Our Love Of Teacups...

Tea Is A Cup Of Life

EAT MORE CAKE ... 

Feeling Fruity?

These are our new summer berry tarts! You must try these simple and delicious tarts yourself - perfect for a light summer pud or even a garden party canapé. 

The beauty about our summer berry tarts is that they are SO SIMPLE & quick to make - perfect if you need a last minute dessert to take to your friends BBQ. 

What you will need...

• Deep 12 case muffin tray 
• 3 sheets of Filo Pastry 
• 1 pot of Clotted Cream 
• 100ml Milk 
• Punnet of blueberries
• Punnet of raspberries 
• Handful of cranberries 
• Handful of blackberries 
• Strawberry Jam (or raspberry) 
• Icing sugar for dusting

Cut your filo pastry sheets into 12 equal squares. You should now have 1 square of pastry per muffin case. 

Peel away each layer and place into muffin tray layering them at different angles so they stand tall/spiked. 

Glaze with milk and place in oven @ 180'c for exactly 10 minutes - it's important not to go over this time as they burn very easily. 

While your cases are in the oven you can make your summer berry mixture (again very simple!) 

Place all your different berries into a heat proof bowl leaving a handful of whole berries to one side - microwave for 30 seconds until fruit is easy to mix together into a sort of paste. 

Place two spoons of good quality jam into the fruit mixture and stir well. 

Add your whole berries and mix them in. 

Your cases should now be cooked - leave them to cool for 15 minutes. 

Once cool, spoon your berry mixture equally into each case 

Once you're happy with that - get your clotted cream and place a generous spoonful on top of each tart and dust with icing sugar. 

Chill once they are done or serve straight away (preferably with a glass of prosecco) 

Beautifully simple & sweet - we hope you enjoy them :) 

When Life Gives You Lemons....

After a wonderful sunny weekend we are looking forward to another glorious week! The road works are no longer here causing mayhem, the sun is shining - life is pretty good in Farnham. 

We are always trying new things here at the cake house; recently we have perfected our Home-made Lemonade recipe to something of an art.. you wont taste lemonade like it anywhere else. 

Home-made Lemonade is a perfect British Summertime drink to enjoy with a BBQ or take on a picnic so we would love to share our extremely simple, easy and effective recipe with you so you can try yourselves at home and enjoy a glass in the sunshine this week! 

Vintage Lemonade 

• Ingredients 
• 6 (unwaxed) Lemons 
• 150g caster sugar 
• 150 ml boiled water 
• Crushed ice 
• 1 cup of cold water 

Method 

Grate 6 lemons into a bowl put to one side

Slice your grated lemons in half and place in a microwave proof bowl 

Place in the microwave for about 1 minute - this will make ALL the juice come out in one squeeze. (Dont worry about pips etc going into the bowl you will sieve later) 

Once all the juice is squeezed over the grated zest, mix together and leave to one side while you make the sugar syrup

Pour 150ml boiled water over 150g caster sugar - mix until all sugar is dissolved

Pour your sugar syrup over your lemon juice and mix together - test the taste & add more sugar to sweeten

Once mixed - using a sieve pour mixture into a jug discarding all the zest/pips

Place jug in the freezer for 45mins 

While your mixture is cooling place a tray of ice into a blender and whizz until you have a nice amount of crushed ice.

Once your mix is cooled you can dilute with a cup of cold water

Pour over crushed ice and enjoy on a hot summers day! 

Handy Tip

The trick to a good lemonade is to get the sugar/lemon ratio just right - you don't want it sickly sweet nor do you want it too sour! Make sure you taste as you go and also that all your sugar is dissolved before adding to the lemon juice. You can always add a little bit of sparkling water to give it a little fizz... or a drop of gin if you're feeling cheeky ;) 

Enjoy 

WHERE THERE'S TEA, THERE'S HOPE ...

We apologise for being so quiet but now we can safely say we are back on the old blog! It has been a hectic few months to say the least...

The new road works in Farnham are not fun! It must be frustrating for all the drivers in and out of the town - but even more so for all the traders on Downing Street. It has been badly organised (I feel a strong worded letter to Waverley Council coming on..) to the point where traffic is gridlocked for hours & large lorries are nearly reversing through our window! A lot of businesses are being affected as footfall is becoming less and the traffic becoming worse... With no support or compensation from the councils we have been left in the lurch as it were. 

I find this quote very appealing and true ... 

SO remember - if you are stuck in the traffic on Downing Street - pop in and grab a take away slice of cake to eat in your car or a cup of tea to calm your weary nerves, because 'Where there's tea, there's hope'! 

On the plus side,  Downing Street is becoming a great little collection of local independent businesses  - the beauty of Downing Street is every shop is different and if you take a wander down this old, Victorian street you will see and abundance of quirky, unique shops from your local green grocer to butchers, mens clothes shops, gift shops and of course... the only vintage tearoom in Farnham ;) 

The Wagon car park on Downing Street is open and so are all your local businesses... 

What are your views on the local roadworks? We would love to hear your opinions and if you have found it difficult getting into town? 

Blast From The Past

This February we are holding one of our biggest events! Obviously Valentines Day is going to be fab - but why just celebrate one occasion in this glorious month?

Each Saturday in the month of Feb you will be transported through four fantastic era's which we feel need celebrating! 

Saturday 2nd February - 1920's 

Time for our Speakeasy styled Tearoom in the Roaring Twenties -  Jazz music, the Charleston (non alcoholic) Cocktails and much more!

Saturday 9th February - 1940's

Travel back to the time of 'mend and make do' with the land-girls who run the tearoom ;) Food ration books & classic British dishes all round! 

Saturday 16th February - 1950's 

Visit our classic 50's style American diner - giant milkshakes, vinyl records & Elvis Presley! 

Saturday 23rd February - 1960's 

Join us in the Swinging Sixties - a time of peace, love and some seriously good music! 

We hope you can join us for our fun February event! 

Spiced Pear & Sultana Muffins

These sweet, filling healthy muffins are perfect for a breakfast bite or just a light snack in the afternoon!

Here is our tried and tested recipe (they are truly scrumptious)! 

For the dry mixture: 

100g self raising flour

1 tsp mixed spice

2 tsp ground cinnamon

30g oats 

1tsp baking powder

50g caster sugar 

2 pears 

25g sultanas 

For the wet mixture: 

1 egg

5 tbl milk 

50g melted butter 

Makes 12

Bake 20 mins @ 180c  (fan oven) 

Sift the flour into a bowl, add the spices and mix together. Stir in the sugar, oats and baking powder. Add your diced pears and sultanas & mix together. You should now have a bowl of dry mixture. 

Hand whisk your single egg in a bowl, add 5 table spoons of milk as you go. Melt 50g of butter in a small bowl and add this to the wet mixture. 

Pour wet mix over your dry mix and fold together. The key to a light muffin mixture is to mix them together with only a few folds to keep as much air in the mixture as possible. Using a large metal spoon helps - don't worry if the mixture hasn't fully blended together! 

Pour mixture into 12 muffin cases (If you have silicon muffin cases these work best as they peel away easily and leave you with a free standing muffin - normal muffin cases are fine as well). 

Bake for 20 mins @ 180C 

Very quick and easy recipe to follow - try mixing & matching your ingridients - cranberry's/blueberry's/apple/almonds/walnuts etc! 

You can also make these muffins gluten free by substituting the flour for ground almonds or rice flour.

You can find a picture of our home-made muffins on our Facebook page :) 

We hope you enjoy these tasty treats!