The wedding of Britain’s Prince Harry to American actress Meghan Markle is tomorrow, and it seems as though everyone has royal wedding fever! Social media has gone completely bonkers over the upcoming event, the new royal couple is on practically every magazine cover, and British icon Marks & Spencer has even announced they’ve re-branded themselves Markle & Sparkle for this royal wedding weekend!
What better way to celebrate the royal couple here in the States than with a cream tea? What’s a cream tea, you ask?
It’s a lighter variation on afternoon tea, with just scones, jam and Devonshire or clotted cream. No sandwiches, no pastries. Just tea, scones, jam and cream. As this event will be televised here in the US at around 7:00 a.m. or so, it’s a bit early for a full afternoon tea service! Scones with jam and cream are perfect for your morning wedding-watching!
As you may know from my other posts about tea, my favorite recipe for traditional English scones is this one by Jane Hornby from BBC Good Food. It is easy, reliable, and yields perfectly delicious scones. Well done, Jane!
Bake up a batch and settle in for some beautiful British tradition.
Here’s a scone just waiting for its topping of jam and cream.
Now, there are a couple of schools of thought about the proper way to eat a scone with jam and cream. The people of Cornwall do it a bit differently than the people in Devon, and the debate can get rather heated, I’ve heard. I won’t take a side in that kerfuffle, but I will tell you how I like to do it. As I am here in Texas and no one from Cornwall is likely to bother over whether my method is proper, I think it’s safe to say I tend toward the Devonshire method of splitting the scone in half, spreading a pillowy cloud of cream on top, and a dollop of strawberry jam on top of that.
Lovely, isn’t it? Quite so.
Glorious.
This is what Sherlock was referring to when he told the poor man in the Hounds of Baskerville episode to go back to Devon and “have a cream tea on me”. I love Sherlock. He is delightfully inappropriate.
But this scone is absolutely appropriate. Especially for enjoying while watching the royal wedding!
For the tea, I’d suggest a good strong English breakfast tea, what is commonly called a “builder’s tea”. My personal favorites are Taylor’s of Harrogate Yorkshire Gold, as well as their English Breakfast Tea. Yorkshire Gold is sold at Cost Plus World Market stores here in Texas. World Market also stocks several other good brands to choose from.
Here I’m using some of my beloved Mason’s blue and white ironstone china, made in England for Crabtree & Evelyn. I worked for C & E while I was in college, and there will always be a special place in my heart (and china cabinet) for them.
If you have some favorite china of your own, this is the time to use it! And if you are looking to add to your collection, may I suggest this absolutely adorable commemorative mug designed by Victoria Eggs to mark the day?
There is an illustration of Windsor Castle on the back of the mug. It is completely charming, as is this lovely tea towel designed and produced in Wales by SisterSisterGifts.
I love the British tradition of commemorating these special days with tins of cookies, special tea towels, dishware and so on. It’s such a sweet, sentimental thing to do. I love it.
I hope you will enjoy the day, (and the scones) with the ones you love. And all the best to Prince Harry and Meghan from all of us across the pond.
Cheers!
NOTE: This is not a sponsored post. All links are provided merely to be helpful. Show some love to these amazing shops on Etsy, if you will. Sincerest thanks to Victoria Eggs and SisterSisterGifts for the kind use of their photos here.
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