Make this Mother's Day extra special by creating your own afternoon tea from scratch and serving with the Viners Afternoon Tea Set. You can't create your own show-stopping afternoon tea without some recipe inspiration, which is why we've pulled together these two tasty recipes so you can pull out all the stops to create the perfect afternoon celebration. Recipes courtesy of Mason Cash.
Victoria Sandwich Cake
Ingredients
225g Softened Butter
150g Golden Caster Sugar
150g Self-raising Flour
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
4 Eggs, beaten
For the topping:
300ml Double Cream
50g Icing Sugar
Strawberry Jam
Method
1. Heat the oven to 180°c/ 350°f / Gas mark 4 and grease and line 2 x 20cm/8in sandwich tins.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
3. Beat the eggs in a little at a time and stir in the vanilla extract. Fold in the flour until fully combined.
4. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins. This does not have to be exact, but you can weigh the filled tins if you want to check that they are even.
5. Bake in the oven for 18-22 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in to one of the cakes comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the tin and leave to cool fully on a wire rack.
6. For the cream topping, whisk the cream until it begins to thicken. Slowly add the icing sugar and continue to whisk until the cream forms stiff peaks.
7. To assemble, place one cake upside down on a plate and spread with the strawberry jam. Then, pipe the cream topping on top of the jam, top with the second cake and sprinkle with icing sugar.
Almond Scones
Ingredients
450g Self-raising Flour
Pinch of Salt
100g Cold Butter, cubed
85g Golden Caster Sugar
284ml Buttermilk
2 tsp Almond Extract
Milk, for glazing
Method
1. Heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas mark 7. Put the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and add the butter. Rub the butter into the mixture until there are no more lumps, then stir in the sugar.
2. Combine the buttermilk with the almond extract and warm through in a pan or in the microwave.
3. Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture a little at a time mixing together with a knife until you have a dough.
4. Tip the bowl out onto a floured surface and form the mix together with your hands once or twice - the less you can touch it, the better the bake. Then gently press or roll out the dough to around a 4cm thickness.
5. Cut out the dough using a cutter of your choice, ideally around 6cm in diameter, reforming any trimmings that you have. Spread the scones onto a baking sheet (you may need two).
6. Spread out on a lightly floured baking sheet or two and brush each one on top with milk. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the scones rise and are golden.
7. Allow to cool and serve with clotted cream and jam.
