Having a birthday in lockdown definitely isn’t ideal BUT that doesn’t mean that it has to be completely ruined, it’s just a different kind of birthday (one you won’t forget in years to come).
Rach and I don’t live together so I contacted her boyfriend Tom and asked him what he though about me delivering an afternoon tea to their balcony (of course following the government guidelines). Now I know this isn’t deemed as ‘essential’ travel but we don’t live far away from one another and I really wanted to do something special for her.
I honestly had so much fun making Rachel’s birthday afternoon tea, the hardest part was not being able to tell her about it! I knew I had to present it in a way that I could assemble it at home before taking it over (so putting it on a platter without sides wasn’t going to do the job). I found a box at home and covered it with red gingham material and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out!
I knew that I wanted to do half sweet and half savoury but Rach isn’t a massive fan of sandwiches so I wanted to do something a little bit different! We always opt for a charcuterie board when we our out so I decided to incorporate this into the afternoon tea!
Sweet Treats
I found it really hard choosing which sweet treats to include in Rach’s afternoon tea and of course I wanted to make sure that I included some of her favourite flavours! The cakes I decided to make were mostly Mary Berry recipes and they were from her ‘Simple bakes’ book. The Raspberry & White chocolate muffins were a recipe I found on BBC Good Food.
- Lemon Drizzle Mini loaves
- Banana Loaf
- Raspberry & White Chocolate Muffins
- Scones
Savoury Goodies
I know in a traditional afternoon tea you would serve mini sandwiches, but Rach isn’t really a huge fan of sandwiches so I decided to switch it up a little bit! Instead I went for a cheese board/ charcuterie board as we love this kinds of food! You could literally put any kind of savoury snacks on this side of the board, or if you like sandwiches then definitely make some sandwiches!
- Mature cheddar cheese & stilton served with a chutney and freshly cut bread
- Selection of crackers
- Mixed olives
- Selection of cured meats
- Sausage rolls
- Grapes
Get creative and have fun when creating your afternoon tea! You could even do a breakfast/brunch banquet or a cheese and wine themed box!
