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Everyone’s gone baking mad in the UK, including us. With the Jubilee weekend fast approaching, we’re obsessed with British teatime treats with a right royal twist to help make your celebrations sparkle, savvy style.

 

If you’re planning a retro-chic tea party, why not stick to tradition with dainty, crustless sandwiches? For a stunning centrepiece for your table, serve buttered, freshly-made open sandwiches topped with anything from egg mayonnaise or ham and mustard to more modern smoked salmon or mozzarella and tomatoes drizzled with pesto. Simply drape a corded ribbon in patriotic colours across a white serving plate, cut your sandwiches into triangles and place them along the edges of the ribbon to make Angel Adoree’s wonderful Bunting Butties (pictured above) from The Vintage Tea Party Book, published by Mitchell Beazley, available online and in good book shops.

Lorraine Pascale's totally lazy mini sausage rolls

A party’s not a party without sausage rolls!  Plus, if you use ready-made puff or shortcrust pastry, they’re really quick and easy to make. Check out Lorraine Pascale’s tasty recipe for her Totally lazy mini sausage rolls with herby sausages on bbc.co.uk. To spice things up even more, you could always use chorizo sausages instead.

Mary Berry's Victoria sandwich from goodtoknow.co.uk

The Victoria sandwich. This all-time British classic is named after Queen Victoria, who apparently favoured it cut into small slices or ‘sandwiches’ to enjoy with her afternoon tea. Who better than Great British Bake Off judge and queen of cakes, Mary Berry, to share the secret of how to make the perfect Victoria sandwich fit for royalty? See her in action on the BBC website here.

Image from Fabulous Food Magazine

For a royally blinged-up topping, decorate the cake with a Union Jack made from whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries.

It’s said that soft fruits, like blackberries or raspberries are banned from the royal table to avoid the delicate issue of pips sticking in Her Majesty’s teeth. What a shame! Still, that means more jewelled jelly and ice cream for us. Just wait till you try Jane Hornby’s delicious recipe from Fabulous Food Magazine…

- Set 600ml pomegranate juice with a packet of jelly or gelatine, following the pack instructions.

- When very loosely set, stir in edible glitter and summer berries.

- Then, transfer to clear pastic cups or a mould to fully set and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Image: Lydia Leith

To pick up a fun and cheeky Jubilee jelly mould of Her Majesty’s head, go to artist Lydia Leith’s website, where you can also watch a video of the Jubilee jelly wobble test!

And if you need any other finishing touches for your Jubilee tables, hit our Bodum sale and the BrandAlley Outlet for last minute, stylish bargains, which are all available now.

Time to party!

Jo x