Time for a Tea Party

I love a good tea party. Ever since I was young, this was always what I wanted to do for my birthday. Rent a room out for a disco? No thanks. A cinema trip and a McDonalds? No again. I loved having people round for tea and cake, nothing has changed there. Any excuse for afternoon tea and I am all over it! I threw a little tea party recently; trying to make the most of the last of this weather, and had a lot of fun.

With GBBO hitting our TV screens recently, it inspired me to get a little gathering together and host a little tea party with a few sweet treats. I could have probably made some cakes myself but I was strapped for time. If I get some more free time next time I will definitely be getting my bake on and hoping my guests love whatever crazy concoction I make! (on second thoughts, maybe I should stick to buying them).

I absolutely love the beautiful party ware from Talking Tables. With a mix of products from two of their ranges; Truly Alice and Truly Scrumptious, they perfectly fit my tea party theme. Everything is such good quality and I'm so impressed with it all; in particular, the bunting and garland - so cute.

I can't decide which bunting is cuter - the lampshade garland or the floral fabric bunting?

How gorgeous are these paper cups and straws?! The pretty napkins are almost too cute to use, just look at the detail on them.

The BEST cake of them all. Coffee cake!

I love these cute Party Picks, they would be great for canapes.

These Cake domes make a perfect addition to any tea party, I just popped in some mini chocolate short bread bites in these but you could put pretty much anything little in these to make them look like a great showstopper at the table! They could even make great little gifts or favours.



Are you looking for cute partyware for a wedding, party or get together? I can't praise Talking Tables enough; they have a huge selection of products to choose from and something to suit pretty much any theme.

*includes PR samples*

Baker Days Cake GIVEAWAY!

I recently shared a delicious post on my blog - I reviewed a letterbox cake by personalised cake specialists Baker Days. I am back again with a giveaway for one lucky reader of Zoe Lianne to receive a Letter Box cake by post!

All you have to do to enter is by completing the tasks in the rafflecopter form below. You need to follow Baker Days on Twitter, visit their Facebook page and follow my blog on Bloglovin as these tasks are compulsory to enter the competition.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Baker Days Letterbox Cake

I was recently contacted by Baker Days; a company which specialize in personalized celebration cakes, to see if I wanted to try out their services, and better still, receive a cake. Of-course I said yes, as cake is one of my very favourite things in life. Who doesn't love cake!

I was sent a letterbox cake; as the name suggests, is a cake that is designed carefully so that it can be popped through your letterbox just like a letter! It measures 12cm x 2.5cm. I love the concept of a cake being delivered through your letterbox, meaning you don't have to wait around for the postman to sign for your parcels, it comes straight through the door! It is also great if you are unable to visit family or a friend but want them to have a special cake - it can be sent to them without the worry of them being in the house so the surprise factor will still be there. The letterbox cake gives around 3-4 portions, which is perfect for a token gift for that special celebration.

Baker Days are able to create personalized and photo cakes, as well as having a HUGE selection of designs and categories for you to pick from. I decided on a congratulations cake as I recently passed my Driving Test, so I thought it would be very fitting. I have no family Birthdays coming up so I thought I would prolong the celebrations of passing my test with cake - this was very well received by my family!

The cake I selected is the You are a Star! cake. I really love the cute star and bird design with the floral pattern, it is very me. I was able to personalise the wording on the cake, so I decided I would have my name on the cake, making it super personal and something to remember. 

The cake also came with a cute card, balloons, and candles to pop on the cake. I thought this was a very special touch.

There is a choice of different recipes for the cake, and I opted for chocolate chip sponge cake made with only Belgian Chocolate as chocolate is my favourite type of cake. There is something for everyone, with a choice of fruit cake, chocolate chip sponge cake, vanilla sponge cake, as well as dairy free and gluten wheat free cakes. 

I have to say the cake tasted delicious. I am a big cake fiend so I have high standards in cake (cake is definitely my weakness so I have become an expert over the Years!) and this one definitely hit the spot. The icing tasted great and wasn't too thick which is just the way I like it. The chocolate sponge tasted sweet, was moist, fresh, and not dry at all. 

The cake was packaged really well and was in perfect condition when it arrived at my house. The cake is cased in an adorable cake tin, which again is really useful and can be used again for storage. I did wonder if it would stay together when dropping through the letterbox, but in fact it arrived very safely in one piece. 

