Afternoon Tea Mary Berry Cooks

I'm Mary Berry, and in this series

I'm sharing with you my very favourite recipes.

The sort of food I cook at home for my family and friends.

I've made these recipes dozens of times,

and I've tweaked them over the years

to make them as good as they can be.

I'll be giving you ideas for posh dinner parties,

Sunday lunches, weekday suppers, evening buffets,

cooking for a crowd,

and even a summer party.

But now it's afternoon tea.

As occasions go, it's considered a bit old-fashioned,

but I'd miss it terribly

if I didn't have a proper afternoon tea once in a while.

And for me, that means little scones served with jam and cream,

an impressive centrepiece

like my four-tiered whole lemon cake with cheesecake icing,

and easy orange butterfly cakes,

which I've taught my grand-daughters to make.

But I'm starting with a tea-time favourite.

A rich chocolate tray bake with an impressive feathered icing.

Chocolate is a favourite with all ages,

and this chocolate tray bake

with a milk-chocolate topping and feathering too

goes down really well with children and adults.

Begin by stirring six to eight tablespoons of boiling water

with 50g of cocoa powder,

and mix to a smooth paste.

Now, that is a beautiful paste, without any lumps in.

Look at it.

Now, add 175g of self-raising flour,

275g of caster sugar,

a teaspoonful of baking powder

and 125ml of milk.

Finish off with 100g of really soft butter, three eggs,

and mix until smooth.

I'm using the all-in-one method,

combining all the ingredients at the same time.

It's both quick and reliable.

There we are.

I've got a tray-bake tin.

I've greased it and then lined it with non-stick paper.

So, gently pour that in.

The all-in-one method came, I think, in about 1966.

I was working in London, doing a lot of testing of recipes

for all different companies,

and I couldn't really believe that you could put

everything in the bowl together.

It was a revelation, and gave very good results.

Once the mixture is in, place the tray in the oven

at 160 fan and leave to bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Now, that looks about right,

and it's just shrinking away from the sides.

Now, if you turn it out straight onto the rack,

you'll get rack marks all across the top,

and that would show through the icing,

so if you put a tea towel on the top

and then put the rack on top,

turn it the right way up...

Very gently. That's it.

And then flick that tin off,

and, you see, I lined the tin,

and that was important, and as it's non-stick paper,

it should come across in one fell swoop.

The next step is the chocolate ganache.

I have difficulty keeping chocolate in our house.

Everybody seems to find where I put it.

But I have a secret hiding place,

and that's in the drawer with my tights - nobody would go in there.

And I've got exactly what I wanted,

and there are no pieces out of it either.

Gently heat 100ml of double cream

and stir in 200g of milk chocolate until it's completely melted.

Leave to cool so it thickens and won't run off the cake.

For the decoration, melt 100g of white chocolate in a bowl

over a pan of hot water.

The bowl and the water mustn't touch,

or the chocolate will get too hot and separate.

Before spreading the ganache, apply a layer of warm soaked apricot jam.

Chocolate goes really well with a little bit of apricot.

In the French patisseries, you always notice such a lot of them

have a thin layer of apricot jam underneath the icings

and next to the cake, and it stops the crumb mixing with the icing.

For the feathering to work, the ganache must still be warm,

so before you start, fill a piping bag with white chocolate,

making sure you're happy with the width of the stripe.

Then, pour the ganache into the centre of the cake,

spreading evenly towards the edges.

Now, pipe the white chocolate as straight and evenly as you can.

And before it sets,

drag a cocktail stick back and forth over the ganache.

There we are.

Feather icing is quite a good trick,

and I think it looks as though you've taken lots of trouble.

An afternoon tea with scones, jam and cream takes me back

to family holidays in Devon when our children were little.

I'd bake a batch after a day on the beach

and we would have a West Country cream tea together.

I've been making scones for as long as I can remember.

Big ones, small ones, sweet ones, savoury ones.

But when it comes to tea in the afternoon,

I think they should be small,

so there is room for all the other goodies.

So, I need 250g of self-raising flour.

And it's the one occasion when you do need extra lift.

So, I'm going to add a rounded teaspoon of baking powder.

Butter.

Give that a bit of a chop to begin with.

