Another tea party for the Battenburg extended family

On April 17, 2015 by battenburgbelle

Grandpa Battenburg has reached the grand old age of 80 years, so we had an Easter tea party to celebrate (with wine, rather than tea, as you can see).

Tea Party

Happy 80th

Grandpa B didn’t want a big party and he fancied a bit of a do at home – he was reluctant go to out and impose on the general public the chaos that is inevitable when we all get together. So after spending a jolly afternoon drooling over recipes with me in The Vintage Tea Party by Angel Adoree a few weeks before the big day, he selected some items that tickled his fancy. Grandpa B is not famous for his adventurous palate, but he came up with a fine array of goodies for the family to cook.

There was an admirable team effort on the cooking and decorating of the house and it all went very well. We decided to do a buffet/free-for-all – it seems impossible to have all of us sitting down at the same time for more than a couple of minutes, so that seemed the like the best idea. We made far too much food, so I imagine it’s kept Grandma and Grandpa fed well into April.

Smoked Trout Roulade

Smoked Trout Roulade

My favourites were the smoked trout roulade, the brie and walnut scones and the figs dipped in chocolate and sea salt, made by Charlie, the youngest of the guests/chefs. Uncle Nick spent an inordinate amount of time on Saturday making filo pastry baskets, which, extraordinarily, we managed to transport to the family home without any breakages or mishaps – I loved the ones filled with pear, stilton and walnuts, didn’t like the chicken liver parfait ones quite so much, although they made for a better photo.

Chicken liver parfait

Little baskets of chicken liver parfait

Missy B made some awesome chocolate brownies and I made a Simnel cake, in a nod to the Easter theme. I haven’t made this before and fruit cake is usually quite a long way down my list of cakes I like to eat. But I do LOVE marzipan and I was very pleased with this. I used Felicity Cloake’s “perfect’ recipe, which I was pleased to see name checked my chef chum Roger Pizey. The marzipan and ground almonds keep the cake really moist and light.

Simnel cake

Simnel birthday cake

In case there are any pedants reading, we know there are meant to be 11 balls of marzipan on the top, representing the Apostles minus Judas. But we had twelve guests, the 11 of us and Grandpa’s very brave friend Brian, so we thought we’d embrace forgiveness and put a little marzipan treat on for Judas too.

Big thank you to all the family for mucking in and making such a feast and getting the house looking lovely!

4 Responses to “Another tea party for the Battenburg extended family”

  • Grandma B

    What a delightful blog and a very accurate account of the celebration. As all the participants know already Grandpa B and I were overwhelmed and very grateful to all who contributed their time and skills. Thanks!

  • Friend Brian

    Not brave at all Madam B, just honoured to be there.

  • Moira

    You amaze me, as a serious over achiever. Good work setting a fine example for the rest of the troops.

  • Hi Moira lovely to hear from you! How are you doing? What are you cooking?? xx

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