeous 3 layer vivid red cake completely smothered in cream cheese icing...until I got to the grocery store and there was no red food dye to be seen.  Perhaps better for the baby in the long run...all those E numbers in combination with the sugar. 

Regardless, the cake turned out great.  It is terrifying baking in a new oven.  I am not happy that this oven in fan assisted with no option to turn the fan off (it is fan or grill or nothing)...but I remembered that I had read somewhere about turning the oven down 20 degrees for fan ovens (unless the temperature is given in the recipe). With fingers crossed and lots of hovering by the oven door I watched this cake rise nicely and retain it's domed top (triumph!).  A great first attempt, but I am sure disaster is lurking somewhere in the near future.  

Because all my cook books are still packed away somewhere in the many boxes crowding what will eventually becoming the nursery I used this recipe from Red Magazine online.  I liked that it used buttermilk (essential in any red velvet) and was pretty close to the Hummingbird Bakery recipe I usually use.  The recipe makes 2 20cm cakes in proper springform cake tines...not sandwich tins, so the finished cake is gigantic.  I ended up dividing the batter between 1 20cm tin and a 6 hole cupcake tin and then cutting the cake into 3 layers and saving the 6 cupcakes for the hard working David.  

Essentially *just* a chocolate cake...but totally not. 

Until Next Time...

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An Afternoon Tea Baby Shower

I hosted a baby shower for a fellow cake lady over the weekend.  It was small and intimate...but there were loads of goodies.

We had organised it so that everyone invited would bring something along...a pot luck tea party! It was, of course, a great excuse to use my tea set...and a fantastic way to while away a Sunday afternoon.  

My contribution was a platter of savouries...my mum's artichoke bites (recipe widely available), small egg salad sandwiches, David Lebovitz's Gougeres, and tomato and basil puffs.   I had halved both the artichoke and gougere recipe and in the end I wished I hadn't...they were both so perfectly savoury I wished I had left overs.  

This was a seriously perfect pot luck Afternoon Tea...we had the savouries, and then large fresh fruit scones (with all the trimmings) followed by rhubarb and cream cheesecake, bakewell tarts, Malteser traybake and my Scandinavian apricot sponge cake.  

To finish I picked up some shortbread moustaches from Pinnies and Poppyseeds a local shortbread biscuit producer.  We needed something a little bit masculine...our friend is expecting a wee boy.  Not only were these mos a little bit of fun, they were being sold to raise money for Movember...bonus.  

Check out my friend Alison's blog for pics of all the goodies...I was too busy making and pouring tea to snap any decent pics.  

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Choux Buns for Grandma Mary

David's Grandma Mary came to stay with us this past weekend. We planned lots of Grandma friendly things to do over the weekend, including a stroll through the Botanics, a concert at Usher Hall, a walk down (and up) the Royal Mile, lunch at a fancy restaurant, an afternoon movie on the couch with a late afternoon tea. 

We haven't spent nearly enough time with David's Grandma over the last couple of years because of the whole not living very close thing so we wanted to make our weekend really special.  I wanted to make her a little tea party to celebrate our time together...but also had to plan it carefully (around all of our walks and reservations and events).  I woke up early on Saturday and made a quick chocolate zucchini loaf for the cake bit, I had some scones in the freezer already for the scone bit, I reserved a chicken breast from Saturday's dinner for the sandwich bit and then whipped up a batch of choux buns for the pastry bit.  

Grandma Mary was a Home Economics teacher before she retired, so...even though I shouldn't have...I did feel a little bit nervous when I was mixing up the batter.  I halved a recipe I often use and managed to squeeze 6 buns out.  

To make them extra special I smeared them with pistachio cream and then filled with whipped cream. 

Dusted with icing sugar they were the perfect ending to an excellent weekend.  

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Road Tripping for Cake...Afternoon Tea in the Scottish Borders

Yesterday a handful of the Edinburgh Cake Ladies took to the road in search of cake.  2 cars of giddy ladies headed south into the Scottish Borders to Cammerlaws Farm where we were warmly welcomed by fellow cake lady Pam and her mum, Anne.  

photo courtesy of Alison

Pam and Anne have been thinking about opening up their farm house for Afternoon Tea and decided to road test it on some Cake Ladies...make sense.  

We were welcomed with a glass of prosecco and nibbles in the sitting room where we gabbed away until it was time for the main event.  In the dining room we were met with the most glorious site...cake stands piled high with dainty tea time treats PLUS 3 whole cakes on the side board! 

A selection of savouries including ham, cheese and celery, and cucumber sandwiches along with a cute little croissant filled with ham and camembert.  The scones were perfect, and the raspberry jam (award winning) and clotted cream were plentiful (very important).  I am ashamed to say I couldn't finish all my sweets, but the choux buns (filled with honeycomb cream), the shortbread and brownies were delicious, and I have it on good authority (David ate the leftovers I brought home) the meringues and rocky road were perfect.  

Before we tucked into the 3 large cakes on the side board we had a little walk around the farm (mainly to oooh and ahhhh over the newly born calves) to take in the countryside and make a bit of room for those cakes.  A Victoria Sponge, Maple and Pecan Tart and a lovely Clementine Cake were waiting for us when we returned from our walk.  More tea, more chat and more cake...how perfect. 

The day ran so smoothly you would have thought that Pam and Anne had been hosting tea parties on a regular basis.  Afternoon Tea at Cammerlaws Farm gets two sticky thumbs-up from me.  

For more information check out the Cammerlaws Farm Facebook page.  

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