A Mad Tea Party

It’s time for a tea party! The 7th Annual Mad Tea Party, to be precise…hosted by A Fanciful Twist. I am just one of many lucky guests. Stay as long as you wish – I hope you feel welcome and enjoy your time with me. And as always, I have left a recipe for you at the end.

Beneath the trees of my little garden, amongst the flowering summer blossoms, there was a tea party set for two.

The kitchen had been whipped into a frenzy, leaving the aroma of oranges and caramelized sugar to float by on the warm breeze.

But with a little bit of fairy dust everything was finished just in time.

A pretty fox came to tea and a happy bunny joined her.

And plenty of delicious treats made the table overflow…There were cinnamon orange tartlettes, topped with sticky sweet pieces of freshly candied oranges.

Straight-from-the-oven scones, made with love and given a generous helping of cream and jewel-toned jam.

But best of all were the buttery financiers…fragrant, nutty, and topped with summer peaches.

And, of course, a few paper cranes folded up with a dream and a wish.

There was plenty of lemonade to go around, cold and bubbly and sweet…we never did find out what was in the teapot…

But we filled the day with laughter and nibbles and stories galore. In the end, it was wishes of bon voyage, as Little Miss Fox scampered off to catch her plane to France.

Financiers are French teacakes, so named because they resemble gold bars and had been popular in Paris’ financial district…or so tradition (aka Wikipedia) tells me. Although originally made with almonds, I chose to make them with walnuts because the first time I made them—on a summer afternoon last year with the aforementioned Miss Fox—there were no almonds in my pantry.

Peach and Walnut Financiers (Yield: 3 3x5” mini loaves)

9 tbsp. butter, cut into 1” pieces

3/4 c. walnuts

1/4 c. flour

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

3 egg whites, whisked lightly

1 tsp. vanilla

1 medium-sized peach, sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 400º F.
2. Melt one tablespoon of butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Using a pastry brush, spread an even coating of the melted butter into three mini loaf tins. Place the pans in the freezer until your batter is ready.
3. Place the remaining butter in a small sauce pan and melt over medium-high heat, allowing the butter to melt and then brown until it smells aromatic and the solids become golden brown. Take the pan off the heat and allow it to cool slightly.
4. While the butter cools down, place the walnuts, flour, sugar, and salt into a food processor and let it run until the ingredients become a fine, uniform meal. Pour the food processor’s contents into a large bowl.
5. Whisk the egg whites and vanilla into the nut mixture, then pour in the butter, making sure to scrape in all the browned bits at the bottom of the pot. Whisk the batter until it just comes together.
6. Take the prepared loaf tins from the freezer and divide the batter evenly amongst them.
7. Slice the peach into 1/4” wedges. Fan several slices, forming a layered row of peaches, over the top of each financier.
8. Place the loaf tins in the oven and bake the financiers for 10 minutes.
9. Keeping the oven door closed, turn the oven off and leave the cakes for five more minutes, or until the financiers are a dark golden brown and the edges are firm to the touch.
10. Remove the financiers from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes. Dust them with a little bit of powder sugar before serving.

Happy Summer!

            Now that we’ve made it past the Fourth of July and are in throes of summer, things have finally become more relaxing. Mornings are peaceful, afternoons are hot and lazy, and many of my nights are spent at the dance studio or catching up with friends.

            Since graduation, I have finished my internship with the OC Register, I became a freelance society reporter (which involves attending a lot of fun charity events), saw a pop/opera concert (which was beyond amazing), went on a mini road trip to San Diego, dealt with a pipe leakage in the kitchen, spent a day at Disneyland, and enrolled in an LSAT prep course. I have also been rehearsing for a belly dance festival that I’ll be performing in next Saturday.

But the very first thing I did at the beginning of my summer vacation was have a movie day with a couple of girlfriends. We spent the afternoon watching Audrey Hepburn movies, drinking numerous pots of tea, eating cake, and talking into the wee hours of the morning. What better way to decompress after graduating college?

Despite the fact that the weekend of graduation consisted of absolutely miserable 100-degree weather, the day my friends and I got together was overcast and wet. And when it’s overcast and wet at my house, I feel very English for some reason. It makes me want to have afternoon tea with Lady Violet Crawley. And when one is feeling English, what fare is more appropriate than Mrs. Beeton’s Very Good Seed Cake?

            This cake recipe hails all the way back to 1861 and comes from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. I like to think of Isabella Beeton as a Victorian Martha Stewart. Her book consisted of everything a good English housewife of the middle class in the 19^th century should know how to do, including but not limited to hiring servants, taking care of sick children, and cooking.

            I found out about Mrs. Beeton through some research I did for my Senior Honors Project mentor Dr. April Bullock. And I am so glad she asked me to do it—not only is it fascinating to read recipes over a century old, it is absolutely thrilling to create them. Just imagining the number of women who have followed this seed cake recipe, mixing and measuring and pouring, is awe inspiring, and now I can count myself among the ranks.

Adapting this recipe for modern use in an American kitchen was a combination of strict adherence and reckless abandon. I halved Mrs. Beeton’s original recipe, added a leavening agent (as is common in modern English editions of the cake), converted all the metric measurements to our standard cups and tablespoons, added a little vanilla extract…and used sweet vermouth instead of brandy. It was all I had on hand at the time, but I was absolutely delighted with the scent of the batter. In fact, I went around the house having everyone take a whiff.

This cake’s flavor is unlike anything I’ve ever had. It’s rich and toothsome, fragrant with spices and just slightly sweet—the perfect cake for breakfast, snack time, teatime, and dessert. My mom and I like to leave it out on the counter and rip off a chunk any time we’re feeling a bit…faint. Because cake is the perfect cure for that.

Seed Cake

1-3/4 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. mace

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 tbsp. caraway seeds

2 sticks butter, at room temp

3/4 c + 2 tbsp. sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 c. sweet vermouth

1. Preheat the oven to 350º F. Butter and flour an 8” round cake pan.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, spices, and caraway seeds, making sure the spices are evenly distributed throughout.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with a fork until the mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
5. Switching to a rubber spatula, fold in half of the dry mixture until it’s just incorporated into the butter and eggs. Then stir in the sweet vermouth.  Lastly, add the rest of the flour, being careful not to over mix the batter.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool before serving.  

Speaking of tea parties, I am participating in this year’s Mad Tea Party, hosted by A Fanciful Twist! 

I’ll see you this Saturday for a day of sweets, whimsy, pretty dresses, fizzy lemonade, and fairy dust. Things may go just a little bit haywire. I can’t wait!