I love Weddings. It has been 2 years since our wedding and one of the many, many traditions is the Bouquet Toss. Since most of my guests were already already married or older or simply not interested in catching a bouquet (too close to sport) I didn’t think do a Bouquet toss. This beautiful citrus scented cake is an alternative to a Bouquet toss to be served at a Kitchen Tea.

The idea is simple, attach 1 piece of ribbon to the centre bouquet with the rest of the lengths of ribbon unattached. Whoever picks the ribbon attached to the bouquet “Catches the Bouquet”! No clawing or scratching at others or people falling over to catch the elusive bouquet and no boobs falling out of dresses (I’ve seen pics where women jump up to catch the bouquet and their dress doesn’t follow). You can also attach “wishes” or a prize to the ends of the ribbon or even names depending on the age and interest of your guests.

I’m one of those odd people that don’t like fresh oranges cut up (I always bypass the orange pieces served for dessert at Chinese restaurants) but I do love orange in things, especially orange rind. I could’ve, or should have, dusted it with icing sugar but I only thought of that once it was served and cut. You could certainly match the central bouquet with the brides bouquet and ribbon according to the colour theme of the wedding. Yes lads, that’s right, there probably was a colour theme to your wedding, you just didn’t know it

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Yes I admit I have a minor unhealthy obsession with afternoon tea or morning teas. I love dainty little servings and a good cup of tea so I am sucker for anything vaguely constituting afternoon tea. The good thing about the Sheraton’s afternoon tea offering is that you can get a traditional afternoon tea with scones, finger sandwiches and tarts or you can go for the contemporary afternoon tea which comprises of delicious tidbits like Lobster slaw martini, swimmer crab omelette, Banana cheesecake, white chocolate brownie and the drool inducing list goes on.

We always order the contemporary afternoon tea. Whilst the traditional afternoon tea looks lovely, I cannot pass up the Lobster Slaw Martini or the Gallery Banana cheesecake. We know the menu so well ordering is easy. For $79 you can order any of the 12 dishes and 2 unlimited drinks are included (your choice of Twinings leaf tea, Vittoria espresso or Max Brenner Hot Drinking Chocolate). For $129 you get a choice of any of the 12 dishes but with two glasses of Moet & Chandon Imperial N.V. Additional dishes are available for $7 each.

We order the King Island Double brie with apple and Duchy of Cornwell Oat Cake; Lobster Slaw Martini, Tasmanian Smoked Salmon and lemon mascarpone crostini; Hoisin Duck Money Bag; Blue Swimmer crab and asparagus omelette; Gallery Tiger prawn Caesar; Pear and smoked chicken with verjuice and hazelnuts; Rice pudding and apple jelly; White Chocolate Brownie; Pannacotta with mandarin compote and, because they’re my absolute favourite and the idea of sharing one alarms me, 2 of the gallery Banana cheesecakes. Blythe’s favourite part of the afternoon tea is the endless top ups of Max Brenner White Hot Chocolate-usually $5.50 a cup, she can drink cup after cup of the rich milky liquid chocolate concoction so it feels like she is getting much more than her money’s worth. I order my usual standby, a pot of Earl Grey and settle back into the club chair and relax.

Clockwise from left: Pear and smoked chicken with verjuice and hazelnuts; Tasmanian Smoked Salmon and lemon mascarpone crostini; Lobster Slaw Martini & Blue Swimmer crab and asparagus omelette

Clockwise from left: Gallery Tiger prawn Caesar; Pannacotta with mandarin compote; Hoisin Duck Money Bag & King Island Double brie with apple and Duchy of Cornwell Oat Cake

Clockwise from left: White Chocolate brownie; Gallery Banana cheesecake; Rice pudding and apple jelly and Gallery Banana cheesecake

Our drinks arrive first and 20 minutes later our three tier stand arrives with three large square plates each with 4 smaller plates on top. The savouries are at the top while the sweets are at the bottom.

Lobster Slaw martini

After a flurry of photo taking, I dig in starting with my favourite item, the Lobster Slaw martini. Four chunks of lobster sit on top of a creamy crunchy coleslaw which has shredded lobster throughout. If I didn’t love everything else I’d order 4 of these.

