Now, I'm not completely ga-ga over the little Prince (although he IS adorable!), but any excuse for cake, scones and tea is a good one. And so, without further ado, I present my hastily cobbled-together British High Tea recipes.
My first cake is a classic recipe, but with a bit of a twist! Feel free to substitute your own flavours here, I'm dying to try an orange butter cake next!
Rosewater Butter Cake
Feeds - Myself, Hungry Boyfriend and the Royal Family (roughly 8 slices of cake or 15 muffins)
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Total Cost: $3.20
Ingredients:
Cake:
- 1/3 cup butter, softened ($1 - $4.70/kg)
- 1/2 cup caster sugar (20c - $1.66/kg)
- 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour (45c - $1.85/2kg)
- 2 eggs (60c)
- 3/4 cup milk (20c- $1/L)
- 1 teaspoon rosewater essence (15c - $1.80/50mL)
Icing:
- 4 tablespoons icing sugar (40c - $1.80/500g)
- 2 tablespoons milk (10c - $1/L)
- 1/2 teaspoon rosewater essence (7c - $1.80/50mL)
Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Beat butter, sugar and rosewater essence until the mixture
is light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
4. Gradually stir in flour and milk, stirring continuously.
5. Pour into a greased cake tin (or muffin trays) and bake for
30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
6. For the icing, gradually add the milk to the icing sugar
whilst stirring continuously. Add the rosewater essence at the end.
7. Pour icing over cake (or muffins) once cooled.
And of course, what British High Tea would be complete without scones?
My scones(pictured) are what I like to call 'The Lazy-Woman's Drop Scones'. Before baking, you're technically supposed to knead out the scone dough and cut out little circles with a biscuit-cutter. Since I was A) too short on time/lazy to cut perfect circles out and B) short on actual biscuit-cutters (read: I don't have any), I simply scooped out a tablespoon of the mixture and plonked it onto a baking tray before baking. It's easier, but not quite as attractive, so if you're thinking of
having the Royal Family over, it's probably best to invest in
biscuit-cutters!
As always, I encourage you to mess around and try your own versions. Common variations are fruit scones with chopped sultanas or dates, spiced scones with cinnamon or allspice, chocolate scones or savoury scones with chopped olives, sundried tomatoes and/or Parmesan cheese.
The Lazy-Woman's Drop Scones
Feeds: Myself, Hungry Boyfriend and the Royal Family (12 scones)
Cooking Time: 5 minutes preparation time, plus 10 minutes per batch of scones.
Total Cost: $2.25
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups self-raising flour (75c - $1.85/2kg)
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar (40c - $1.80/500g)
- 1 cup milk (25c - $1/L)
- 2 large tablespoons butter (80c - $4.70/kg)
- 1 teaspoon imitation vanilla essence (less than 5c)
Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Combine flour and icing sugar.
3. Rub in butter with your fingertips (make sure you wash your hands before this part!) until the mixture loosely resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Make a hole in the middle of the 'breadcrumb' mixture (or a 'well' as professionals like to call it) and pour the milk and vanilla into the hole.
5. Mix together until everything has just combined. Don't keep mixing for ages, otherwise your scones won't have that wonderful fluffiness.
6. Using two tablespoons, drop a heaped tablespoon of mixture onto a lined baking tray, leaving plenty of room between drops (I was able to fit 4 tablespoons on mine).
7. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the scones sound hollow when tapped on top.
8. Serve buttered with tea, or with jam and cream if you prefer.
Best of luck with your tea party, and I'll be back very soon with some more cheap and tasty meals!
Lots of love,
(broke) Masterchef Mel
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