The underground tea on Sunday was a crazy day filled with lovely people; friends and friends of friends, a beautiful baby, people who came through Twitter – Porridge lady, Amanda and her friend ZaZa, Chocolate tour Jen and Sara and her daughter of the Cricket family blog. There was family too  – Ms Marmite lover’s mother is a very sweet and interesting lady and was there making sandwiches and generally helping out as was Ms. M’s daughter who had the inspired idea of dunking crumpets in tea. My almost husband designed the menus, helped set up and serve and he even wore a top hat for most of the day.

One of the reasons it was special is that quite often I bake and decorate and don’t always get to see people enjoying the cakes I make, or talking about them – or socialising over a slice or two! So it was really nice to have that feedback and to see how quickly the fresh strawberry and cream filled Victoria sponge disappeared and how pleasantly surprised people were by the lavender cake. It was also nice to work with someone, to turn over ideas and to see what can be done with an Aga, some enthusiasm, great ingredients and a large living room in Kilburn.

Besides the mini lemon and lime tarts, which I really, really like  (see Bellaphon’s blog post and beautiful pictures of them here) the highlights of the day for me were the crumpets (see recipe at bottom of the post) and Ms Marmite Lover’s savoury tartlets, especially the blue cheese ones – which she gives the recipe for on her blog.

The other great result of doing the underground tea was the opportunity to try out some recipes not previously attempted – the Madeleines need some work (but the tins are beautiful!) but the crumpets were such a hit and it would never have occurred to me to try and make them ordinarily. They were especially good served hot with salted butter but also good cold! This recipe I found online, via Skye Gyngell and Bill Granger and  with a bit of trial and error, it worked well (the temperature of the pan needs to be fairly high to get them cooked through rather than stodgy) Egg rings are absolutely necessary – and heating them in the pan before pouring in the batter is also a good idea (thanks to Shunafish for that tip!)

Cupcakes and menu.

The beautiful Aga.

After the tea.

My almost husband assembling a cake stand before the tea.

Creme Patisserie on the Aga – a last minute idea to fill remaining mini tart cases – which we then forgot to top with strawberries and serve!

Lavender shortbreads and Matcha shortbreads on a vintage cake plate.

The tea guests.

Crumpets!

Crumpet recipe:

Tip: If you have time, make clarified butter to cook the crumpets and to brush the egg rings with.

Makes 16

For the crumpets

350ml/12fl oz whole milk
11/2tsp sugar
7g/2/3oz dried yeast
375g/12oz plain flour
A pinch of salt
1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the crumpets, pour the milk into a pan and heat until blood temperature. Pour into a bowl and sprinkle over the sugar and dried yeast and stir. Allow to stand for 10 minutes, until the milk starts to froth and bubble.

Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in the milk and beat with electric beaters until smooth. Cover in clingfilm and stand in a warm place until doubled in volume (about 11/2 hours). Mix the bicarbonate of soda with 200ml (7fl oz) water. Pour into the batter and beat. Place a pan over medium to high heat and brush with butter. Grease two metal rings and place in the pan until hot.

Spoon two tablespoons of batter inside each ring and cook for 5-6 minutes, reduce the heat if they start to brown too quickly on the bottom. We started them off on the hotter plate of the Aga and then moved them over to the cooler one to finish cooking. The base should be golden and crunchy and the surface covered in bubbles. Once the top of the crumpet appears set but still looks raw, flip over and cook the other side. Remove and cool on a wire rack.