Sunrise Creations Blog

 

Your best friend is getting married and you’re the bridesmaid. One of the duties most fun is your responsibility to organise a kitchen tea.

The tradition of the Kitchen Tea or Bridal Shower is believed to have originated in Holland, when a father disapproved of his father’s choice and refused to provide the dowry required. The villagers came to the aide of the young girl and ‘showered’ her with the things she needed to start her married life.  This beginning epitomises the tradition and feeling behind such a special occasion.  They are a wonderful opportunity to strengthen the ties between the bride, her attendants and friends, her family and the family of her husband to be.

When it comes to the style and venue, the kitchen itself is the perfect theme.  With the rise in popularity of old fashioned baking and an increase in interest in all things cooking thanks to reality television, it gives great scope for games, and gifts for the bride to be.

In modern times the Kitchen Tea is meant to provide the bride with all the things she needs for her kitchen, from baking equipment to measuring spoons and aprons.

What a great opportunity to bring out your inner chef! Why not invite your friends to a cooking class or a cupcake decorating lesson?  Or create an icing and decoration station where guests can create the cupcake of their dreams. Who doesn’t like playing with sprinkles and frosting?  It is called a ‘kitchen tea’ but that’s no reason not to offer some bubbly while you are cooking.  If you are feeling more traditional, you could have a tea bar, with a selection of loose leaf teas served in lovely tea cups and tea pots than can be picked up inexpensively at thrift or second hand shops. Or just raid your grandmother’s kitchen!

Whilst some brides see the kitchen tea as boring, they miss the opportunity for an elegant few hours with their closest friends and family, celebrating and preparing for something they will hopefully do only once.

I have saved this until today because I know that you will want to go out and make it straight away.  Isn't this cake stunning?  It would be lovely at a coffee and dessert reception or at any special occasion that you might have.   The combination of pure white outside and bleeding heart red inside is full of impact.

It's called the Cranberry Obsession Snow Cake and I found the recipe in an American online magazine called Sunset.  Photo: Leigh Beisch

Ingredients

Cake
10 ounce unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for pans
3 1/2 cups cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
7 large egg whites, at room temperature
Cranberry filling
3 3/4 cups cranberries, divided
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups cranberry or cherry preserves
Buttercream
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
 Pinch of salt
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
12 ounces white chocolate (bars or a block, not chips), divided
1 pound unsalted butter, cut into pieces and at room temperature
Assembly
1/2 cup colorless liqueur such as crème de cacao or kirsch
 About 2 tbsp. powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Butter two 9-in. cake pans; set aside.
2. Make cake: In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together on low speed until light and fluffy. Add egg whites in 3 batches, scraping inside of bowl as needed. Beat in flour mixture in 5 batches, adding 1/4 cup water after each addition (you will begin and end with flour); make sure flour is completely blended each time before adding water. Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly. Smooth tops with a spatula.
3. Bake until center of cake feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool cakes completely in pans on a rack.
4. Meanwhile, make cranberry filling: Combine 3 cups cranberries, the sugar, preserves, and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan and cook over high heat until cranberries pop and preserves melt, 5 to 10 minutes. Add remaining 3/4 cup cranberries, stir to combine, and remove from heat. Transfer to a small bowl and chill until ready to assemble cake.
5. Make buttercream: Fill a 2-qt. pan with about 1 in. water and bring to a simmer over low heat. Put egg whites, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to combine. Place bowl over hot water, making sure bottom of bowl isn't touching water, and heat whites, whisking constantly, until hot to the touch, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove pan and bowl from heat.
6. Put bowl of warm whites on the mixer and whisk on high speed until tripled in volume and side of bowl is cool to the touch, about 10 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, chop 4 oz. white chocolate, put in a medium metal mixing bowl, and set in same pan of warm water off the heat to melt slowly, stirring occasionally. Remove bowl from pan and let cool to room temperature.
8. Reduce mixer speed to low and whisk butter into whites, about 1/4 cup at a time, until incorporated. Continue to whisk on low speed until smooth and fluffy, about 10 minutes (mixture may look grainy at some point but will come together).
9. With a rubber spatula, gently fold melted chocolate into buttercream until completely combined.
10. Assemble: Rub tops of both cakes gently with your hands to remove browned outer surface, then carefully invert cakes and rub undersides so that cakes are completely white. Place 1 cake layer on a cake stand or serving plate, top side up. Using a pastry brush, brush top with half the liqueur. Spread about 1 1/2 cups cranberry mixture over layer with a metal spatula, leaving a 1/2-in. empty border around edge. Place second cake layer on top, flattest side down, and brush with remaining liqueur. Spread top and sides of cake with a thin layer of buttercream to seal in crumbs and chill 30 minutes. Cover with remaining buttercream, starting with the sides and covering the top last.
11. Use the palm of your hand to warm remaining chocolate. Shave smooth side of chocolate bar with a vegetable peeler to make thin curls; scatter curls over cake's top. Sift powdered sugar over cake.
12. Serve with remaining cranberry mixture on the side.

