Afternoon Classic – Scones

 

I randomly made these scones a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t believe how many people liked the scones and asked if I could blog the recipe 🙂 Such nice encouragement so here is it everyone! It’s a recipe I’ve been using for a while now, I find this recipe to be one of the easiest to make and you will have most of the ingredients at home.

The only part I don’t like about making scones is rubbing the butter into the flour because I have long nails, and the mixture always get stuck. The dough can also be a little sticky when rolling and cutting it out, but trust me it’s worth it! Anyhow, please try and let me know how your scones turn out 😀

Recipe – Scones adapted from Taste.com
Yield – 12-14 scones depending on size

Ingredients
3 cups (450g) self-raising flour
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Pinch of salt
50g unsalted butter, chopped
1 1/4 cup (310ml) milk
Extra milk to glaze

To Serve
Raspberry jam
Whipped cream

Method
1) Preheat oven to 220°C (fan forced) and line tray with baking paper. Sift self raising flour, sugar and salt into a bowl. Add butter and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre of the mixture.
2) Pour milk into the well and use a butter knife in a cutting action to stir and combine until it is just combined and becomes a soft but sticky dough (Add more flour or milk if too dry or too wet).
3) Gently knead dough on floured surface using your fingers or a rolling pin pat the dough into a 2cm thick disc.
4) Using a scone cutter (5cm diameter round cutter) dipped into flour and cut into scones. Place scones onto tray making sure they stick together. To glaze gently brush scone with some milk.
5) Bake scones on the top shelf of the oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and scones sound hollow when gently tapped. Place scones into a clean tea towel and serve warm with jam and cream.

 

 

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Janice Wong High Tea – Aria, Langham Melbourne

Janice Wong High Tea

I think I will describe myself as a High Tea Addict! If there’s a high tea I will be there 😛 That explains why I have been a repeat offender and gone back to the Aria Bar at the Langham Hotel in Melbourne so many times. This time Shelle (Iron Chef Shellie) kindly took me to try out the Janice Wong High tea as part of Melbourne Food and Wine festival. For those who don’t know Janice Wong is the executive pastry chef for the renown dessert bar 2am in Singapore which I was lucky to try a couple of years ago when I visited.

Let’s jump right into the high tea, Shellie and I are both tea drinkers so we got the usuals. Yes that is English Breakfast for me (can’t be classic tea) and Earl Grey for her. I really liked the china they use too, if I remember correctly it is specially designed for Langham by Wedgewood.

We got there quite early on a Tuesday so it didn’t take long for the 3 tier stand to arrive. We started from the top with freshly made sandwiches, and I’m usually quite picky because it’s always a disappointed when they are pre-made and the bread is try. But these sandwiches were perfect, with a good selection of fillings – egg salad, tuna, chicken, cucumber and smoked salmon.

Matcha desserts!

Then moving down were two plates of desserts designed by Janice Wong. And I’m not sure if I can describe to you in words HOW excited I was to see so much GREEN on this plate! Because the green means MATCHA (Japanese Green Tea) and those who know me will know how obsessed I am about it. Let me quickly go through, there was a petite chocolate cake very moriesh reminded me a little of the Opera cake, matcha fanciers and also the warm matcha tart.

I will repeat that it’s a Warm Matcha tart meaning the centre is not set and I could feel the liquid inside wobble as I picked the tart up. The waiter suggested we started with this first as it’s best eaten when still warm. So here I go!

Green liquid gold!

I took one bite and quickly snapped this photo! Were you can see the green liquid gold as I liked to describe it flowing out! It was have to be one of the best matcha tarts and possibly desserts I have had. The tart case was still warm, with great buttery flavour and crumbly texture. But the filling was simply the best, it had such intense matcha flavour and wasn’t bitter at all! I would go back to this high tea just for this tart again.

 

Continuing with the desserts, we moved onto the Singapore inspired choux the green and yellow puffs. The green actually had a kaya custard filling and for anyone who enjoys kaya would have really liked these. The chocolate tart with golden pop rocks was another impressive tart and even the caramel popcorn with freeze dried raspberries were delicious. I definitely had trouble pacing myself and kept popping them into my mouth.

This is a short post, not many photos because I was too busy chatting and catching up with one of my favourite girl Shellie and I really enjoyed everything! Thanks again girl for taking me as my birthday present! Before I forget the tea set also comes with scones (fruit & plain) butter, clotted cream and jam 🙂 The Janice Wong High Tea is still available for $65 per person until the 13th of March (2 days left) so if you’re quick you might be able to score table.

Up In The Woods – Piggery Cafe

Piggery Cafe, Shannon Bennett’s newest venture up in the Dandenong Ranges. I visited in late September with Sarah (Sarah Cooks), Sandra and Ashley (I’m So Hungree) and have been meaning to write about the event for the longest time.

Sarah visited Piggery Cafe a couple months ago and has been raving about the cakes and also the $25 afternoon tea. So we promptly organised a girls day out and Sarah kindly offered to drive which is probably a great idea, as I am horrible with directions 😛

Piggery Cafe is only one part of the Burnham Beeches a historical mansion built in the 1930s and is now divided into different area such as the Burnham Bakery and also an Emu enclosure. There are also plans to open a Burnham Beeches hotel and steakhouse.

