A bit of tea party planning

Hello, my readers!

My apologies for my lack of blogs as of late! Most of the past month has been spent working, eating & sleeping thanks to an exciting new promotion. But enough about work!

What has been keeping me sane these past few weeks is my careful planning and grandeur ideas around hosting a high tea. We all know I have a love of tea, a love of all thinks sweet, and that I rather enjoy cooking. So I thought I will have some close friends over for an afternoon of tea, champagne and cupcakes!

It all started with a napkin. Seriously! I enjoyed high tea in the highlands so much that the very same night at dinner I begun writing my own menu onto a napkin!

So over the past month I have been meticulously planning, trialling, purchasing and pinning my way to high tea perfection. Creative? Very! Inspired? Absolutely! Crazy? Just a little…

Last weekend I made yet another trip down to Berry. I think they know me as a regular now…albeit if it is because I always ask if they will ever get the blue heart teapot I admired for months back in! I finally made my decision on my new teapot, after 2 cups of chai, many photos and hinting to Matt that I’d love the expensive Royal Albert teapot!

My new teapot & cook book!

And I couldn’t visit the Berry tea shop without a spot of tea and a yummy scone!

So I’ve created quite a collection of serving ware in prep for the high tea, but the problem is I don’t have the storage space in my humble abode! Currently my cupcake baking tools take up one shelf of the linen cupboard, and my tea/cake stands are tucked in between towels.

In David Jones yesterday, I was admiring all the British fine china. So many intricate patterns on teacups, miniature serving platters and even egg cups! I was mesmerised by how many different types of floral patterns there were! And while the two hundred dollar teapot was a little out of my reach, I couldn’t resist a small Royal Albert cake stand. I mean, it was on sale!

The one I wish for on the left (one day!) the equally as cute, more practical & wallet friendly one I bought on the right.

Saturday night I spent devouring my new Victoria Tea Room cook book, planning what pastries, cakes & sandwiches I will make. Next followed a couple of trial runs, which were well received by the test subjects, Matt’s sister Nicole & her boyfriend Matt (also!).

Then came the practise cupcake decorating. Prior to visiting Berry, Matt and I made a short trip to Delaneys create-a-cake shop to stock up on decorating supplies. I bought some fondant, dyes, and my long-time want, a fondant imprint mat! So Saturday night was spent practising my imprints. Really made me feel like all those years of playing with play-doh, mum was obviously preparing me for bigger and better things!

Lastly on Sunday night I prepped by gazing for hours on Pinterest at high tea ideas, and at approx 9.30pm it occurred to me that I should have made invitations and that I still had enough time to create and mail to my guests. I was up to the challenge! Thanks to my collection of Typo stamps, Scrapbooking paper and recent Etsy craft purchases I had some beautiful invitations hand-made in no time!

Don’t you wish one had your name on it? Maybe next time!

We will wait to see how my delightful tea turns out, until then check me out on instagram at @rachisgold or on Pinterest to see my creations and inspirations!

Xx Rach

Mar 3

A Few Pretty Cupcakes to Share…or Simply Admire!

One of my wonderful birthday presents was a cupcake decorating class at Delaneys Cakes Wollongong, which I got to go to with Matt’s sister, Nicole (also wonderful gift-giver).

To start of the class we were treated to a delightful cup of tea and buttercream cupcake. You definitely can not expect to spend 4 hours making cupcakes staring at sugar, cream and icing on an empty stomach!

So we started the class learning some basic cut-outs. I must admit I am in love with this style of decoration, it is so simple but classy!

I know they say don’t try this at home but I intend to!

Next we learnt how to create these cute little creatures! While I went for the traditional dainty bird, Nikki turned hers into a punk birdy complete with a mini-Mohawk. Sorry I don’t have a picture to share, so you will have to take my word on its awesomeness.

But here’s a snap of my finished result. Really resembles Chomper chilling out on his cage, don’t you think?

We also learnt a few other cool techniques, including icing stencils, fondant flowers (these ones ARE as complicated as they look!) and fondant pattern mats.

I think I’m too scared to eat this one!

We also learnt the sweet cupcake bow. I love this as it is a cute way to say happy birthday without a tacky birthday simple. You’ve got the gift wrapping a half sorted! (And maybe one gift wrapped for the chef…)

Too good to give away, don’t you think?

So hope you enjoyed my eyeing off my creations half as much as I enjoyed making them! I cannot wait to get more involved in cupcake decorating, so my cupcakes look as good as they taste! I picked up a few tools of the trade so I can get baking! And a big thank you goes out to Nikki & Matt (her boyfriend, not her brother) for the cool present, Matt (the boyfriend this time!) for spoiling me in the cupcake gift shop, and to Danielle and the team at Delaneys for a fun and hands-on approach to teaching cupcake Exec orating! I would definitely recommend Delaneys as a great place to learn baking and will be returning.

Got myself a little cupcake starter kit to get creating!

The end result, I’m pretty proud of my first attempts!

Feb 14

Some Valentines Day Fun

Warning: before you venture away from my page, this is NOT a shameless self-promotion of how I was spoilt/adorned with gifts on V-Day. Gah that frustrates me!

However I believe everyone should enjoy the happiness that is in the air on valentines day, no matter what your situation is. Use the day to take the time out with your loved ones, whether it be that special someone who will no doubt leave gift giving to the last minute, the kids you love so much you clean up their puke, your siblings who you love no matter how much they annoy you, or those caring friends who support you through every break up with ice cream and Taylor Swift.

So enjoy my snippets of Valentines Day, taken from friends, Pinterest and my other dearest Instagram!

xxx Rach

Have to credit my friend Ashlee for the next pic…for all girls with a Potter crush out here.