Queen of hearts desserts

The desserts for my queen of hearts tea were super easy.

(I really liked my black and white tiered teacup tray for this party!)

The "unbirthday" cake cupcakes I decorated with "painting the roses red" icing.  Its super easy to get the striped look--I just take a chopstick and put some food coloring on the tip, put it on one side of the icing once it is already in the bag (or in my case, my Wilton's cheating decorating pump thing) then pull it out, dragging the coloring.

The white cake recipe is a cheat that I found on the internet (at Recipe Girl, here) that uses a white box cake as its base.  I've used it a couple times and it is always super moist.  It calls for vanilla extract, but adding almond and/or orange would also work well. I think I added a bit of almond to this batch with the vanilla. 

Next up are the "knaves of hearts" chocolate dessert which were also super easy.  I made a boxed brownie, cut out hearts with a slightly smaller heart cookie cutter.  I spread some Nutella on one heart and topped it with another.  A quick batch of ganache (good quality chocolate I melted in my chocolate melting pot and added a bit of heavy cream) spooned on top and let cool, and there we go!  I did keep these in the fridge.

The "stolen tarts" are a simple shortbread/butter cookie recipe I've used several times that works well with a cutter (from Allrecipes here).  This is a great go to cookie cutter recipe.  Before cooking, I pressed my thumb in the cookie to make an indent, added jam, and done!  

Queen of Hearts and a very unbirthday Tea

I haven't thrown a tea party since the last time I was updating this blog (so 2017 probably), but this past February I had a Queen of Hearts themed tea for my unbirthday birthday!  My friend's daughter (almost 3) enjoys having pretend tea parties and I knew I had to invite her over for a "real" tea party before she moves to Texas (which is now happening next month, so I am super glad I was able to have this party before all the shut downs).

The adults had two types of teas, Mad Hatter (which I bought at Disneyworld at the Grand Floridian where they serve an afternoon tea) and a blooming tea.

 The children had their own menu with Strawberry Lemonade and Hot Chocolate.

I was super excited I found a whole set of Alice in Wonderland paper tea products on Amazon that I ordered for the party.  There were three designs on the plates:

The clock,

Alice,

and the White Rabbit.

Tea started with a glass of sparkling strawberry wine (for the adults) or pomegranate sparkling cider

before I brought out the savories:

ham and cheddar croissants on a separate plate,

with the remainder on a three tiered tray.

I was really proud how the cucumber roses came out.  They weren't all that difficult--I found a how to on the internet for making a cucumber rose garnish.

I had looked all over for some flamingo picks for the egg salad and finally found a pack at Michaels.  These were the perfect picks to go with the egg salad croquet balls from the Queen of Hearts favorite game.

Next for the scones--berries and chocolate

and vanilla bean.

Next up dessert, but I'll share more on them in a different post.

 Before guests took their favors, little boxes of chocolates.

And remember, it's always tea time!

A Springtime Fantasy Teatime

Well, I'm definitely ready for spring (and the weather where I live keeps osculating between 70 and 30s/40s), so when my sister mentioned she wanted to go to tea with a couple of her friends and my mom suggested that I could just throw her one, I immediately jumped to ideas for pretty pastels and flowery china!

After I found the pretty unicorn cards on sale, I knew they would be perfect for this whimsical tea.

Guests were asked to choose a hat,

(some of the hats my mother and I made a couple of years ago)

and were given a glass of sparkling wine with blood orange and passion fruit flavors.

I set the table with different Royal Albert trios, the following four I found at Homegoods!

(Rose confetti)

(Love lilac from the Candy collection)

(Gratitude from the Miranda Kerr collection)

(Sitting Pretty from the Candy collection)

I think this is my first time using the pretty silverplate spreaders I found that look so nice with my flatware. 

Below is the menu for this tea:

Tea sandwiches:

carrot cake on cinnamon raisin bread, ham salad butterflies, curry chicken on a croissant, and cucumber flower sandwiches.

I served a black tea with roses and orange petals I purchased a couple of years ago in a small shop in Provins, France.

I served tea with cream and these cute pink teapot shaped sugar "cubes."

Next, scones served with clotted cream and Victoria plum jam, vanilla bean

and one of my classics, lemon cherry.

After the scone coarse I put a blooming tea on the table.  It was the first time my sister's guests had seen one and they seemed to really enjoy watching it opening up.

And, now that we were pretty stuffed, it was time for dessert!

(A new Christmas gift--a cheeky pink tiered tray!)

Starting at the top, lemon blueberry cheesecakes, Neapolitan cupcakes, and raspberry iced shortbread cookies.

Each guest also received a small favor of a chocolate and a teabag.  I used some left over black and white bags I already had, and found a pink decoration on sale at Michaels.

(Lady Carlyle)

This tea was really easy to put together and I really enjoyed mixing all the pastels with some colored glass water goblets and a pink glass creamer sugar. 

Thanks for joining me and "May all your dreams come true"!

An Afternoon Tea in Paris

Paris isn't for changing planes, it's... it's for changing your outlook, for... for throwing open the windows and letting in... letting in la vie en rose.

Sabrina (1954)

 

I've been wanting to do a French themed tea party for awhile, and I was so excited to have the chance to host last Saturday for a new Meetup tea party group I joined.  Tea is a wonderful way to make new friends or enjoy time with old, so please join me for An Afternoon Tea in Paris!

First a bit of mood music:

(As a side note, I heard La vie en rose played on the accordion while walking around Paris--it was such a lovely moment)

 

I see life in rosy hues ~La Vie en Rose, Edith Piaf

(also translated as I see life through rose colored glasses)

 



 



I had an variety of different settings in rosy hues on the table:

(Royal Albert's Lady Carlyle)

(French Limoges)

(French Limoges)

(Royal Albert's Cheeky Pink--one of my favorite sets)

(a Japanese set with pretty pink roses)

(Royal Albert's Lavender Rose)

(Paragon's Victoriana Rose)

 

Guests were greeted with a sparkling strawberry wine (because you have to serve wine at a French tea party) while we waited for stragglers. 

 

At each place setting above you can see a card with the Eiffel tower on the front, which served as the menu for the tea:

 

 

Starting with savories:

 

 





I really liked how the cucumber crème fromage (cream cheese) canapés turned out:

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture devoted to the quiche Lorraine and quiche Florentine I also served on little bread and butter plates. 

Next scones:

lavender

 

 and oranges and berries.

I had the most fun with the desserts for this tea, both just looking on the internet for ideas (so many beautiful and delicious things to choose from) as well as learning how to make them.

(This is the last set on the table that I didn't share earlier--Shelley's Stocks)

 

First, the madeleine's de commercy that I made with Julia Child's recipe,

 



 

and my crowning achievement--French macarons!

I have been wanting to make these for over a year, and finally worked up the courage!  I decided on strawberry flavored with just a hint of champagne.

 

Finally, here is a glimpse at the favors.  I collected tea bags while I was in France from the different hotels we stayed at and put one in each of the gift bags.  I also included a dark chocolate covered crepe purchased from Angelina's (a famous Parisian tea salon). 

 



Thanks so much for joining me!  I will be sharing recipes and other ideas from this tea all this week, including the recipe I finally got to work for me for the macarons, so please stop back by.  This tea party is linked at the below tea parties:

Tea Cup Tuesday ~ http://www.marthasfavorites.com/
Tuesday Cuppa Tea~ http://www.antiquesandteacups.info/

Bernideen's Friends Sharing Tea 

Rose Chintz Cottage's Tea Time Tuesday