Make ahead: Baked cake layers can be wrapped in plastic and stored at room temperature or in the fridge up to 2 days ahead. Cranberry filling can be made up to 2 days ahead and chilled.

If you are looking for something a little bit different and a little bit special for your reception or party, why not put on a High Tea?

High Tea has a colourful history in English culture, firstly becoming popular with the working people in about the 1600’s. It was a more substantial meal than a simple cake or biscuits so it was often called “meat tea” and developed a mildly celebratory feel, as it was served at the end of the working day, shortly after 5pm.
These days, rather than the traditional heavy meat stews and vegetable dishes, High Tea has become a versatile and elegant step up from a simple afternoon tea for entertaining.

No longer limited to a few sandwiches and cakes, the spread can be as extensive and varied as you choose, with a delicious array of hors d'oeuvre and desserts, cocktail snacks and finger foods, all accompanied by traditional cups of tea.

Of course other beverages can also be served too, but tea is the essential ingredient of a High Tea.

This elegant presentation is from Amy Atlas Eventsand if you need inspiration you really need to visit her site and look at her blog.  Her work is stunning.
   
 

The atmosphere of a High Tea can be more relaxed than a formal dining setting, while still allowing for a sense of elegance.  You can choose to have a formal seating plan but the nature of the catering allows for more mingling between your guests as there are no set courses to be seated for at any particular time.
 
You might like to have your event catered for by caterers like Truffled Catering of Newcastle or restaurants that specialise in High Tea catering.

Specialist hire companies like Antiquitea can provide all of the gorgeous china tea cups and teapots and table ware that make a tea party feel so unique. They are the tea party consultants, and they even do all of the washing up.

High Tea can be an elegant and beautiful alternative to a traditional reception.  You might even find it more relaxin and enjoyable.

Hen's nights, engagement parties, girls nights out and even Christmas get togethers are all special occasions.  They demand a special kind of drink.  That's when I think of cocktails. 

There is something luscious about a cocktail and I think a lot of it is in the way it looks.  The special glass, the colour and the presentation all contribute to its showstopper glamour.   Those "Sex and the City" girls knew what they were doing with their Manhattan's!

Here are a couple of recipes that will be very handy over the holiday season.  If you don't drink alcohol, skip ahead to the video clip which is full of clever mocktail recipes for you. 

Strawberry Cocktail

Ingredients (serves 8)
450g strawberries, hulled
1 tbs icing sugar
Crushed ice (optional)
2/3 cup (165ml) vodka, chilled
1 bottle sparkling wine, chilled
 
Method
Place the strawberries and icing sugar in a blender or food processor and blend or process until mixture forms smooth puree.

Pass the puree through a fine sieve into a bowl and discard the seeds in the sieve. Cover the puree with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.

Half-fill 8 champagne flutes with the crushed ice, if using. Divide the chilled strawberry puree among the flutes, then top each with 1 tablespoon vodka. Top up with the sparkling wine.

Berry sparkling slushies 
 
Put away the ice - sorbet turns to slush in seconds with a drop of sparkling wine.
Preparation Time
5 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4)
1ltr carton berry sorbet
500ml (2 cups) strawberry-flavoured sparkling wine
2 tbs Bacardi rum
 
Method
Place the sorbet, sparkling wine and rum in the bowl of a food processor or jug of a blender. Process until smooth.

Divide among serving glasses and serve immediately.

And now for some clever Mocktails...

Just don't forget to present them with a flourish!