ON THE CUMBRIAN TEA TRAIL Recipes for enjoyment in the Lake District.
Posted on 04/19/2016 | About England
Almost all facets of life in England’s Lake District revolve around farming; that and savouring the time-honoured British custom of afternoon tea. Here the tearoom kitchens, themselves hives of activity, produce just-out-the-oven scones and steaming teapots of something typically English.
We’re talking rustic farmhouse tearooms - some above milking sheds, others in converted barns. It’s peculiarly British but they all provide the best of simple pleasures, making good use of the products shelved in their respective farm shop. Their teas are mostly sourced from a local merchant who especially creates blends to suit the soft local water.
In the north-west Lake District, there’s the typically English and unpretentious Cups & Saucers Tea Room housed in an old converted workshop on Seaville Farm – a prize winning Jersey dairy farm tucked away in the country lanes of Silloth.
It’s run by Kath Hughes, the farmer’s wife, who bakes the best vinegar loaf you’ve ever tasted. Kath was reluctant to share the family recipe but I found an old dear at the village post office that traded the secret for a bit of a chat (www.croftlandscourt.co.uk). Tea and cake for two comes in just under £5.00 ($10).
Nearby is The Gincase (shortened from engine case), a working farm in a picturesque setting in Mawbray Hayrigg.
Sit outside under a canopy of trees, with peacocks for company, or inside a converted farm building (dating back to the 1700’s) housing a bright tea room and craft barn. There’s also a Children’s Rare Breed Farm Animal Park to entertain the little ones. That said thought, the aroma of home baked shortbread and mouth-watering fresh pastries and sweet 'fancies' will draw them to the cake counter. Get in early before all the Cumberland Courting Cake is devoured by the locals (www.gincase.co.uk). A Cumberland Cream Tea, consisting of two scones, locally produced jam, clotted cream and an English brew costs £5.25 ($10.60).
A few miles away in Cockermouth, birthplace to poet William Wordsworth, is Jennings Brewery (established in early 1800’s) who have a tearoom linked to a breweries tour and beer tasting. This adorable little tearoom, in an ideal village location, is fastidiously run by local ladies who mostly home bake cherry almond scones and coffee cake. The cake menu changes daily but if the orange cheese cake is on display, I urge you to try a slice. Cake and traditional tea-for-two comes in at £7.10 ($13) (www.jenningsbrewery.co.uk).
Okay, so it’s not a shed, but afternoon tea at the opulent Trout Hotel in Cockermouth is a Cumbrian tradition not to be trifled with. The locals take their tea and bakes very seriously so its customary that they socialise and celebrate here. Once you’ve sampled their Danish pastries, chocolate muffins, scones (with strawberry jam and cream), Victorian sponge cakes, chocolate éclairs and cucumber sandwiches, you’ll understand why Hollywood legend, Bing Crosby, returned time and again. Their warm chocolate fudge cake (served with clotted cream) is a mind altering experience. Here exists the perfect formula between excellent service and a supreme high tea which costs £13.95 ($25.50) and buys a selection of sandwiches and six pieces of cake and a steaming pot of tea. One would be challenged to find a more indulgent way to spend an afternoon www.trouthotel.co.uk
In the perfectly manicured hamlet of Grasmere’s stone-built town centre, attached to the Attic - an elegant antique/gift shop, is a delicious shabby chic treat in Baldry’s tearoom who’s rich aromas waft through the entrance and across the sidewalk, luring in passersby. As well as an indulging array of teas for every taste their tea-time treats are equally fabulous - orange drizzle cake, sticky gingerbread (served with lashings of melted rum butter), fruit tarts, carrot cake and spicy tea cake. A pot of Farrer’s Lakeland loose leaf tea and a wedge of Baldry’s famous lemon meringue pie costs £6.35 ($11.60).
Make your stay here a long one and combine your afternoon tea with a day out wandering around one of England’s prettiest villages. Take in the culture, history and ever present window-boxed gracious old homes. The scenic Lake Windermere quayside location of the Waterhead Tea/Coffee Shop (www.waterheadcoffeeshop.co.uk) in Ambleside is ideal for an al fresco afternoon tea on its sun-trap terrace.
Their menu is ever changing and offers an indulgent selection of foodie delights. ‘Today’s menu’ mounted on the walled announces the ever present classic scones smothered in blueberry jam, a dollop of butter and clotted cream (or a selection of other handmade fruit preserves), as well as cardamom cake, summer fruit tart, spiced carrot cake, red berry tart and pistachio macaroons. Says co-owner, Jane Simmonds: ‘Forget the diet and sit outside on our patio with a nice cuppa and a plate of stout flapjacks and scones, then drink in our view of the marina and the hills beyond.’ A pot of tea and a blueberry scone cost £4.20 ($7.67).
