Penny Reviews: Restaurants- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Afternoon Tea

*Note:This week is a little different as I'm reviewing a restaurant that served afternoon tea*

(Image Credit:http://www.onealdwych.com/food-drink/afternoon-tea)

I turned another 20-something this year, and got a special treat for my birthday. After doing a little research on the best afternoon teas in London, I found a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Afternoon Tea at One Aldwych in Covent Garden, which looked much like the Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea that I have attended before. This time I went with my friend Sofia.

Entering the hotel, we were shown to the Indigo Restaurant by the friendly staff, seated and the menu explained. The staff asked if we were preferred just tea, champagne or a Cocktail Charlie. Sofia and I went for a Cocktail Charlie, which consisted of Scotch Whiskey (Sofia went booze free), grapefruit juice, cherry syrup and chocolate bitters. It was sweet and smooth on the tongue, may I say that it looked pretty awesome! I believe that it was dry ice that made it delightfully smoky.  

Next the savoury selection entered our sight, the presentation was minimal and clean. The selection itself was pretty standard for an afternoon tea, but executed very well. I was impressed very much with the leek and stilton quiche, which was Sofia's favourite too. We thought that we could have used more savoury items, however, the staff were very patient in explaining that we could request more, if we pleased. And we did. Quite a lot! We ordered about 8 quiches and lots more smoked salmon and herb creme friache sandwiches. I mean, we really took the piss and ordered lots more savouries as we felt the initial portion wasn't really enough. 

After 2 more savoury orders, we asked if we could have the sweet course. Again without missing a beat, the staff asked if we would like tea. We both finished our cocktails and opted for different teas. I wanted English Garden, which was a refreshing mix of lemon, spearmint, cornflour and strawberry. While Sofia opted for the Sugarcane Black and Mango Noir teas. 

A short while later the sweet course arrived, and it looked stunning! I went straight for the candy floss, which tasted like rhubarb and custard.

I moved up to the lemon cake pops, which also had a dusting of freeze dried raspberry, which was a little disappointing as it was a regular cake pop and I felt that the lemon could have been more pronounced. 

Eton mess was sweet, creamy and looked very appealing. The chocolate caramel milk was one of my favourites, as it was like drinking a mini milkshake, which hinted at sticky caramel.

One of the coolest parts of the afternoon tea was the golden egg, that was filled with vanilla and mango cheesecake. I don't actually like cheesecake, but this was so delicious. I was surprised to see real vanilla seeds in the mixture with a mango layer on top of the egg. The chocolate was thickly layered so it was hard to break but worth it.

Next were the scones, they were nice, soft and served with clotted cream and apple compote. Next I tried the blueberry broiche, which I thought was a little dry but I added for apple compote to make up for it. One of the best treats, was the cocoa bean financier, which was a small brownie shapped in a cocoa bean. It was sticky, sweet and warm chocolatey goodness in a small package. 

Overall, I felt compared to other afternoon teas I have been too, the food was lovely with a good variety, but I felt that the treats could have more unusual considering that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is so wacky in the book. Also, I felt that the price was a little high for the quality of food that we got (£49 for a cocktail afternoon tea). The staff are definitely the reason I would come back again, they were attentive and they sung me happy birthday too, with a little cake! They really made the effort to make the day special. 

 Thanks for reading.

The Cake and Bake Show Haul 2015

Well I've had fun! Stuffing my face with cake and free samples. Did any of you readers get the chance to visit the Cake and Bake Show in London this year? My friend Lucy and I are making this an annual 'thing' (You can read last years post here). I was hoping that I would do a video on it... until my camera broke.

Thats right. On the one day of filming I REALLY  needed a good camera... erg. Tech. Such is life. I thought I would do a blog post on what I purchased.

Firstly, food because... food. I grabbed some Emily Apple and Banana Fruit crisps. But these are the best crisps I've ever had. They were just soft enough in texture not to be soggy but crisp enough to crunch on and not break your teeth. The flavours are true fruit flavours. Seriously, totally worth buying! 

