Afternoon Tea fit for a Queen!.....and our Vegan, Vegetarian and Gluten Free guests.....

On Saturday afternoon, the house was primped, primed and ready, tables laid, tea pots and decadent tea cups arranged as atCatharines opened its doors to a lovely, lovely group of ladies for a private Hen Party coupled with a brilliant craft session run by the fantastic Rebecca who runs Annanook.

It wasn’t the first Hen Party to grace our doorstep, and it certainly won’t be the last! It was, however, the first time we had been faced with Vegan and Gluten Free guests (Vegetarians are old news by now!) Cat has said before that there are two musts’ for an Afternoon Tea Party... Scones and Finger Sandwiches, so, after a mild panic involving questions along the lines of ......“Scones and clotted cream...How do we make that Vegan?”, and “If you’re Gluten Free you can’t have ‘normal’ sandwiches can you?”....  The real creativity started putting a menu together that would cater to all; Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten Free and ‘they’re pretty much fine with everything’  

Anything non-cake-ie we knew we could provide for all tastes and requirements. It was the fail safe sponges, scones and cakes that were out the window, so it was with a little trepidation we delved into the world of Vegan and Gluten Free Baking (We knew Mary Berry wasn’t going to be able to help us out this time!)

It was with much interest that we found some really fantastic websites with great, interesting recipe ideas, and it was with some surprise that with a little tweaking we found that the recipes not only looked great, but tasted delicious! So with our research done we put together what we thought (and still think) is a pretty pukker menu...

Our ‘out of the box’ menu with more than something for everyone

Vietnamese Spring Rolls  - Some Tofu and some Chicken

Cucumber, Smoked Mackerel Pate and Humous and Roasted Pepper Sandwiches 

Red Onion and Goats Cheese Tartlets
Salmon and Leek Tartlets

Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake 

Flourless Chocolate Cake   

Scones, Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam

Vegan Chocolate Fountain with Fruit Dipping Skewers  

Sago Pudding  with Palm Sugar and Coconut Milk 

A Selection of Tea and Coffee

In addition to the tea party itself, these lovely ladies wanted to do something a little bit creative, so we had roped in Rebecca to provide a little bit of creative know how, and that she did!
Sitting in the glorious Bath sunshine on Saturday afternoon Rebecca imparted her wisdom, teaching the party how to make amazing fabric flowers..... I think we were pretty grateful that they had been allowed to eat before the flower making began as there wasn't much that could tear them away after they knew what they were doing!

It turns out, (as much to my surprise as anyone’s) catering to a vegan guest, or two in this instance and trying to create Afternoon Tea options without using wheat is not nearly as daunting as one might expect, you have to think outside the box a little bit and you have to do a little research, but other than that it’s an absolute delight when you get an email announcing that the Vegan Lemon Cake you had been so worried about was...and i quote... “The nicest vegan cake I’ve ever had!”  and “I’m planning on attempting the Sago Pudding myself soon, it was great (and delicious!)” You know, really, there was no need to worry!

Ok, so not everything on the menu was suitable for all of the guests to eat, but there was certainly more than enough to go around... If anyone needs to attempt something similar here is what you can serve to each dietary group:

Gluten Free:

·         Vietnamese Spring Rolls  - (Some Tofu and some Chicken), Cucumber, Smoked Mackerel Pate, Humous and Roasted Pepper Sandwiches (All can be made with Gluten Free Bread), Flourless Chocolate Cake, Vegan Chocolate Fountain with Fruit Dipping Skewers, Coconut and Sago Pudding  with Palm Sugar and Coconut Milk  

Vegan:

·         Vietnamese Tofu Spring Rolls, Cucumber sandwiches, Humous & Roasted Pepper Sandwiches (With Vegan butter substitute),  Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake, Vegan Chocolate Fountain with Fruit Dipping Skewers, Sago Pudding  with Palm Sugar and Coconut Milk  

Vegetarian

·         Vietnamese Tofu Spring Rolls, Cucumber sandwiches, Humous and Roasted Pepper Sandwiches , Red Onion and Goats Cheese tartlets, Scones, Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam, Flourless Chocolate Cake, Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake, Vegan Chocolate Fountain with Fruit Dipping Skewers, Sago Pudding  with Palm Sugar and Coconut Milk  

Everything would be suitable for non vegetarian, vegan and gluten free guests:

·         Vietnamese Spring Rolls  with Tofu and  Chicken, Cucumber, Smoked Mackerel Pate and Humus and Roasted Pepper Sandwiches, Red Onion and Goats Cheese  and Salmon and Leek Tartlets, Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake, Flourless Chocolate Cake, Scones, Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam, Vegan Chocolate Fountain with Fruit Dipping Skewers, Sago Pudding  with Palm Sugar and Coconut Milk

Thank you ladies it was an absolute pleasure!

xx Cat & Kat