Food for English Tea Party Dessert Tray
Food for English Tea Party Dessert Tray might be a little different than you're used to thinking of desserts……if you live in America. You see the British {and French} love their fruit and cheese for their after dinner treat and I've put together a Traditional English cheese board you can proudly serve at your next tea party, brunch, or British themed get together.
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Menu for English Tea Party
Grazing boards are my favorite type of party food and make such a beautiful presentation. Additional food ideas for an English tea party include:
- Tea sandwiches like cucumber and cream cheese, egg salad, and “coronation chicken”
- Cheese Board
- Fruit Tray
- Scones with lemon curd and clotted cream
- And of course a selection of teas with milk, lemon, and honey
The food for an English tea party I chose on this board includes:
- English cheeses: Wensleydale with Cranberries, English White Cheddar, Stilton, Caramelized Onion English Farmhouse Cheddar
- Fruits in Season: Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, dried plums, and pomegranates
- Blueberry Scones
- Mini Treacle tarts {It's Harry Potter's favorite dessert you know!}
- Biscuits: Digestive biscuits, Union Jack Flag Shortbread cookies, Petite Buerre Chocolate {they're French, wink}
- Condiments: Honeycomb, Clotted Cream, Lemon Curd, Lemon Slice Rose
- Assorted Bagged Teas
- Assorted English Sodas
How to Cut Cheeses for Charcuterie Board
When serving several cheeses on a charcuterie board, or dessert board you don't want them to all be the same type of cheese. And you want them to look a little different on the tray.
- Cubed – cut into small 1/2″ cubes. A good cheese knife is really helpful for this
- Bow Tie – Cut into even slices, then slice diagonally and turn the top triangle of cheese the other direction.
- Fanned Slices – Cut into even slices and just fan the pieces out so they can be easily picked up. A wire cheese slicer is great for these last two.
- Crumbles – Using a cheese spreader or knife chop small sections of the cheese wedge into large crumbles. Strong cheese like this Stilton {below} are best in smaller pieces.
This English Stilton very strong, a lot like a bleu cheese. You want to be sure to mix savory and sweet cheeses depending on the other items you serve.
I love the Cranberry Wensleydale with the shortbread. The strong Stilton with the green grapes and digestive biscuits. And the farmers cheeses are just plain good with everything!
English Tea Party Cheese and Dessert Board
When laying out your board you want to mix your breads, fruit, and cheeses up so there's a nice distribution over the whole board. I love using small items like blueberries and nuts to fill in any gaps when I'm done placing most of the food.
English Party Food and Tea
When serving up an English Tea Party it's important to have a few options of good English Tea. I love the Twinings brand for bagged teas. Offer up a nice selection for your guests. I had a non-caffeinated guest list for this Tea Party so we stuck with decaf options, which is also perfect for a children's “teddy bear tea” party.
With so many tea options to choose from you can keep it simple or go very elaborate with your tea menu.
My favorite Traditional English tea options include:
- English Breakfast {regular or decaf}
- Earl Gray {regular or decaf}
- Assam {regular or decaf}
- Chamomile Herbal Tea
- Buttermint {like peppermint but is naturally sweeter}
- Red Rooibos {not traditionally English, but a very good herbal tea}
How to Serve an English Tea
English tea is typically served with milk or cream, sugar cubes, and lemon. The honeycomb doesn't melt very well into tea, so save that for your biscuits and offer guests a honey lemon stir stick in the shape of a tea pot, or shaped sugar cubes for a darling English tea party detail instead!
Traditionally the same tea is poured from a tea pot for all guests. But if you'd like to serve an assortment you can use the bagged teas, or Loose leaf tea steepers and just provide a tea pot of hot water.
Add hot water to each cup, only filling 3/4 of the way full. Allow 3-5 minutes for the tea to steep, then add the sugar. Wait for the sugar/honey to dissolve before adding a slice of lemon {the acids in the lemon can prevent the sugars from dissolving all the way and too hot water can negatively affect available vitamin C}, and then finish off with a splash of milk if desired.
Mini English Tea Party Dessert “Boards”
Now that we've lived through a pandemic, grazing boards may not be your thing. While I still love making them for family, I will sometimes create a miniature version for a larger guest list. This mini-scone dessert “board” is the ideal treat. Load the scone up with cream or lemon curd then top with cheese and fruit for a beautiful bite-sized dessert.
This Raspberry, blueberry, pomegranate, cranberry Wensleydale, lemon curd, blueberry scone combo was my FAVORITE flavor combo by-the-way! SO good. You can even create mini savory “boards” using the digestive biscuits, meats, olives, nuts, and savory cheeses.
Favorite Food for English Tea Party
I hope you enjoy these food for an English Tea Party ideas. This cheese and dessert board was a hit. Hosting an English tea doesn't have to be complicated. This Light Tea is a great way to gather without too much stress. If you want to stretch it into an Afternoon Tea, add finger sandwiches, a couple of eclairs and petit fours cakes for the full experience.
If you try an English cheese board, I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. And if you share photos, I want to see it too! Please tag us @partieswithacause on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. We love celebrating all your hard work!
FollowEngland is definitely one of my favorite countries to visit and it's been so fun to explore it virtually with my children at home. Travel is one of the best ways to teach your family increased empathy and develop an appreciation for everything we already have. If you're looking to add to your passport without leaving home I've got a great program called “Celebrate the Globe” where you can explore different countries together as a family and print out a special passport for each of your kids.
You can get the free downloadable passport here:
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