So, in with the fingers and just rub it in.

Once it's turned to a fine, crumbly mixture,

add 25g of caster sugar.

Then, in a separate jug, mix 100ml of milk with a lightly beaten egg.

And I like a really wet scone dough.

I'm going to pour that in

and leave a little in the bottom there for glazing the tops.

Stir the mixture gently until it's all combined, but don't overwork it.

Now, I'm not handling it and endlessly kneading it

as you would bread.

I'm just handling it enough to hold it together,

and you don't really need a rolling pin.

Flatten the mixture into a rough circle shape about 2cm thick.

Go too thin and your scones won't rise well.

This tin I've had for... It must be 55 years.

When you were at college, you had to have a set of cutters,

and these cutters are pretty precious to me,

because I haven't lost one. Can you imagine that over 55 years?

With this size cutter, you should get around 16 scones.

When you're done, place them on a greased tray.

Even if you're on holiday,

you've usually got these sort of basic ingredients,

and everybody seems to enjoy them

and are surprised that they can be done so quickly.

Then these bits that are left you can just roll into a ball.

Now they need a glaze,

and, remember, I kept back some of that beaten egg and milk.

You should really not drip it all down the sides,

because it stops them rising.

So, I'm just going to aim to put it straight across the top, like that.

Now, place the scones in the oven at 200 degrees fan

for about eight to ten minutes.

In no time at all, they'll rise beautifully

and turn a light golden brown.

Then pop them on a wire rack to cool.

In my view, there is only one way to serve scones,

and that's with clotted cream and home-made strawberry jam.

If you are in Devon, you have the cream underneath.

If you are in Cornwall, you have the cream on top.

I don't want to quarrel with either,

because that's where we've spent a lot of holidays,

so I'm going to do one of each.

But I think that's about the right size to eat.

You know, a couple of those and you'll still have room

for some cake or sandwiches.

I'm getting decidedly sticky,

so it's a lot of finger licking.

And, of course, the cook's perk.

That was the scrunched-up last bit that I hadn't cut out.

Lovely cream, and some jam on top.

And because they are so tiny,

you could put them all in in one go,

and that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Mmm.

Do you know, memories of holidays in Devon and Cornwall -

so good.

Scones this good deserve a decent jam,

and my preference is for home-made strawberry.

If they are in season

and you can buy the fruit from a pick-your-own farm -

or, better still, grown your own -

then it's a fraction of the cost of a jar from the supermarket,

and easier to make than you think.

There's nothing quite like home-made jam.

I'm starting off with a kilo of strawberries.

Now, these are quite big ones,

and I'm going to have to cut some of them in half.

You don't want that size on perhaps a small scone,

because you wouldn't get it on there,

and you don't want the strawberries too ripe,

because you won't get a good set.

It's best to have them slightly underripe.

Put the strawberries into a large pan.

Add the juice of one lemon and set to a low heat.

Once the fruit has broken down a little,

pour in one kilo of jam sugar,

which has added pectin to help the jam set.

When I was a little girl, there wasn't such a thing as jam sugar,

and Mum used to have difficulty in getting the jam to set.

I know that she used to put other fruits

with a high pectin content,

like apple or some gooseberries, or even redcurrants.

It wasn't such a good flavour, but you were guaranteed a good set.

Stir the fruit continuously until all the sugar has dissolved.

Then, turn up the heat

and let it boil rapidly for five to six minutes.

To see if the jam is ready to set,

place a small dollop on a cold plate and put it into the fridge.

After two minutes, it's ready for the ripple test.

So, the ripple test. Just push that.

Can you see that?

It's beginning to ripple.

That tells me it's ready to go off the heat.

Give it a stir first,

right away from the heat,

and leave that for ten minutes, at least,

until when you stir it,

you see that the fruit is evenly suspended.

If you put it in the pot too soon,

the fruit will rise to the top,

and you'll get strawberry jelly at the bottom.

Very nice for the first person who opens the pot,

but the poor people at the end will just get a jelly.

In sterilised jars, this jam will keep for a year,

but in our house, it never lasts that long.

It's so good on toast.

A Victoria sandwich filled with a thick layer of strawberry jam,

and the bonus of cream.

