Pâtisserie, the art of making sweet things that look almost too beautiful to eat, is an essential component, along with pillowy scones and delicate finger sandwiches, of a traditional afternoon tea. Which is perhaps why most of us opt to indulge in that particular treat in a hotel or tearoom, where someone else can create the magic.
But, with Mother’s Day coming up (March 6th), how satisfying would it be to present your mother with an array of home-made tea delicacies, rather than queue join the throngs in hotels and cafes?
Pastry chef Will Torrent's first two cook books, Pâtisserie at Home, and Chocolate at Home, gave home cooks the confidence to tackle complicated cakes and desserts, and to work with chocolate without fear. Now, with Afternoon Tea at Home, he has tea sipped from china cups and dainty cakes and savouries in his sights. With his help, you'll create elegant pastries, tarts and cakes – and fruit scones made to the Ritz hotel's recipe no less – as well as interesting savouries that knock boring finger sandwiches right off the silver cake stand.
Selecting just two recipes from his book to feature here proved problematic – how could we ignore chocolate peanut butter délices, passionfruit jaffa cakes, mango and coconut millefeuilles, not to mention Bloody Mary shrimp sandwiches, olive and anchovy whirls, and fig and ricotta crispbreads? But a strawberry tart is hard to resist and the picture-perfect Viennese whirls are an easily achieved triumph, thanks to Torrent’s helpful tips. There are also two more recipes, for crab mayonnaise eclairs and triple cheese scones with whipped mustard butter.
And if you' ve ever wondered about that old hot potato – how to pronounce scone – Torrent offers this little poem: I asked the maid in dulcet tone To order me a buttered scone; The silly girl has been and gone And ordered me a buttered scone. (Anon). None the wiser then . . . but at least with this book you'll be full equipped to wow the mammy with your teatime treats.
Afternoon Tea at Home by Will Torrent (Ryland, Peters & Small, £19.99)
