Category: High Tea

Raspberry & Lemon Shortcakes

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Baking has always been something I love doing. Especially to bake for people I love and just being able to see the smiles on their faces after they take a bite, warms my heart. So I try to bake something whenever I have the time and especially when there are special occasions or during the festive seasons! The house always smells the best during festive seasons, right? hehe

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I am always excited to try new products in the market, and when I was asked to try the new Anchor Cream range, I immediately said yes! The new Anchor Cream range is made with 100% Australian dairy (only the best across 34 dairy farms across Victoria) and have a few innovative features that would be helpful when cooking.

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It comes with a screw top lid which would help with easy storage and less messy drips & leaks! Also, the side of the bottle has measurement markers  that would help you with more precise pouring and easy measurements! Less wastage as you don’t have to pour into a measuring cup and also less to wash! WIN!

There’s 3 types of creams in this range which would suit every occasion of cooking or baking – thickened cream, thickened light cream and pure cream! They come in unique size bottles, with exact one cup (250ml) or 2 cups (500ml) which would help when following a recipe, hassle free!

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Walking the aisles of the supermarket, I was thinking about what I could make with these beautiful creams and found these huge, fresh and beautiful raspberries! So I decided to make some raspberry and lemon shortcakes!

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This recipe uses the pure cream in the shortcake and also the whipped thickened cream sandwiched in the middle. So it was a perfect recipe in my books! Hope you will enjoy it too!

Raspberry & Lemon Shortcake (Adapted from Raspberri Cupcakes)

2 cups plain flour

1 tbs baking powder

2 tbs packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

115g cold butter, cubed

3/4 cup pure cream

1 lemon

2 punnets of fresh raspberries

1/2 tbs packed brown sugar

1 tbs honey

1/2 cup thickened cream

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Steps :

1) Preheat the oven to 210 degrees celcius. In a large bowl, add the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and cold butter. Using the tip of your fingers, rub the butter into the flour mixture until a sandy mixture is achieved. Don’t worry if there are still a few lumps of butter.

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2) Slowly add the pure cream into the mixture and using a spatula, mix the cream until the dry mixture is just moistened.

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3) Zest the lemon. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and add the lemon zest. Lightly knead the dough till it comes together.

4) Pat the dough till about 1 1/2cm thick and using a 6cm scone cutter, cut the dough into the 7/8 portions. Place them on a lined baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the tops are browned.

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5) Transfer them to a wired rack to cool.

I made the shortcakes two different ways. One with just the fresh raspberry as it is, and one with a tangy raspberry coolie almost. I liked both, but the coolie gave it a very refreshing touch and the tanginess made you go back for more! So try both, or either (whichever you prefer!) and would love to hear what you think about them!

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6) To make the raspberry coolie : In a small pot, place 1 punnet of raspberries, brown sugar, juice of 1/2 lemon and honey. On a low heat, stir the mixture till the raspberries are about to break down. Remove from heat and sit it in a bowl of ice water (to cool it completely before platting). This could be done a day before, keeping it in a jar in the fridge.

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7) In a medium bowl, place the thickened cream and vanilla bean paste and whisk till stiff.

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8) To serve : Cut the shortcake into half and place the whipped vanilla cream onto the top and place the fresh raspberries or raspberry coolie, serving with the other half placed on top. Best served immediately!

Enjoy! (:

Have a great week ahead everyone! It’s the season to be jolly, so go grab yourself some of the Anchor Cream and make this for the festive season! hehe

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Remember to always bake and cook with love! xx

PS: Do note that the Anchor Cream range is only exclusively available at Woolworths Nationwide!

PPS : Thank you KeepLeft PR for the opportunity to try out the Anchor Cream range. All thoughts and opinions are based on my own experience. Thank you again for this wonderfully opportunity!

Eclair Affair

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High tea. Something I love but I don’t do it too often. Nothing beats sitting around a table of delicious sweets and savouries, sipping on champagne or tea, chatting with a group of your closest girlfriends! I was lucky enough to be invited by Q Strategies to the Lobby Lounge at The Westin for their Eclair Affair with Daisy & Agnes!

Domaine Chandon

There are two options available for this delicious high tea. $49 per person is served with Vittoria coffee, hot chocolate or a selection of Jing Tea. $59 per person includes 1 glass of Domaine Chandon and also with coffee, tea or hot chocolate!

Jing tea

As I couldn’t have the champagne, I decided to order a fruit tea to accompany the 3 tiered spread we were having! I love the different selection of teas there are. There’s black, green, white and fruity! (:

Eclair Affair

And what’s special about this high tea you ask? It’s served with a range of both savoury and sweet eclairs and also some scones! Choux pastry is something I love, especially when it’s thin and buttery. I actually prefer the savoury eclairs more than the sweet ones!

Eclair Affair

The savoury eclairs include :

Mushroom pate with pickled shemiji

Hame, comte cheese, confit tomato and grainy Dijon aioli

Smoked duck, gorgonzola, pear, caramelised walnut and rocket

Prawn, avocado and sweet chilli jam

Goat cheese with pesto

My favourite was the prawn and avocado with the slight kick of the sweet chilli jam. A really good balance of sweet, salty and creamy! YUMMO!