We chose one of the best afternoons to go, as it was lovely weather not too hot or cold and we managed to grab a nice table outside. Ashley and I took a walk inside the cafe and was immediately mesmerised by the table full of scones, mini tarts, cakes and other sweets! I was in dessert heaven!

Lemon Tart

I honestly couldn’t take my eyes off all the baked goodies! I wanted to try EVERYTHING the scones, lemon tart, mini chocolate cake! I’m practically had to drag myself out back to the table and waited patiently for the waiter to take our order. He explained to us that for $25 per person, includes a selection of savouries, sweet and unlimited flow of coffee, tea or hot chocolate.

Valrhona hot chocolate

They use Valrhona chocolate to make their hot chocolate here, so Ashley and I decided to get one each. It had great chocolate flavour, however, wasn’t the thick European type and was rather light and came with a little house-made marshmallow.

Savoury platter

Next up was a large platter of savoury items, it was a huge shock the amount of food on the board. From the left was a puff pastry filled with mushroom, smoked salmon, seeded sourdough with some addictive garlic spread and also a little quiche. Everything was great and I enjoyed it all but the mushroom pie was definitely a winner with the super flakey and buttery pastry!

Scones with jam and whipped cream

This was followed by these dainty scones half fruit (dried cranberries) and plain served with jam and whipped cream. I am determined to make my scones smaller at home next time they just look so much more refines and so damn cute when they’re small like this!

I slathered a very generous serving of whipped cream and I think it was apricot jam with a light citrus flavour which may have been orange. Scones had a good crust, but was still moist and fluffy inside thumbs up from me!

Chef’s selection of sweets

The food doesn’t stop coming, it was then a full plate of Chef’s selection of sweets! A wide range of cakes such as pistachio canele, almond cake, mini macarons, chocolate tart and macaroon. The cakes did not only look good they tasted fresh and nothing was dry or felt like it has been left out for a long time.

 

We then finished up with another round of coffee and tea. The afternoon tea here at Piggery Cafe is such a great value for money and I still can’t believe we got all this food for only $25! I guess it is a great way to attract patrons to visit in the afternoon which is usually quieter for the Dandenong Ranges when people are making their way home. I heard that Shannon Bennett wanted to create a space where he would like to visit with his kids on the weekend. He’s definitely done a great job to make Piggery Cafe very kid friendly and also pet friendly which is very important to me 🙂

Apple Danish and Lemon Merengue Tart $9

Before I left, I went back inside to grab an Apple Danish and also Lemon Merengue tart for Mr Bao as he got quite jealous he wasn’t invited to come hehe I can’t wait to take Mr Bao and Cupcake with me next time and I’m tempted to try the Burnham Beeches picnic basket next time 🙂

Lady of Leisure – High Tea Sofitel Melbourne

I think it was last year or year before was when I first heard of this term ‘LOL’ but not the average ‘Laugh Out Loud’, it has another meaning and it is ‘Lady of Leisure’. How cool is that! I’d love to be a lady of leisure, not have to work and just spend my husbands money (no no I’m not getting married anytime soon) hahaha but I would still like to be this type of ‘LOL’.

So even though I’m not quite a full time ‘Lady of Leisure’ yet, I sure know how to be one on the weekend, I ditched Mr Bao and Cupcake for day. First I had brunch with a girlfriend then I organised to have High Tea with another girlfriend Kaylee. We are both High tea fanatics, when we were both in Hong Kong we use to go all the time, I’ve lost count the number of times we’ve gone to high tea.

I’m pretty sure this is the first time we’ve had High Tea in Melbourne together, so I decided to choose something nicer and came across Sofi’s Lounge at the Sofitel Hotel. I’ve heard mixed reviews about their high tea so wanted to try for myself. They have 4 options during the week the Devonshire and Afternoon Tea option which is the standard 3 tier tower. On the weekends they have the Morning Tea which is the standard in this photo and also the High Tea full buffet which is the one we did. It is $69 per person with a class of complimentary champagne and unlimited tea and I think she said coffee.

Sandwich station

Kaylee and I actually weren’t expecting a full buffet, so I think we were quite impressed with the two large sandwich stations and also the mini quiches and pies. Thanks for being such a great hand model hehe your pink jacket gives the photo some colour 🙂

Scones – Vanilla whipped cream, strawberry jam and honey lemon curd

There are of course scones, plain and fruit ones served with vanilla whipped cream, strawberry jam but what caught our eye was the honey lemon curd. It wasn’t tart and loved that honey flavour through it. Also how cute is the presentation with the scones in a ceramic bowl, it’s like having high tea in a garden outside.

Dessert buffet!

And of course there was the Dessert buffet section with a good selection of mini cakes and tarts, I would say there were a total of at least 12. Which is a really good variety and I could tell that they were freshly made and not pre-made and have been left outside for a long period of time.

More cake!