Could life be better?

I used to bake scones and cakes

for afternoon tea with my daughter Annabel.

Now I'm doing the same with my grand-daughters.

They enjoy making these orange butterfly cakes

as much as they love eating them.

Abby and Grace are here today to help me.

I wonder how much they've remembered since the last time we made them.

So, we need 100g of baking spread.

That's it.

Caster sugar.

It's a simple all-in-one recipe that uses equal amounts

of baking spread, sugar and self-raising flour.

So, we have a little bit of baking powder and...

A level teaspoon. Make it level.

Now, level. You can put your finger on it.

That's it.

If you add more baking powder,

it will rise up in the oven

and fall down again, so never add too much.

That's it.

So, what's missing out of that, then?

Orange?

That's right. Can you find an orange over there?

I think you'll find it easier to actually grate it on the table.

Get as much as you can, and turning it all the time.

It grates much more easily than our one at home.

-Does it? What happens to yours at home?

-We have to go...

-It's got a bit blunt, has it?

-Yeah.

I think you've done pretty well with that.

Got the maximum out of it.

When I was doing this with your young cousins,

I had to put a plate underneath,

because they dropped most of it on the table.

So, we're going to mix that.

That's Granny's mixer,

and I've had it for more years than I've had you,

and it does make an awful lot of noise, but it still works.

Can you just turn that off a second?

So, how about Gracie coming and having a go?

-Keep it straight and upright, otherwise it'll go on Granny.

-OK.

-Do you think that's done?

-Yeah.

And after all these years, it still works.

Once the cake mix is ready,

spoon it into individual cake cases a bit at a time,

making them as even as possible.

Are you doing one or two scoops, Grace?

I did do two and then I saw you doing one, so I did two.

Or one.

That's it.

So, what does it taste like?

Delicious.

Next, put the cakes in the oven at 140 fan

and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

They smell good.

You know, you've got those just right.

They are all beautifully evenly baked.

For the butter icing, sift 100g of icing sugar

and beat it into 50g of softened butter.

So, these are cool now, so you're going to have to take the tops off.

You've done this several times before,

but what are the important things to do with this?

You have to cut them in half to make the wings

and put them the right way round.

That's it. These are the wings of the butterflies

that will transform them from cupcakes to butterfly cakes.

Once all the cakes are cut, it's time for my secret filling.

Here you are. Off you go.

-Thank you.

-A dollop of orange curd.

Sometimes they can be a little bit dry underneath, so a little spoon

of orange curd for orange butterfly cakes makes them quite different.

Cover the cakes with a generous swirl of icing.

Place butterfly wings on top

and finish with a dusting of icing sugar.

Are you going to have a go first, Abby? I'll take those knives away.

The rule in my house is, if you've made it, you get first try.

So, what's the verdict?

-Mmm!

-You can definitely taste the orange in there.

And they are crisp on the top.

I think well done. I think they are near perfection.

The whole tradition of afternoon tea

grew up around the drink that we've imported since the 17th century.

But 13 years ago, someone actually started growing tea in Britain.

Cornwall, to be precise.

Today I have come to meet Jonathan Jones,

managing director of Britain's only tea plantation.

Who would have thought it? Growing tea in Cornwall.

You see, I just imagine it on the slopes in India, you know,

and ladies bending down and picking it, and here it is in Cornwall.

It's the first truly English tea,

and in this part of mid-Cornwall,

we get very moderated winter temperatures, it's very humid.

It rains a lot, but it's also beautifully sunny,

and the soil is acid,

and it's the combination of all of those things that come together

and give you a true microclimate which is just like Darjeeling.

-Is it?

-Yes.

-So, what is a tea plant?

Well, it's a camellia, actually.

Loads of people have camellias at home as their big ornamental flowers

and don't realise that they've got a close relative

of the tea bush at home.

We've been importing the dried leaf from this bush

for over four centuries, but the British took it to India.

Really?

Yes, the Brits took it as an industry in the 1920s,

and now India is a huge producer of tea,

employing over a million people.

So, how much tea would you get from one bush?

Over the course of its life, you get millions of cups of tea,

because these could produce for hundreds of years,

because every few weeks

you cut the top two leaves in the bud, and that is tea.