Sweet eclairs

The sweet eclairs include :

Strawberry & Lime

Passionfruit and White Chocolate

Pistachio and Fig

Chocolate & Caramel

I was really excited when I heard about the pistachio and fig, but sadly the one I had wasn’t filled! But I did enjoy the chocolate and caramel one the most! hehe It’s one of my favourite combinations, so definitely can’t go wrong! hehe

Scones

Last but definitely not the least, scones! It wouldn’t be high tea without scones, in my opinion! There’s a serve of vanilla scones and fruit scones! I actually love vanilla scones more with a dollop of cream and jam! Till now, I’m not sure what the right way of having scones. Cream first or jam first? hehe I mix them around and is different every time I have it! hehe

Eclair Affair

So if you’re looking for something different from the usual high tea, so head to the Westin to give this a go! With really comfy sofa seats and a beautiful ambience, it’s definitely somewhere you can consider going with your girlfriends or loved ones! But be quick cause this is only till the 30th of June!

Eclairs are definitely the new cupcakes and macarons! So get in quick! hehe

Disclaimer : I was invited to the Eclair Affair by the Westin and Q Strategies. All thoughts and opinions are based on my experience at the time of the visit. Thank you so much for this wonderful experience and opportunity!

 

Vogue Australia High Tea

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The Spring races are here! And the best way of celebrating this designer fashionista event is to dine in style! hehe The Langham Hotel has collaborated with Vogue Australia to come up with this beautiful designer Vogue High Tea! To me, high tea is a time to get together with your girlfriends to have tea, coffee, champagne and a spread of savouries and sweets! Of course, not forgetting the girly gossipy session to go with! haha Due to all the different work commitments, it’s really hard to arrange a meal, let alone to have High Tea. Fortunately for me, I had a date with the Sweet Queen (Miss D) herself at the Aria Bar & Lounge, The Langham Hotel, for the Vogue High Tea! I was so excited as it’s been a long long time since I had High Tea. Such a treat!

Upon arrival, we were greeted by the warmest and friendliest staff, who brought us to our comfortable sofa seats and served us a flute of Domain Chandon NV Brut! I felt so classy and bubbly for the afternoon! Such a silly billy I am. But it doesn’t take much to make me happy, as you can tell. hehe

Paris tea

Of course, you can’t have a High Tea without having tea, can you? There was an extensive list of tea, but Miss D highly recommended the Paris tea. hehe It’s a blend of black teas with the hints of vanilla, fruit and lemony bergamot. We were told that this was a hot favourite with many customers!

Paris tea

I knew why after my first sip. It was nice and fruity, and and a very subtle taste of vanilla. Not overly tart or sharp. Perfect for the afternoon of treats! How pretty is the colour of the tea?

Hot chocolate

Daisy ordered a hot chocolate to start off, then an earl grey tea after! The hot chocolate was a tad bit too milky, and would be better if it was more chocolatey!

3 tiered displayed

Then the three tiered stand arrived. My eyes inevitably lit up and a wide grin on my face appeared! hehe How pretty is the stand?? I couldn’t wait to dig in!

sandwiches

We started from the bottom of savouries and worked our way to the top. There were 5 types of finger sandwiches : smoked salmon pin wheel, free range chicken, cucumber and cress, egg & mayonnaise, cream cheese & chive! My favourite was the smoked salmon and the chicken! Mmmm (: Thankfully I had a light lunch before, or else I wouldn’t have space for what’s to come! hehe

scones!

The second layer was my favourite of the layers! Freshly baked scones with clotted cream, butter and jam. The scones were absolutely divine! Crumbly outside and fluffy & moist on the inside! Just everything you would love in a scone. I think there is only one thing that goes perfectly well with scones and thats thick and luscious clotted cream! Ooh la la! At this point, there’s this phrase that just keeps ringing in my head “Once it’s on your lips, goes straight to your hips!” haha Well, who cares! It’s scones! Mmmm!

Scones

Now with scones, do you have the jam first or the cream first? To me, it has always been jam first then cream, but just for that day, I decided to try the other way around. To be perfectly honest, either way is still as delicious!!! haha But do you have a preference? hehe

Sweets

The top tier offers a range of beautiful sweets! Definitely was spoilt for choice and we didn’t know where to begin! We decided to start with the chocolate macarons, which were a tad bit too crispy for me. But the chocolate ganache was delish! Then we made our way through the Vogue strawberry eclair, lamington bonbons, lace cookies, very vanilla cupcakes and ended the afternoon with the salted caramel popcorn tarts that were YUMMILICIOUS!

top view of our sweets tier

I apologise for the yellow tinge of my photos! The yellow light was just right above the tier! hehe but this is a top view of our sweets spread. The lace cookie was so pretty! hehe

So dress up, and plan a day with your girlfriends! Head down to the Vogue high tea and enjoy a whole afternoon of indulgence and pampering in style! The high tea is held at the Aria Bar & Lounge in the Langham, from now till the 8th of November, from 10:30am to 4:30pm at $65 per head.

Book soon cause not long to go! (: We all deserve an afternoon like that for sure!

Disclaimer : I was invited by Daisy of Never Too Sweet and Langham to have the Vogue High Tea at the Aria Bar & Lounge, Langham. All thoughts and opinions are based on my experience at the time of the visit. Thanks so much for this opportunity and afternoon treat!