The Perfect Afternoon Tea Recipe Book: More than 160 classic recipes for sandwiches, pretty cakes and bakes, biscuits, bars, pastries, cupcakes, ... and glorious gateaux, with 650 photographs

This recipe book has some gorgeous photos and some really, really striking compositions. It is full of amusing facts, interesting lessons, baking problem-solving tips, and page after page of very British recipes. I am a die-hard anglophile, but I was surprised and disappointed to find that none of the recipes jumped up and screamed “Bake Me”.Also just reading some of the recipe titles had be scratching my head. It is not a good sign with you need Google to help decipher the ingredient list. Like the recipe for “Apple and Calvados muffins with quince”. What is Calvados and where would I find Quince? Same goes for malt extract, marrow, chilli puree, barleycorn, elderflower, and preserved stem ginger. A lot of the recipes contain Ground Almonds, which is a big no-no in my house due to several family members with tree nut allergies, and there were quite a few Fruit Cake recipes <grin>.So I like the book as a novelty item. It is unique, well-written, and it shows how very different American-English is from British-English (caster sugar = granulated sugar, marrow = large zucchini, sultanas = golden raisins, rashers = strips, courgettes = zucchini, flapjacks does not = pancakes). But I just didn’t get an overpowering urge to bake any of the recipes.

This is exactly what I have been looking for. Great recipes for tea sandwiches and tea pastries. It also is a good sized book. I have bought Afternoon tea books that cost as much with less content and were literally a small booklet size. My only grip is that it is originally published for an English audience, so not all the conversations are super correct and the baking temps are kinda weird for the American baker (ie, usually US recipes are baked at 300F,325F,350F etc, in this book some recipes are 316F or 360F). But again its a conversion so you know. Another thing that really bugged me was that a lot of the baked goods use self-raising flour. As a baker I find this inconvenient because its not always available at the store, its not always fresh and active, and its just another flour to be stored in your pantry. So I just use a conversion for self raising flour. But in the end I love this book!

Tons of dessert recipes but not the typical English tea recipes and few were 'classic' from that perhaps narrow perspective. Lots of pictures of the finished product (great!) but the 650 pictures of making the food is not near as helpful as marketed . For example, lots of pictures of someone stirring or mixing the batter, or grating a lemon. No tea party eye candy. It has the obligatory how to make tea section (8 pages), which may be a good thing if you wanted just a recipe book. I feel it would be more accurate if it was titled the afternoon dessert book - or maybe American tea - and that's probably 4 o 5 stars. As a 'tea' book its not what I was expecting but others seem quite happy with it.

Found the book to be very adequate and true to its title. Lovely pictures and thorough instructions....ahhhh the pictures and the lay out--seemed familiar. Then I came across a picture that I know I've seen before (Summer Berry Tart)....I looked carefully at the picture of the Treacle Tart and pulled a book that I purchased about 8 years ago titled PASTRY-The Complete Art of Pastry Making. Those particular pictures and recipes are exactly the same!! Different author but both are LORENZ BOOKS. Still very happy with this purchase since this book does cover teas, sandwiches, cupcakes, crumpets, scones, cookies, and layer cakes whereas the other does not.

I bought this book to have a tea party for my mom. She is 74 yrs old and is in poor health. I really did it up. Made a wonderful Almond cake, petit fours and several of the tea sandwiches. Used our Royal Dalton Old English Rose pattern china. The ladies I invited were ladies that have come to visit Mom from her church every week for the past 5 yrs. I mailed really cute invitations. When the ladies came for the party they walked in to a beautiful table setting with beautiful teas and food. I enjoyed reading about the different teas. I am planning another tea party with ladies from my church. So love this book.

Many recipes for the traditional Tea Time. For those who are just starting out and even for those who are practiced in this art of Tea and Tea parties. Colored photographs and detailed instructions are included with this book and it is encouraged for use especially during the Winter. There are summer tea favors as well, but I think the Hot Tea action would better be during the Winter. Enjoy!

I own several dozen cookbooks on the subject of tea time and/or tea parties, and this one is by far my "go to book" and favorite to peruse for inspiration. It has an abundance of gorgeous & appetite enhancing photographs. It is quite large in volume of pages, and dimensions, by customary tea time book standards. Well worth the price!!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Beautifully illustrated. Traditional British tea foods but United States' measurements well as British. Great selection of recipes. Book was used very gently and in great condition.

