Tag: afternoon tea
The Essentials of Afternoon Tea!
We’re getting very excited about our traditional afternoon tea event at The Thimble Inn Piddlehinton near Dorchester on the 31st January and we’re checking through our lovely vintage cake stands to make sure they are all ship shape and ready for action! We have quite a large collection now – probably over 60 3-tier, 2-tier and 1-tier stands!
Our stands have been used not just to display gorgeous food but to show off flowers in teacups, for sweets (for guests to fill little bags with and take away as favours for weddings) and even for showing off products at pamper parties (very multi-tasking!)
We find the best way to use them for afternoon tea is to put lovely delicate finger sandwiches on the bottom tier – most definitely cucumber in there somewhere – then scones in the middle and lovely pastries and fancies on the top. We sometimes put little flowers between the pastries too – just to give an extra special look. Recently we’ve had people putting a twist on the champagne afternoon tea by using our vintage cups to serve the champagne – how decadent and fabulous is that!
Our cake stands are ready matched for clients to assemble at their venue (unless they request us to do it for them as part of our set-up and venue dressing service) and they do make a lovely addition to any vintage inspired party or event – not just looking gorgeous but they also add some height to tables as well!
Vintage cake stands forever!
We thought we might share some pictures of our vintage cake stands from recent vintage weddings, parties and events? We have quite a collection now and with some 35 three tier cake stands, 15 two-tier cake stands and more than 20 single tier stands we probably have the largest range of cake stands for hire in Dorset!
Cake stands came into fashion in the early Victorian (1840’s) period when they were the essential afternoon tea accompaniment but they may have been about since the 1600’s when they were referred to as “salvers” or serving platters, generally being silver. The first china cake stands emerged when English bone china was at its height and enjoying afternoon tea was an essential etiquette for more affluent ladies of leisure!
Vintage Dorset’s cake stands are almost all bone china or fine ceramic ware though we do have one or two glass cake stands which are great for single tier cakes. The fashion for three tier stands with delicate finger sandwiches on the bottom tier topped off with scones in the middle and delicate fancies on the top has become embedded in our modern culture – possibly emerging from the Ritz Hotel and their gorgeous Palm House Afternoon teas (which are truly wondrous)!
Afternoon Tea!
Afternoon tea should most authentically comprise a cold light menu of very delicate and beautifully presented treats usually served between 2pm and 5pm. High tea is a different affair entirely – more of an early evening meal taken between 5 and 7pm and almost always including a hot dish. High tea was very often provided (by Nanny!) for the children of wealthier families as Dinner would not be served until between 7 and 9pm. Its called “high” tea as it was “high time” the children were fed and sent off to bed!
For events these days you can use cake stands for serving food or increasingly we hire them out to display flowers and fruit, sweets and favours.
We provide cake stands ready-matched and cleanly wrapped in sets for you to assemble at your venue. Our three-tier cake stands are just £5.50 each to hire with two-tier stands at £4.50 and single-tier stands for £4.
Our clients generally use 1 cake stand between 2 people for “Ritz-style” afternoon tea (each stand holding sandwiches, scones and cakes) However, most people prefer to use a single cake stand for each table of guests (to display cakes) with sandwiches and scones served separately on vintage plates.