So, Mary, tea drinking. This is the favourite bit, isn't it?

Plucking tea in the tea garden is always fun,

but then you have to go through a process of drying.

But, you know, in weather like this,

it could take less than 36 hours and you end up

with a really gorgeous dried camellia leaf

that we all know as tea.

It smells very aromatic, and it looks just like the tea I know.

Would you like to try some?

I certainly would.

This has been brewing.

Ah, now, what about milk?

Good question.

Good china can cope with tea first,

and it has become the norm, I think,

for most people to have their tea first, and if they like milk,

you can see how much you need by adding it second.

Of course, in the old days, I believe that you put very hot tea

in lovely thin china, and it would crack.

-That's true.

-This is toughened.

I'm just going to put a splash in mine, because it is quite dark.

How long should you brew tea for?

In this country, we tend to drink a lot of tea.

We're not very patient.

In offices and aeroplanes, you've got to have your cup of tea right now,

so the tea is now blended more for that sort of tea drinker,

so it tends to be quite quick to draw, as they say,

so the colour comes out very quickly.

But we should wait longer.

And if you are home and you've got more time,

loose tea in a teapot,

five minutes. What's that?

That's a very fine cup of tea.

Like most people, I don't want a last-minute rush

when guests are coming round for afternoon tea.

So, I've learnt every trick in the book for preparing food ahead.

I even make the sandwiches the day before.

Believe it or not, they don't go soggy,

and taste as fresh as if I'd just made them.

When I'm doing a smart tea for lots of friends,

I always think it's nice to start with a sandwich,

and it's such a help if you can make them ahead.

It might sound odd to be able to do the sandwiches the day before,

but it really works if you choose the right fillings.

The ones that are very good are ham, pastrami.

I put it with cream cheese and just a little bit of rocket.

Be generous with the cream cheese.

Egg and cress goes well.

Tuna in mayonnaise, that goes well,

but keep the fish and meat separately,

because the flavours would not be good together.

Fillings that you can't do the day before

are tomato... Cucumber is far too wet as well,

so choose fairly sort of dry fillings.

And, of course, you must start off with really fresh bread.

Now, I've cut the crusts off.

Then I pack them on a tray, really, really close together

so that they all keep each other moist.

Do you know, I remember telling my mother about this idea

and she said, "Oh, I don't believe you."

And then she began doing things like ham and smoked salmon sandwiches

ahead and she said, "You know, it does really work."

The secret to all this is very simple.

A slightly dampened cloth or kitchen paper.

And just crunch it up and make sure that it's damp but not wet.

Then put it directly on top of the sandwiches

and tuck it in all the way round.

Now, if you put that in the fridge without a cover,

it would dry out overnight.

So, you need some clingfilm over the top,

and then tuck that in all the way round.

So, there we are, all the sandwiches made a day ahead,

and they will be just as good

when they come out of the fridge as when they go in.

Fruit and spice is normally associated with rich, dense cakes.

But this loaf cake with apple and cinnamon

offers a much lighter way to spice up tea-time.

I'm actually going to make two, one for now and one for the freezer.

Start off with the flour.

200g of self-raising flour,

75g of butter.

I find that it helps to have it a bit soft,

and then a light rubbing in, and that gets the air in it.

When the butter has combined with the flour to a breadcrumb texture,

add 100g of light muscovado sugar

and a teaspoonful of ground cinnamon.

Cinnamon and apple go really well together,

and they use it an awful lot in Europe -

think of apple strudel.

Lightly combine the sugar and spice. Then prepare the apples.

I'm using three Braeburns, which must be cored and peeled.

If I was using our old favourite,

Bramleys, they would go into mush in the cake.

Eating apples, sometimes known as dessert apples, hold their shape,

and I want to keep the texture.

Right, we have three apples prepared,

I'm going to keep half

to go on top of my loaf tin, so I'll pop that down there.

When I was a child, we had a lot of apples in the garden,

and when it came to picking time,

we had to go up the tree

and have a basket and not let them fall.

I've always liked climbing trees, so I must say I really enjoyed it.

With the apples chopped,

lightly whisk three eggs.

Then add both to the mixture and stir it all in.