The elegantly decorated Truly Scrumptious has a cake stand groaning under an assortment of oven bakes such as date, apricot and ginger slices, chocolate caramel flapjacks, lemon cake with home-made lemon curd and white chocolate and cherry chunks cupcakes. They also make their own sticky toffee pudding and banana toffee teaser pudding which is a variation on the toffee apple cake.
Their tea range is exhaustive (and available to buy on site) and includes an interesting chocolate chilli tea which should be accompanied by an uncomplicated cake such as a Belgian chocolate brownie or a wheat free chocolate cake filled with chocolate ganache; tea and cake for two costs £8.30 ($15.16), and is worth every penny.
When it comes to relaxing it doesn't get much better than sitting in one of the many Tea Rooms in any of the villages that form part of the Lake District. As well as its famous scenery and picture postcard views, one cannot help but feel somewhat nostalgic walking along Cumbria’s winding country roads, passing thatched cottages and ancient buildings that are all several hundred years old.
At one such village, walking along a path running around its lake, I noticed most of the businesses were shutting up for winter. All but one tea room stood open. On its little porch sat an old couple in garden chairs. They huddled in arctic clothing with lap blankets wrapped around their knees. They were buffeted by winds that seemed constantly to threaten to tip them over. The man was trying to read a newspaper, but the wind kept wrapping it around his face. They both looked content, as if they were on the Seychelles drinking gin fizzes under nodding palm trees, rather than sitting half- perished in a stiff English gale.
They were content because they were in their little piece of prized England with a cuppa tea and – here was the true secret of their happiness – any time they wanted they could retire to the tearoom’s interior and, if they were feeling particularly rakish, indulge in a chocolate biscuit.
Some recipes for you:
Mrs. Harris’s Vinegar LoafIngredients:
450g flour
300ml full fat milk
225g white sugar
225g currants (steeped in hot water for 15 minutes)
225g raisins (steeped in hot water for 15 minutes)
170g butter 25g grated rind of lemon, lime and orange
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
Small wineglass of vinegar
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas 2 then grease a baking tin. Rub margarine into flour; add fruits, rind and spices. Sprinkle bicarbonate of soda into the mixture and stir in the milk, now add the vinegar. Put into a greased baking tin and bake for about 90 minutes or until slightly firm to the touch. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Serve with butter.
Val’s Egremont Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
255g self raising flour
28g cocoa powder
198g caster sugar
1 large duck egg, beaten
28g golden syrup
113g hard butter
170g tepid milk
½ level teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda,mixed with 85g hot water
Pinch of salt
Method:
Set oven temp to 350 F or gas mark 4 then grease and line a 7 inch square deep cake tin. Warm syrup and margarine till just melted, add the sugar. Sieve the flour, cocoa and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and melted syrup/margarine and mix well. Add the beaten duck egg and the tepid milk and mix well. Add Bicarbonate of soda mixture and blend in. Pour into a prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes until firm. Leave in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. When cool, slice cake through the centre and sandwich with chocolate butter icing (mix 28g cocoa, 141g icing sugar and 85g butter to make the butter icing).
Trout Hotel’s Warm Chocolate Fudge
Cake Ingredients for the cake:
300g brown sugar
125g butter
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
175ml plain yogurt
50g golden syrup
1 tbsp coffee essence
3 duck eggs
200g plain flower
1 tsp baking powder
Cream or ice cream to serve
Ingredients for the sauce:
150g butter
275g icing sugar
1½ tsp cocoa powder
450ml evaporated milk
1½ tsp vanilla essence
150ml double thick cream
Method: Preheat oven to 180°/350F/Gas4 then grease and line two 18cm (7 inch) sandwich tins. Sieve the flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Add sugar and mix well. Make a well in the centre of the mix and add syrup, eggs, oil and milk. Beat well with electric whisk until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the two tins and bake for 25-30 minutes until risen and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and leave to cool before turning onto a cooling rack. To make the icing, place butter in a bowl and beat until soft. Gradually sift and beat in the icing sugar and cocoa powder then add enough milk to make the icing fluffy and spreadable. If the cake has risen a little too high use a serrated knife to even off the top. Now sandwich the cakes together with the butter icing and cover the sides and top of the cake with more butter icing. Mix the leftover icing with the cream and warm through, now pour onto side of cake plate. Serve with a scoop of cream or ice cream.