Ideas for a homemade afternoon tea for Mothers Day?

[MoeAnna]

Can't afford to take her out and don't want to deal with the madness of MD at a restaurant

So any ideas or recipes for a homemade afternoon tea?

Presentation seems to be more important than substance with afternoon tea. Dainty sandwiches and mini scones would be good.

Mary Berry did a whole thing on afternoon tea and on making things ahead. Her traybakes are pretty foolproof and you can cut into very small pieces to keep the theme.

Lots of her recipes online

Victoria sponge, naturally. Plus tea, plus sandwiches. Nothing complicated required, surely? It sounds a really nice idea 🙂

Or am I totally unaware of what afternoon tea is?!?

I’ve done several afternoon teas, I always google 5* hotels forafternoon tea menu inspiration!

I just wanted it to be 'fancy'.

My go to sarnie is a jam on white bread so inspiration is most definitely needed

Brie, bacon & cranberry
Smoked salmon and cream cheese
Coronation chicken
Rare roast beef and horseradish

Dan Leonard's scones are made with buttermilk or yoghurt and they are divine. Can't have an afternoon tea without scones

I did this a couple of years back. I got a cheap table cloth from B&M with strawberries on it, bought a bunch of tulips for the table, and found some tea cups and saucers in a charity shop. I made some scones, put some jam and cream on the table and made these:- www.melskitchencafe.com/lemonies/

Really easy to do, taste amazing, and looked really cute!

Finger sandwiches with some interesting fillings, rare roast beef is delicious imo, smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise with some finely chopped black olives, cream cheese and cucumber. Mini patisserie such as lemon tarts, could you make tiny eclairs or religieuses? Cakes of course, and scones with cream and jam, or with fresh raspberries and cream for extra deliciousness.a glass of fizz as well as tea.

I’m planning this now for a mother day lunch!
However, I think it may work out more expensive than just taking her out there will be 13 of us...
Sandwiches - roast beef and horseradish,
Egg and cress, smoked salmon and cream cheese, ham and mustard, cucumber (obviously!)
Savouries - sausage rolls, feta and spinach triangles, crab and lime croustades, mozzarella and chilli bruschetta, bitesize cheese and bacon “quiches”,
Sweet - scones, macaroons, something chocolatey.
Menu to be finalised but those are my initial ideas. We have done afternoon tea for dd1s birthday a couple of years ago and have plenty of pretty crockery and cake stands.
Dd2 makes brilliant macaroons, dd1 is in charge of scones.
Mary Berry has a brilliant and foolproof way of making the sandwiches up the day before and them staying fresh - I never thought this possible but it’s brilliant.

Cucumber or watercress sandwiches on white, smoked salmon or egg and cress on brown. Cut off the crusts! Scones with jam and cream. Victoria sponge or your favourite cake. There were macarons one I went to, and mini choc mousses on another (like Gu ones).

If you don't have a China tea set try your charity shops. That's where I got mine. And cake stands.

Cream tea. Scones, clotted cream and jam. Really not that expensive in small quantities. scones are bog easy to make. Agree that Mary Berry recipes are triple tested and bomb proof [though personally I make Delia scones and mine kick arse]

Then I'd say tiny finger sandwiches done with good quality bread. Cucumber with butter, smoked salmon with cream cheese, ham.

I actually wouldn't bother with cake as well, it's too rich with the sandwiches and cream. Scones all the way.

I once did small Yorkshire puddings filled with horseradish cream and thinly sliced beef & mini quiches they both went down a treat.

I do afternoon tea for some of my elderly neighbours every now and again. I do
Finger sandwiches with fillings of smoked salmon and cream cheese, egg mayonnaise and cress, ham and tomato and cucumber.

Then small scones - cheese or sultana with cheddar and chutney or sultana with clotted cream and strawberry jam.
Then a selection of cake including custard slices, eclairs and Victoria sandwich.

Interesting sandwich fillings, smoked salmon and horseradish cream, herby cream cheese and cucumber, crab and egg, naice ham and mustard, pastrami with mustard and finely chopped gherkin, etc etc. I'd do three or four different fillings with a couple of different types of bread.

Scones with jam and cream would be good, but also slices of buttered fruit bread are nice.

A nice selection of cakes, perhaps coffee & walnut, Victoria sponge and an open fruit tart. Your Mum's favourite cake is obviously a must!

A couple of different types of tea to try would be nice, have a sliced lemon handy as well as milk. Something fizzy would make it special, Prosecco perhaps, or to keep the cost down Sainsburys St. Clement Bucks Fizz is good value.

If funds allow, a little posy on the table would look nice, or maybe you have some spring flowers in your garden, you only need a few in a little vase.

Have a super time, I'm sure your Mum will love it!

This has really opened my eyes - doing fancy stuff is clearly possible! Thinking I might start dropping hints...