When I opened this large book earlier today, the first thing that struck me are the photographs of mouth watering delights. It's a visual feast that makes you want to crack open those eggs and get beating at the double! Every recipe seems to have at least three photographs, one of which is the finished item and the other two taken at different stages in making it. Some recipes have six or seven photographs so there's no frantic yearning to know how something should look, especially when you're doing it for the first time. Most of the recipes are on a single page with one or two paragraphs detailing what the treat is followed by the ingredients, clear method instructions, how many it serves and there are even the number of calories per serving together with nutrional values.Recipes are broken down into the following sections (I've added some recipe titles but not all):♦ A Perfect Pot of Tea - teas of the world; herbal and flavoured teas; the art of tea brewing; cold drinks for hot summer days...♦ Baking Techniques - ingredients; baking equipment; different methods of making baked goods; working with sugarpaste and marzipan; problem solving...♦ Savoury Treats - sandwiches; potted cheese; salmon mousse; quiche lorraine; finger food; sweet marrow bakes; savoury cheese muffins; vegetable muffins; shallot, thyme and garlic cheese bakes; brioche with savoury paté stuffing; wild mushroom and pine nut mufins...♦ Teabreads & Cakes - crumpets; english muffins; drop scones; teacakes; fat rascals; soul cakes; scones with jam and cream; buttermilk scones; meringues; coconut macaroons; courgette and double ginger cake; quick and easy teabread; fruit malt loaf; gingerbread; banana bread; lemon and walnut teabread; peanut butter teabread; raspberry and almond teabread...♦ Fruity Treats - blackberry and almond cakes; rhubarb muffins with ginger; cranberry and orange buns; apple and calvados muffins with quince; blueberry and cinnamon bakes; raspberry buns; orange poppy seed cakes; apricot and maple syrup muffins; coconut and rum portions; lemon and elderflower poppy seed muffins; peach and almond bakes...♦ Pastries - apple pie; curd tart; custard tarts; jam tarts; bakewell tart; treacle tart; border tart; summer berry tart; almond slices; grated berry bake; chocolate éclairs; coffee cream profiteroles; english eccles cakes; chocolate whirls; chocolate and strawberry filled palmiers...♦ Biscuits & Bars - tea fingers; shortbread; melting moments; oat biscuits; jam sandwich biscuits; ginger thins; almond cookies; dark chocolate fingers; brandy snaps with cream; rich peanut crunch cookies; blueberry cakes; florentine slices; flapjacks; luscious lemon bars; walnut and date bars; millionaire's shortbread...♦ Tea-time Treats - espresso cupcakes with maple syrup; honey and spice cakes; chocolate chip cakes; chunky chocolate and banana cupcakes; fresh raspberry and fig cakes; little frosted fruit cupcakes; citrus syrup cupcakes; orange cupcakes with orange glaze; nutty cakes with walnut liqueur; gooey butterscotch cakes; lemon meringue cakes; mandarin syrup cakes; raspberry crunch friands...♦ Classic Cakes - sticky gingerbread; parkin; battenberg; cherry cake; easy all-in-one sponge; apple cake; mincemeat cake; chocolate cake; chocolate-orange marble cake; boston cream cake; frosted walnut layer cake; lemon roulade with lemon cured cream; lemon drizzle cake; carrot cake with cream cheese icing...♦ Mini Celebrations - christening cupcakes; mini party cakes; halloween treats with spooky frosting; kids' chocolate party cakes; lovebirds; valentine cupcakes; marzipan-topped easter cakes; you're a star; mother's day fairy cakes with sugar roses; summer cupcakes with fresh fruit icing; iced cherry cakes; wedding cupcakes; welcome to your new home cupcakes; party number cakes; wedding anniversary cakes; teapot decoration; strawberry cakes; almond cupcakes with grapes; fairy cupcakes; christmas spice cakes; chocolate cupcakes with crème fraîche icing...♦ Sumptuous Gateaux - raspberry and hazelnut meringue cake; raspberry mousse cake; iced raspberry pavlova; summer celebration shortbread; chocolate brandy-snap gateau; layer cake; cinnamon apple gateau; sponge cake with strawberries and cream; coconut lime gateau; iced victoria sponge...I have never created an entire afternoon tea from scratch and only made the sandwiches having bought various cakes and teabreads in the past. I just don't want to do that anymore and after many years of hanging up my pinny, it's now washed and ironed and back in the kitchen door. My first tea is a surprise one for my mother and some of her friends and this book gives me the confidence to be a bit daring and try things I perhaps wouldn't have thought I could do. Of course the recipes are not just confined to teas so any day of the week you could delve in and make something special.I took a few photographs so you can see how the recipes are presented and how clear the instructions are. Apologies for the poor quality, they were taken on a grey, rainy day in May.

One of the better baking/afternoon tea books I have come across although the extra bits about tea brewing etc. I didn't find very interesting the actual baking bits are very good. Quality of book itself is excellent, large format, hard back, high quality paper, very good photographs and well laid out recipes.

I have still to try out these recipes but don't doubt they will be good. This one book is sufficient to cover all manner of afternoon recipes - no real need for more books on the subject I feel.

This is a beautiful book, full of mouthwatering pictures.although I have not been able to try any out yet,due to health problems. I can't wait, to make these afternoon tea recipes. This book contains everything, sandwiches, savoury treats, and wonderful cakes of all kind. Yummy. What more could anyone need.

This book is a big book, with some very useful hints and tips, will be trying some this spring and summer.