Lemon lavender drizzle cake

July 3, 2015 | Kristie NB

I have been working on my garden this summer and planted a lot of lavender and it smells amazing! I’m going to harvest it at the end of summer to make little smelly sachets. Well – it is on my list of things to do – but we will see!

light and fluffy.. perfect combination of two great flavours

Anyway, it inspired me today to make a little twist on the lemon drizzle cake with lavender. Lemon and lavender are both strong flavours so what better than a Lemon lavender drizzle cake.

Ingredients:

175gm butter

175gm golden caster sugar

3 eggs

175gm self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cooking lavender

2 tbsp lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice

Syrup:

4 tbsp caster sugar

Juice of one lemon

1 tsp lavender

Instructions:

Cream butter and sugar

Gradually add egg, careful not to split the butter mix

Add the lemon, mix in

Sieve flour, baking powder and mix lavender with dry ingredients, mix into butter mix with metal spoon.

Add a little water (tbsp) to loosen batter and pour into greased/lined tin.

Bake at 180 for 30-35min.

Let cool and pour syrup over top.

Rowan’s Garden Centre: Fruit Smoothie in the countryside

July 3, 2015 | Kristie NB

Millions of peaches… Peaches for me…

Today’s stop off included the dog and has a dual purpose, firstly the job of finding out how to save my apple trees from the terrible fungus that is killing my apples this year, and secondly to have lunch!

Rowan Garden Centre in Chalfont St Giles is the perfect spot as it is smack bang in the country side, they are dog friendly and the cafe is great for a bite to eat.

The food is very simple, but tasty and freshly made sandwiches. Today as it was so hot it only seemed right that I tried one of their summer smoothies. Peach and Strawberry – very refreshing!

Best thing about this place is the view – no traffic, just fields and horses. A perfect Friday afternoon.

Cinnamon Square: The best tea and cake in Rickmansworth

June 30, 2015 | Kristie NB

I’ve been living in Chorleywood for 3 years now and feel a bit embarrassed that I have never been to this place. I have always been a bit diss appointed with Rickmansworth, a town dominated by Cafe Nero and Costa.

But yesterday, after our Baby Sensory class I went to Cinammon Square looking for a little afternoon treat.

I had the Bruschetta first, because if you have your Veges then it’s ok to have dessert.

The bread was a little hard, but that is what you get with sourdough, but the flavouring was lovely, really tasty tomatoes and fresh basil. It didn’t feel too oily either which often is what Bruschetta can be.

For my sweet treat, I was tempted by the red velvet cupcake. It was lovely. Really light and fluffy and the cream cheese icing was gorgeous, not too sickly which they sometimes can be.

Their selection of cakes and pastries could rival any French patisserie, it is all made by them and they have fresh bread too.

I definitely recommend for lunch or afternoon tea and cake.

Simple vanilla cupcakes

June 25, 2015 | Kristie NB

I am funny about cupcakes. I don’t like them masquerading as afternoon tea. They have their place, and are tasty, but don’t belong in afternoon tea.

Having said that, I made some wonderful vanilla cupcakes last week.

They are so easy, in fact almost the same as my Victoria sponge recipe.

I made them in the evening, baby was asleep, dog had his bone. Husband at the pub.

One mistake was not hiding them as seems someone got the munchies after the pub and my dozen cupcakes were a lonely 8 by morning.

Ingredients:

110gm butter

110gm caster sugar

110gm self raising flour

2 eggs

1-2 tbsp milk.

Vanilla

1. Cream butter and sugar

2. Beat eggs and gradually add to butter/sugar mix.

3. Add vanilla

4 fold in flour with metal spoon

5. Add a little milk to give it a smoother texture

6. Spoon into cupcake tins and bake at 180degrees in fan oven for 12-15 min – or until skewer is clean when tested.

7. Ice with whatever you fancy!

Done!

Changes are coming…

June 15, 2015 | Kristie NB

So as you will see, there are plenty of changes happening at Alice’s Tea Garden. While we aren’t able to host Tea Parties in your home at the moment, we are still celebrating and enjoying afternoon tea, and our blog is going to try and help you do it more too!

While on maternity leave what better to do than be a professional afternoon tea’er?!

I’m also making some design changes to my blog… but what you can expect is:

1. Weekly reviews & recommendations on afternoon tea venues around Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and London.
2. Weekly recipes for afternoon tea ideas
3. Some mum fun… so now as a new mum I try to have as much fun as I can with my little one so will share our experiences…

Well nap time is almost over, must make a cuppa before the little one wakes..