King Island Double brie with apple and Duchy of Cornwell Oat Cake

Next I select the King Island Double brie with apple and Duchy of Cornwell Oat Cake. I like milder cheeses and this King Island Double Brie is a creamy wedge of heaven, the sweet red apple a crisp and juicy contrast to the dry but rich in oat biscuit and rich cheese.

Gallery tiger prawn Caesar salad

Two salads are next, the gallery tiger prawn Caesar is first. I love Caesar salads provided the dressing is good and the bacon is small and crisp but not too crispy. The salad is perfect, the dressing creamy and parmesaney enough to satisfy and the small chunks of tasty bacon are fabulous with the addition of the sea salty tiger prawn.

Smoked chicken salad and pear salad with verjus and hazelnuts

The smoked chicken salad and pear salad is good and feels virtuous by comparison, the verjus providing a light tangy dressing, the hazelnuts a lovely nutty crunch and the chicken soft and lightly smokey and the paper thin pear crisp and juicy.

Hoisin duck money bag

The hoisin duck money bag, although looking quite adorable with its spring onion tie is not quite as successful being mostly devoid of any filling and the money bag being a crepe too thick to go with the light serve of duck.

Tasmanian Smoked Salmon and lemon mascarpone crostini

The Tasmanian Smoked Salmon and lemon mascarpone crostini is a folded over parcel of soft smoked salmon with a splodge of lightly lemon flavoured mascarpone sitting on top of a crunchy crostini. The salmon and lemon mascarpone are delicious together and the crostini gives a textural crunch.

Blue Swimmer crab and asparagus omelette

Last of the savouries is the Blue Swimmer crab and asparagus omelette. The omelette is sliced in half and the asparagus is a lovely complement to the delicate crab meat, never overpowering it.

White chocolate and macadamia brownie

Pausing for a moment, we contemplate our sweets and I try the white chocolate and macadamia brownie first. These brownies have inspired many a brownie batch baking as they are deliciously moist, the most moist of any brownie I’ve eaten and are studded thickly with roasted macadamias.

Gallery banana cheesecake

I’ve saved my favourite Gallery banana cheesecake for next. Its not a typical cheesecake texture as its fluffy and mousselike, more like a Japanese cheesecake. Its full of real banana, there’s no fake banana to be had here, and as always its delicate and melts in the mouth. I hold back from bursting into the kitchen and demanding a recipe although you can believe I googled my bottom off trying to find a recipe sadly to no avail!

Rice pudding with apple jelly

The adorable little shot glass of rice pudding has sweetened apple in jelly sitting at the bottom, then a layer of vanilla rice pudding upon which brown sugar crumble topping sits. As I am getting incredibly full, I take a tentative taste, the rice pudding isn’t quite as soft as I’d like it and the vanilla scent is faint, if non existent. If I were hungry I’d devour it still but as I’m full, its a good excuse to put it back.

Mandarin pannacotta

The Mandarin pannacotta is a new addition to the menu and upon tasting it, I only wish I had more stomach room. The creamy soft wobbly pannacotta is delicious with the marmaladey mandarin syrup. I manage to fit in as much as possible without bursting.

Afternoon tea buffet

Afternoon tea buffet

As we’re eating and imbibing, the chefs bring out the goodies for the afternoon tea buffet, a fig cake looking particularly luscious alongside moussey french style cakes, wraps and delicate finger sandwiches. We promise that next time, like every time, that we’ll order the buffet next.

Afternoon tea buffet

The Gallery Tea Lounge

Sheraton on the Park
Lobby Level
161 Elizabeth St, Sydney NSW 2000
Tel +61 (02) 9286-6650
Afternoon tea served from 11.30-6pm from $69 - $79 per stand (each stand for 2-3 people)
Weekend tea buffet served from 2pm-5pm $45 per person

No, I’m not suggesting that you feed your baby lemon curd cupcakes (although, is that such a bad thing?). With my friend Lulu’s baby due any minute now I’ve been planning to make some gorgeous little cupcakes to celebrate. The only issue being that I have no idea whether she is having a girl or a boy and I have no idea when little sweetpea will make her/his way into the world!