I would recommend Baker Days if you are looking for a special token gift for a celebration. I think this would be a lovely gift for anyone that loves cake. I will definitely be buying Baker Days cakes in the future - I love the concept of the letterbox cake and I know quite a few people that would appreciate it! 

Baker Days have a variety of different cakes and designs to choose from. You can check out their entire range on their website. 

*post includes PR sample*

Gift Cake from Eat Your Photo

I was super excited to feature this gift cake from Eat Your Photo on my blog, I can''t even tell you. I am obsessed with anything personalized and of-course I love cake, so mixing the two is a complete success in my eyes. Of-course, I am Christmas crazy so had to choose a festive theme for my cake. I picked a photograph of me and my Sister about four years ago at Christmas, can you spot the Christmas tree in the background? As you can see, I also chose the balloon frame design and the words 'Happy Christmas from Zoe and Roxy' for the text on the cardboard around the cake. I thought this would make a great cake to have at all the Christmas festive get together's this Month.

I am so impressed with the quality of the photo on the cake! It is pretty much a perfect print of the picture and completely edible too.The cake arrived packaged really well and there was no damage to the cake at all. I am really impressed with the delivery and packaging overall. Something I was not expecting was the height of the cake. It looks like a medium sized cake (16cm square) and quite a compact cake, but it it a really tall cake at 8cm high and weighs 1.4kg. This cake serves up to 18, which is fantastic value for money.
As mentioned above, when ordering your cake you not only are able to upload your own photo, but you can also choose the outer frame design, the text, the text positioning, the flavour, font and font colour, and also of-course your shipping and delivery preferences.

I have to say, the cake tasted amazing! Not only did I love it, but my Dad thinks its delicious and he is not a big sweet tooth so it is pretty amazing for him to say he likes any kind of cake. We chose the chocolate sponge with chocolate butter cream, which tastes absolutely incredible. The icing tastes great but not too sickly sweet, and the chocolate cake tastes great - not too crumbly or dry - the perfect chocolate cake. The butter cream tastes out of this world. Eat Your Photo also sell a gift cake in the flavour vanilla sponge with jam and cream which also sounds like it would taste delicious.

You can purchase your very own gift cake* from Eat Your Photo here.  As well as gift cakes, Eat Your Photo also sell personalized photo's on chocolate and on cupcakes!

*This post includes products I was gifted to review on my blog. All opinions are 100% honest and my own.*

Recipe: Double Dark Chocolate Fairy Cakes

Double Dark Chocolate Fairy Cakes

I really like baking, but I tend to stick to super easy recipes as I am just not that adventurous. Today I thought I would share with you a little creation I made this week, which was Double Dark Chocolate Fairy Cakes. I simply made fairy cakes the traditional way and added some dark chocolate products in to make them a little more interesting. I used two products that I received in my Degustabox last Month, which were the Dr. Oetker Premium 90% Extra Dark Chocolate and the Dr. Oetker Fine Dark Cocoa Powder. 

What you need:

Eggs,  Self Raising Flour, Butter/margarine, Sugar, Water, Dark Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder, Cake Cases, Bowl (which is suitable to put over a saucepan on the hob), Saucepan, Whisk, Spoon, Mixing Bowl, Baking Tray

How To Make Double Dark Chocolate Fairy Cakes:

Pre - heat the oven to gas mark 5.

Mix together 125 grams of butter/margarine and 125 grams of sugar in a bowl. 

Add into the bowl 125 grams of self - raising flour and mix.

Add 1 or 2 eggs and whisk all together.

Add a sachet of dark chocolate cocoa powder and mix until all blended.

Equally distribute the mixture into cake cases, and put them onto a baking tray in the pre - heated oven.

Wait 15 - 25 minutes for the fairy cakes to cook, while checking them frequently.

Add warm water into a small saucepan, then put dark chocolate into a bowl and put that on top of the saucepan.

Put the saucepan onto the hob and use a spoon to help melt the chocolate.

Once the cakes are cooked and the chocolate is melted, remove them carefully and turn off the oven and hob.

Add a thick layer of chocolate onto each cake and put them into the fridge to set.

Finally, once the cakes are set, enjoy one with a nice cup of tea!

*This post contains two products which were sent to me to review. All opinions are 100 % honest and my own. You can view my full disclaimer policy on the tab above*