I got a super weird gizmo. Its a peeler. BUT NOT JUST A PEELER! Its a julienne vegetable and fruit peeler with a cool attachment to make noodles from veg. Lucy was full on impressed with this, that she didn't hesitate in buying it. I was convinced to get one also and the peeler does assist me in daily cooking tasks.

I also got a new piping bag and nozzles... pretty standard. 

For my Halloween bakes this year, I got some pretty sprinkles and cupcake cases from one of my personal favourite places to shop, Scrumptious. I bought some green, purple and orange sprinkles as well as some jazzy violet sprinkles. They have a great selection of sprinkles, decorating materials and cases. I did get some adorable ghostly cupcake cases as well as some Christmasy ones (don't judge me I know its only October). 

To stuff my face with, I got marshmallows from both 'The Marshmallowist' and 'The Marshmallow Company'. From the Marshmallowist, I got strawberry and basil, blueberry and gin, lemon and coconut flavours. Now, I must be truthful, the flavours didn't really come through apart from the coconut. I haven't tried 'The Marhmallow Company' marshmallows yet but I will do and will add what I think here.

I did get some special icing sugars, like I do every year, from another one of my favourite companies: Sugar and Crumbs. I bought: 'Santa's Snowball' which tastes like white chocolate and marshmallows (yum!!), 'Christmas Punch' which tastes like mulled wine and lastly, 'Apple Crumble'... which is what you expect. They make great buttercreams, or as a substitute for caster sugar in cakes.  

Great Autumnal Recipes

If your looking for recipes to try during this season of change, or if you want to try something fun when the nights are drawing in, try these fun cakes and bakes.

Apple Juice Cupcakes

Pizza Chunk Biscuits

Banoffee Cupcakes

Pissaladiere

 Apple Cake

Soda Bread

Dutch Apple Tart

Chocolate Orange Tart

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate

Fat Friday #17 Autumn Strudel

Welcome to that time of the week! It's Fat Friday! This weeks recipe is a great recipe to do with a friend, as you'll need some help with the strudel pastry. Its tons of fun to stretch and play with!

Recipe: Makes 4 large or 8 small strudels

Strudel Pastry:
·       250g Plain flour, sieved
·       1 egg
·       30ml vegetable oil
·       25g melted butter, plus a little extra
·       113ml water
·       100g poppy seeds

Spiced Apples:

·       3 apples cored, peeled and cut into chunks
·       20g raisins
·       20g apricots cut into pieces
·       100g granulated sugar
·       30g water
·       A pinch of cinnamon

Equipment:
·       Chopping Board
·       Saucepan
·       Wooden Spoon
·       Measuring Jug
·       Teaspoon
·       Tablespoon
·       Timer
·       Baking sheet lined with silicone paper
·       Pastry Brush
·       Fork
·       Loaf tin lined with silicone paper
·       Knife

Apple Filling

1.Place all of the filling ingredients in a saucepan and cook until apples are cooked through and the mixture is slightly mushy.
2.Put aside in bowl to cool and place into the strudel pastry.

Strudel pastry

1.Sieve the flour into a bowl.
2.Add the egg, oil, water and butter and mix with your hands to form a dough.
3.Knead for 5 minutes until elastic.
4.Rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
5.Once rested, roll the pastry out on a floured surface until ½ inch thick.
6.Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3/ 170c/325f
7.Stretch the dough by hand until it is as thin as paper.
8.Brush the pastry with a little melted butter

9.Cut the pastry into long oblongs. Spoon in the apple filling across a little of the pastry and roll into a cracker shape.
10.Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with poppy seeds.
11.Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes

What other flavours do you like in strudel?

Fat Friday #15 Apple Crumble Tartlets

Welcome to Friday and on Cupcakes, Cake and Passion its Fat Friday. The day were food rules the day. This week its an autumnal dinner party dessert which can be made a little in advance. The pastry is called pate brisee, which is a short crust French sweet pastry. You can put any fruit in the tartlets, use any fruit you would use in a crumble. I have to apologise for the lack of pictures. When I'm in the middle of pastry class, I do forget to take pictures. I'm going to try to remember, so my bad!