So, it's quite a soft mixture,

and there is a lovely spicy smell coming up from it, too.

Spoon the mixture into two greased and lined 1lb loaf tins.

I find that two smaller cakes bake more reliably than one big one.

It also means I've got one for now and another for the freezer.

To decorate the cakes, cut the remaining half-apple

into thin slices and place on top.

And then, to give it a nice crunch,

I'm going to add a little bit of Demerara sugar,

and I'm just going to sprinkle that... I suppose I'm using about

two tablespoons over the top of the apple,

and it will sort of melt

and become a lovely crunchy topping,

and a good, even, brown colour all over.

Now they're ready for baking, so it's into the oven at 140 fan,

for about 30 to 35 minutes.

Once the cakes have cooked, turn them out

and spread with apricot jam.

It will melt to leave you with a lovely sticky glaze.

So, there you go.

Wonderful cinnamon and apple cakes.

This is the perfect choice for the adults.

I think they'll be thrilled with it.

A celebration tea party calls for a big cake,

and this four-tiered lemon cake uses two lemons, skin and all,

and more in the icing, so it's full of zesty flavour.

These two lemons I have simmered very gently

until they are all squidgy and soft,

and that will take about half an hour.

I'll cut those in half...

..and make sure the juice doesn't spurt all over me.

Remove the pips, then place the lemons in a processor,

but don't chop it too finely.

The small chunks of lemon will give you a nice texture

when you bite into the cake.

Now, make the cake mixture,

using 270g of butter,

self-raising flour and caster sugar,

along with four eggs and two level teaspoons of baking powder.

Then add half the lemon, and blend briefly.

I'm going to put that into two cake tins,

and they want to be eight-inch sandwich tins,

and they are quite deep.

I think of all the flavourings that there are,

lemons must be my most favourite.

I think I'm known for lemon drizzle cake,

but I think it's a lovely idea to use the whole lemon.

Level out the mixture,

then place the tins on the same shelf in the oven

and bake for around 30 minutes at 160 fan.

Whilst the cakes are cooking, whizz up 175g of icing sugar

with 50g of butter.

Add 250g of full-fat mascarpone

and blitz again.

Then, finally, mix in the remaining lemon pulp.

Once the cakes have cooked and cooled completely,

you can start to cut them up.

Get down level with it so you can really see what you're up to.

And hold the knife absolutely flat and cut straight through.

It helps to have the cake really, really cold.

Take your time, don't be rushed,

and if any of the members of the family want to watch you,

tell them to go, because it's easier to do it without their advice.

When both cakes have been halved, start to spread on the icing.

So, that's about a third.

It's good to make this a bit ahead,

because the lemon will sink into the cake.

Now, I'm going to put the piece that came off gently over the top.

Then we put another third on top.

I really don't think it's a good idea

to make a cake any taller than four layers. That's plenty.

It's lovely to see those chunky bits of lemon

in amongst this lovely creamy mixture.

And to crown the whole cake,

I'm going to do some lemon icing on the top.

Slowly mix in two tablespoons of lemon juice

to 175g of fondant icing sugar.

Fondant icing sugar is a fairly new product,

and it has an excellent shine to it.

I'm going to put the whole lot on.

Right in the middle there, and then be patient

and just gently edge that over,

and I don't mind a bit

if it trickles down.

In fact, I'll just encourage little drizzly bits to fall down,

because I think it looks as though you've made it at home.

And so, to finish my cake,

in this jar I've got some lemon zest,

and what you do is put it in a pan with just a little water,

a sprinkling of caster sugar

and cook it for just about two or three minutes.

And then I just leave it to dry out in an oven,

temperature about 110, for about half an hour.

I just keep it for decorating a lemon cold souffle or a mousse,

or when a cake needs a lift, like this one.

There we are.

So, there you have it.

My favourite signature collection to serve for afternoon tea.

All of them simple recipes that anyone could make

and everyone will enjoy,

and I hope that my recipes will inspire you

to invite your friends and family round next weekend.

Next time, I'm cooking for a dinner party.

Two easy canapes to get the party going,

a spectacular salmon starter

and a luxurious chocolate tart.

Recipes to impress your friends.