Afternoon tea with carrot cake

Time spent in the kitchen to produce homemade bakes for friends and family is never time wasted; the results are always appreciated and it's a real joy to sit down with the ones you love and be able to share with them something you have spent time (that most precious of things) making just for them.

My dear friend Maud came to see me on Saturday, which gave me a lovely excuse to get out the china and set out an afternoon tea spread.

We got through several pots of tea (Betty's, of course) while munching our way through sandwiches and sweet treats.  For the sandwiches I was fortunate enough to have been in receipt of a batch of fresh eggs, which had come from a farmer local to the P's in Herefordshire.  Beautiful deep yellow yolks made the egg mayo sandwiches all the more enticing.

I had fun planning the baking.  The cake is a carrot cake made from a recipe in the Great British Book of Baking.  The recipe is easy to follow and makes a yummy, moist cake.  Carrots, walnuts, orange zest and spices flavour the sponge, and the frosting has a cream cheese base given a citrus lift with the addition of orange zest and fresh orange juice.  It was really rather good, even if I do say so myself.

Another first was the chocolate chip shortbread.  A quick and easy recipe, made in a fluted tart tin and divided into eights, the pieces are a lovely accompaniment to a cup of tea.

I also made scones.  Following my previous experiments with blueberry scones and cheese scones, only a batch of traditional sultana scones would do for this occasion, and were a perfect way to try the homemade blackberry jam I had made the week before (more on my jam making exploits to follow in a later post, I promise).

And if you're thinking this all sounds like a lot for two people, you would be correct!  A long tramp through the fields and along the river meant we were ready for seconds, but there was still a lot left so I was able to send Maud away with a few treats.  As for the rest, my brother seems more than willing to help finish them off.