 

Recipe: Makes 4 (Recipe provided by my pastry tutor)

Pate Brisee:

·250g soft flour

·205g very cold butter

·5g salt

·55g ice cold water

Apple Mixture:
    ·3 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

·125g blackberries

·2 tablespoons cinnamon

·50g sugar

Caramel:
    · 200g sugar
    ·25ml water
    ·100g double cream
    ·100g butter

Crumble mixture:

    ·300g flour
    ·200g butter
    ·100g sugar

Equipment:

· Bowl
· Saucepan
·Jug
·Wooden spoon
·Rolling pin
·Knife
· Chopping board
·4 small round tins
·Baking beans
·Baking sheet lined with silicon paper
·Cling film
·Fork

For the Pastry

1.Rub the flour, salt and butter together until just combined. If you over work the mix, the butter will mix too much.  
2.Add the iced water and bring the dough together.
3.Once the dough has been brought together wrap in a neat parcel and chill in the fridge while you make the other parts of the dish.
4.Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4/180c/350f
5.Cut the chilled dough into 4 pieces. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, until about 2 mm thick.
6.Line the metal cases with the dough and roughly chop any remaining edges. Prick the dough base lightly with a fork.
7. Place a little clingfilm into the dough cases and fill with baking beans.
8.Blind bake for 18 minutes or until completely cooked through.
9.Take the baking beans out of the tart and bake a little longer to dry the cases out.

Apple filling:

1.Peel, core and cut the apple into the chunks.
2.In a saucepan add the water, apple, sugar, blackberries and cinnamon and cook on a medium until the apples soften to a very soft consistency.
3.Put aside to cool.

Caramel:

1.Put the water and sugar in a pan, allow to boil until the colour changes from clear to a golden brown. Don’t be tempted to stir.
2. Once the colour has changed add the double cream and butter. Mix in.

Crumble topping:
1.Pre heat oven to Gas Mark 4/180c/350f .
2.Rub the flour, sugar and butter together.
3.Spread onto a lined baking sheet and bake for a 12 minutes.

To serve:

1.Place the baked tartlet on a plate.
2.Spoon a little of the caramel in the tartlet.
3.Then add the cooked apples and sprinkle a little of cooked crumble on top. Eat let there's no tomorrow.

Fat Friday #8 September Apple Cake

I think most people have recipes that they often go back to again and again. This one is a favourite autumnal recipe that I try and make whenever I have some cooking apples available. This apple cake is also great for on the go or even better when its heated and laced with custard. 

Erg...This is just sexy...

Recipe: Makes 1 large cake  (Recipe Adapted from Cooking Up a Storm by Sam Stern) 

·      75g unsalted butter, softened

·      175g golden caster sugar

·      2 large eggs

·      255g plain flour, sifted 

·      2 teaspoons baking powder

·      The zest from 1 lemon

·      675g/2 large cooking apples

·      1 tablespoon orange marmalade      

·      1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice

·      1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·      2 tablespoons whole milk

·      A little dusting of icing sugar to decorate

 Equipment:

·       1 large cake tin lined with baking paper

·       Electric mixer/hand-held electric whisk

·       Sieve

·       Peeler/Sharp knife

·       Knife

·       Tablespoon

·       Teaspoon

·       Grater

·       Wooden Spoon

 

1.  Pre heat the oven to 180c/350c/ Gas mark 4. Line the cake tin with the baking paper.

2. Peel, core and chop the apples into small chunks. 

3. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale, add the eggs and beat until all combined 

4. Sift the flour, baking powder and spices into the creamed mixture and fold until combined.   

5. Gently fold in the chopped apples, marmalade and lemon zest. Pour the batter into the cake tin.

6. Bake for 1 hour and test to see if the cake is cooked by prodding the middle with a clean knife. If it comes out clean, its done.

7. Place on a wire rack until completely cool and then dust a little icing sugar on top.    

Do you have go to recipes? What's your favourite autumnal recipe?