The sticky date pudding cake on second from the right was definitely my favourite!!! It was moist, sweet and sticky, but I know many will probably say it’s too sweet and rich for them 😛

So this is how we did it, first we got some sandwiches and mini quiche, then we moved onto the scones, pistachio pana cotta and also that lovely strawberry cheesecake with a strawberry jam filling. But we very quickly moved onto the desserts, and there you can see that delicious sticky date cake on the right again!

Crepe and pancake station

In between the two sandwich stands, there is also a crepe and pancake station where a chef is there to reheat some pre-made crepes in caramel source and also some freshly made mini pancakes. The salted caramel sauce was delicious, however, I would’ve preferred freshly made crepes and pouring some sauce on top with some ice-cream. Nom Nom!

Crepe and Mini Pancakes

We didn’t have ice-cream so served it with some whipped cream and more salted caramel sauce ~

Chocolate fountain

Any high tea, buffet or restaurant that has a chocolate fountain with gain brownie points in my books! Now ready for the action shots?!?

First its putting the strawberries on the skewers, I’m glad Kaylee did this and not me, as I’m rather clumsy and would’ve made a mess and not have been too elegant.

Then it’s the KODAK moment! This is actually my favourite shot!

Question time, what do you like dipping into chocolate? I’m actually a huge fan of dipping bananas into chocolate but I guess that would make the chocolate unclean as bananas are quite sticky and turn brown very quickly.

I really enjoyed the High Tea here at Sofi’s Lounge and it definitely exceeded my expectations. Something I really liked was that the whole experience didn’t feel rushed and that we had to be out by a certain time. Even though the High Tea is only served from 2:30pm to 5pm, no tables were asked to leave or that they must finish in the next half hour. I’ve experienced some other high teas in Melbourne and they have very strict timings, which sort of takes the fun of out sitting around hours on end chatting with friends. We did find the tables to be a little small and it was difficult to fit all our plates, tea pots and cutlery. Thankfully, there was space next to the tables and put our bags there. At $69 per person, it may seem pricey, but I actually used the discount from the Entertainment Book which bought it done to $50 per person which I thought was more reasonable.

Baby Ho’s Baby Shower – Conservatory, Crown

Congratulations dear friend and fellow food blogger Lianne (Food Made With Love) who is expecting her first child in August 🙂 She’s heading home back to Singapore for a couple of months to deliver the baby and spend time with family. But it wouldn’t be right for her to leave before we threw her a baby shower! We decided to leave the handwork of baking and cooking to others and chose to have afternoon tea at the Conservatory at Crown Casino ~

 

It’s been such a long time since I’ve visited the Conservatory, and since then it’s gone through a renovation and it’s looking more modern with more natural light coming through. The Afternoon tea is $50 per head and is offered 3pm-5pm on Saturdays and 3:30pm-5:30pm on Sunday.

It’s a buffet style which is great because it means free flow of food and you can pick and choose what you want more or less of ~ It had all the usual items you would expect at any high the ribbon sandwiches, bruschetta and mini pies.

Good range of savouries

However, what really impressed me was the Chinese roasts, especially the Peking duck pancakes, BBQ Pork Buns and dumplings which I’ve never had before. Another idea just came to me, I’m sure someone else has done it before but I think a Yum Cha high tea would be fun too!

For those who don’t fancy Chinese, you can also have some Grissini breadsticks, dried fruit and a range of cheeses which I know Ashly (Im So Hungree) will appreciate!

 

It wouldn’t be a high tea without SCONES even better when it’s unlimited, you get a choice of plain or fruit ones and also clotted cream and strawberry or raspberry jam to serve with.

Chocolate Fountain

But the most important part of afternoon tea or anything meal is always DESSERT for me 🙂 And for those who have a sweet tooth like me, you will not be disappointed here at Conservatory. They have a large bench full of sweet goodness. Let’s start with the chocolate fountains! Yup it’s plural because they have 4 flavours, dark, milk, white and an orange flavoured, dip strawberries, marshmallows and whatever you fancy ~

Gianduja mousse cake

All the cakes were so pretty look at these mini Gianduja mousse cake with a short crust biscuit base and finished with a little silver leaf ~

Black Forest cake

Berry Cheesecake

If you haven’t noticed these amazing photos are taken by the one and only Iron Chef Shellie so of course I had to use more of these photos hehe I need lessons! I didn’t get to try all these cakes but they’re all so gorgeous.

Lemon Tart

I did get to try this Lemon Tart and it was wonderfully made with a good short crust pastry and a creamy filling which wasn’t too tart or sweet ~ Really liked the use of the mini merengue and strawberries which gave it some texture and flavour. Overall, we were quite happy with the afternoon tea here, my only comment would be 2 hours seemed a little rushed when you calculate the time spent queuing up in line at the food stations but definitely a great place to go with a bunch of girls. As a matter fact I didn’t see any men 😛

 

Couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon and to celebrate such a great news with Lianne 🙂 Wishing her the very best with the delivery of her little bundle of joy and can’t wait to catch up with you again and meet Baby Ho in person!