Teapot Cake At A Kitchen Tea

Well I was going to limit this post to just the cake, but I decided to include some other things too, because the whole event was actually quite lovely. It was the kitchen tea for my SIL hosted by the other two bridesmaids and myself. We themed it on a High Tea style... which, actually, I found later was not what I thought it was. What I was thinking of was Afternoon Tea, otherwise known as Low Tea. High Tea was what the lower class folk had, and equates more or less to what dinner would be today. It was called High Tea because it was taken at a high table. Low Tea or Afternoon Tea was called such because it was tea and refreshments taken at a low table, sometime in the mid afternoon. So, yeah... fail on that count LOL. But everyone else knew what I meant! So in the end it didn't matter.

And it was so nice! Have you ever had tea out of proper tea cups? And saucers? If you haven't, you should seriously try it. I know we are all used to mugs these days and tea cups are a bit smaller than mugs..... Ok, they are alot smaller. ...Tiny... really. - But that's not the point! There is just something about sipping tea from a dainty tea cup balanced just so on its lovely matching saucer. You drink, and then refill, and drink some more. And for that reason, your tea is always hot! Can't have a tea party without tea, but besides the tea, we also had wine, punch and a gorgeous range of dainty eats: Ribbon sandwiches, mini quiches, pickle, cheese and cabana sticks made up the savouries. And for sweets, mini lemon meringues, mini vanilla cupcakes, butterfly cakes and of course, scones with jam and cream. And the big cake. The Teapot cake! Everything was delicious, and I still can't thank the other bridesmaids enough for all the amazing work they put in with cooking, cleaning and setting things up. You rock girls!

The inside is chocolate cake with caramel buttercream. The buttercream tasted lovely when I checked it, but I was so disappointed to find that you couldn't taste the caramel in it once you ate it with the cake. Oh well. I know for next time now.

The cake is covered in ivory fondant, with rose detailing embossed on the sides and lid, and hand painted in with edible colours. The gold gilding around the edges was also edible. The sugar bowl and creamer are cupcakes decorated with the same. The sugar bowl had real sugar sprinkled on top, while the creamer was topped with white chocolate ganache. Tasted awesome, but I thought it looked like the milk in the creamer had turned because it was more yellow than white!! LOL. Fortunately, this didn't put anyone off :) The only thing was, they all thought the cake was too pretty to cut and eat!

I had iced the board and embossed it too, to try and make it look like a small table cloth. The one thing I forgot to do was put a ribbon around the edge of the board... was kicking myself for losing that detail. It really does make a difference!

I had made the mini cupcakes as well. Vanilla with vanilla buttercream and handmade sugar flowers. I just thought they turned out gorgeous with their pretty pastel colours. I really loved these ones, but again, people thought they were too pretty to eat!

There were a couple of games, and my SIL was showered with gifts for the kitchen. Bottom line: she felt very spoiled, which was the whole point really :).

One of the games was the toilet paper bridal gown. If you don't know this one, the name kind of speaks for itself. You break up into small groups, choose a bride, and make her a gown out of toilet paper. My daughters were in a group together with another one of our guests, and I couldn't stop smiling at the scene they made! Big Miss was standing, so proud and dignified modeling her designer gown, and Miss Jane was so busy working away to dress her big sister up with the help of the other lady in their group. It was just beautiful! A little glimpse of the future methinks. I almost had tears in my eyes.

Such a perfect reflection of their personalities. Amazing.



Miss Jane explains to us the details of their couture creation.

Big Miss was so pleased with her designer gown!

Of course, Miss Jane was not going to be left on the shelf, so she got the lovely Katherine to make her a bridal gown too. Cute :)

Miss Jane gets her own designer gown.

Personalised sugar cookies went out as party favours. I've only made these a couple of times before, but this was the first time I had iced them properly. All the flowers were handmade, and I tried to stick to the subdued and powdery colour palette to match the party theme. I loved the way these turned out - so pretty! Most people thought these were too pretty to eat too, but I couldn't wait to have one... and they didn't disappoint - delicious! But then, they couldn't really fail when they are Peggy Porschen's recipe /wink. I wanted to provide the recipe for you here, but it's copyrighted and I don't have written permission from Peggy, so I don't feel comfortable doing it :P. Other people have though, and one place you can find the recipe is on Carly's Kitchen blog - it's the same one I used. Not a difficult recipe by any means, so don't be afraid to try it! They are seriously yummy, with or without icing. Buttery and tender but not cakey, and firm enough to hold their shape and icing.

Sugar cookies; recipe from Pretty Party Cakes

We all had a lovely time. It was the first time I have made a teapot cake, and it didn't quite turn out the way I envisioned it. But in the end, despite all the flaws I could see, I was really pleased with the result, and learned some new techniques along the way.



xx