Luckily I had cupcake cases that covered both genders-blue and pink. Beaters at the ready I decide to make a gender neutral cupcake - lemon curd. Lulu is allergic to chocolate so it needed to be something that she could eat too as she’s the one doing all of the hard work!

Lemon curd cake

• 125 g butter softened
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
• 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup (80ml) milk
• 3/4 cup (60g) dessicated coconut
• 1 1/4 cups (185g) SR flour

• Lemon curd to fill
• Fondant and sugar flowers to decorate

Preheat oven to moderate (180c/160c fan forced). Line 6 hole texas or 12 hole standard muffin pan with paper cases.

Beat butter, rind, sugar and eggs in a small bowl with electric mixer until fluffy.

Stir in milk and coconut then sifted flour. Divide mixture among cases, smooth surface.

Bake large cakes about 25 minutes, small cakes about 20 mins. Turn cakes onto wire rack to cool.

Cut a 2 cm deep hole in the centre of each cake, fill with curd, cut off pointy ends of the cut out tops leaving a flat disc and replace tops with these discs and smooth surface carefully.

Roll fondant in discs, cut round or fluted outline with cutter and stamp with desired patterns using embossing plates. Top with flower and secure flower with thickish mixture of icing sugar and water.

P.S. What great timing, on the day that I made these, I received a message from Lulu that Little Lady Audrey Louise was born at 2.45am! A very fitting name since mummy Lulu is very Audrey Hepburn-esque. Here are Audrey Louise’s first cupcakes, ready to be taken to the hospital.

Its amazing what a difference a nice pan can make. Sorting online through all of the Wilton tins at Peters of Kensington I spied a gorgeous picture of a ready made lemon chiffon cake using their Perennial mould (RRP $60, on sale for $24). I had to have it, even if it was out of sheer laziness as this kind of cake wouldn’t require a great deal of decorating skill from me (which I admit, decorating is not my strong point but my favourite part). Purchase made, I set about making this sunnily spring-like cake.

Making sure that the cake doesn’t stick is paramount. I had heard that aerosol oil sprays aren’t good for non stick surfaces so I didn’t want to use one although Wilton’s recipe called for it. Once I only brushed it with vegetable oil and the ultimate cake tragedy occurred and it didn’t come out at all so I recommend brushing it with softened butter or melted butter which is cooled so that it coats the surface well and then dusting it with flour. This ensures that it comes out perfectly.

As for the cake taste? I was a bit unsure about the packet of jelly but it rose beautifully with a flat surface and was easy to decorate. I melted some white chocolate to fill in the petals and used strawberry jam for the “dots”. If you ever want to impress a mother, aunt or grandmother, this is the cake!

Perennial Pan Lemon Cake

Tools:

*Wilton Dimensions® Perennial Pan

Ingredients:

* 2 cups cake flour
* 1 1/4 cups caster sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 packet lemon jelly mix
* 3/4 cup milk
* 2/3 cup vegetable oil
* 2 tablespoons lemon flavoring
* 3 eggs, separated
* Butter and flour to line pan

1. Preheat oven to 165°C. Spray pan with vegetable pan spray or brush with butter and then sift some flour over this to prevent sticking.
2. In large bowl, combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder and gelatin. Add milk, oil and lemon flavoring; mix well. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry, adding remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Fold egg whites into batter. Turn into prepared pan.
3. Bake 45-50 minutes or until cake springs back lightly to the touch. Cool 15 minutes in pan. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Decorating Tip: Dust with confectioners’ sugar or dust with confectioners’ sugar and fill petals with yellow piping gel, raspberry or strawberry preserves, or a thick confectioners’ sugar glaze. Center of flower can be enhanced with brown piping gel, chocolate jimmies or yellow sugar.Makes 10-12 servings.

http://www.wilton.com/recipes/recipesandprojects/spring/perenniallemoncake.cfm