So this time last week i was busy making last minute preparations for my 15th Afternoon Tea. A Wonka themed evening and on my to do list for a while. I was lucky enough to have had the chance to organise a Wonka Party when i volunteered at the Community centre. I had the props still and the Mr Wonka costume.

First thoughts are to make everything Chocolate related, but that would be too sickly to i took inspiration from the 2 films. I watched them both and made notes to events, references and characters. It took time to whittle these down to a final menu as i wanted to make them all!. I decided on the menu which was as follows

  • To start Sandwiches of Roast Beef, Sour Cream and potato – inspired by the main meal of the 3 course meal Gum.
  • August gloops father has a Sausage shop so Sausage Sandwiches
  • Tomato Soup Scones – Tomato & Cheese salsa savoury Scones
  • Chocolate chip Scones with Chocolate Spreads
  • Chocolate fountain with Fruit and Mallows to dip – Chocolate waterfall
  • Verucas fruit cake with no Nuts 1st film song “i want it now”
  • Cream Buns Same song inspiration but with Strawberry Coating and Lemon curd filling ( from Bills Candy shop song Strawberry Lemon Pie)
    • Nut Sorting room Eclairs Coffee & Walnut with Chocolate Squirrels ( Verucas father is in the Nut business 2nd film and Squirrel sorting Nuts scene) Coffee foam room
      • Violets Blueberry Pies – when Violet turns into a Blueberry after eating the Gum and the Gum Dessert Blueberry Pie
      • Rhubarb & Custard Battenberg – sweet shop flavour

Setting the Scene

The most exciting part for me is setting the scene and atmosphere. I used props i had like the Giant Golden Ticket, Wonka Bar and Lollipops i made.

I found these awesome Wonka Plates on Ebay, they did have Cups but they were quite pricey each. Different designs on each Plate. For the Cups i brought some Vintage Cadburys Chocolate chunk Mugs, i remember these from the 90s. I got a pain Brown Teapot on clearance from work which looked like it was Chocolate. I have had some Plastic Golden Eggs for Years in the shed, so time for them to finally be used for that reason.

Last minute i got a backdrop of Aliexpress and it came just in time, these really elevate the background and are so colorful for photos i love them. Also last minute i has my eye on a Chocolate Fountain in Argos, that went back up in price and so i looked around for another. I really wanted a fancy one and got the one i wanted and had it sent next day delivery, although it was double the Argos one was worth it.

As usual this was all filmed live via Facebook live link below to how it happened. This was a longer Tea like my Space one as i had the Kitkat Challenge at the end which added 20+mins to the total time. https://www.facebook.com/adamthepastryguy/videos/4750415821667732

TEA

For this Tea i brought some fancy Teas from Fortnum & Mason but did not get to open them. I got Bloody Mary Tomato, Chocolate & Violet and Clotted Cream and Pistachio. I had a Chocolate Tea infusion from Hotel Chocolat which more a less tasted like Chocolate water. but at least it was only 50p!

CHOCOLATE

You cannot open a make believe Chocolate Factory without any Chocolate, so the Chocolate fountain waterfall covered the bases for that. I also had the Japanese Kitkat challenge at the end also. 20 mins for trying different flavoured Kitkats from Japan. Some of these were from Ebay, other brought back from Japan by my partner when he went earlier this year.

I also had the Scone course Chocolate themed with Chocolate Chip Scones with Chocolate spreads instead of Jam. I had brought the Apparent Rolls Royce of Chocolate spreads the Lindt Hazelnut spread. After trying it you can see why with 40% Hazelnuts compared to 13% Nutella. It was smooth and a rich taste. I also got the Cocoa Cream one which i realised had Almonds so could not try. These are £5.99 a jar and only available at Lindtt shops, but now Asda have started stocking them for £3.50 a jar

So how did it go?

Well with every Tea there is some things which turn out better visually or tasting than others. The chocolate Fountain took about 800g Chocolate and a little Oil but flowed flawlessly and was great throughout the Tea. The Eclairs turned out better this time i filled them via holes at the bottom.

My weakness i would Say is Bread the Buns were not as airy and light as i had imagined but still nice. The Music added a great atmosphere paired with my Parent Oompa Loompas ! i brought both the costumes off Ebay.

WHAT TO CHANGE

  • The Eclairs had a Dalgona Coffee icing this was great when i made it, but melted slowly in fridge so do that last minute next time.
  • Beef Sour cream and Potato sandwiches were supposed to be a Toastie and have Potato slices. I used crisps so change that next time.
  • Cream Buns- needed to be more of a Donut style bun was too filling to eat a whole one with everything else being Bread roll like.
  • Scones needed to be smaller they spread like Rock cakes lol
  • Add in the Fizzy lifting Drinks making didn’t include it

WHAT A WASTE

With any of these Teas there is the question of waste, i try my best to limit the waste if any. This one had less than most but still more than i could eat. The fruit Cakes and Blueberry Pies, Battenberg went into work. The leftover Chocolate from the Fountain was recycled into some Rocky Road bars. Scones, Sandwiches, Fruit and Mallows were all eaten. The Cream Buns were dismantled and recycled with the Bread Crusts from the Sandwiches into some Bread Pudding.

Time to try some KitKats

Japan has countless varieties of Kitkat just some to try as follows

  • Apple Pie
  • Banana
  • Sweet Potato
  • Chestnut
  • Wasabi
  • Matcha
  • Peach
  • Party Ice cream
  • Rum & Raisin
  • Salty Lemon
  • Peach Mint
  • Strawberry Cheesecake
  • Purple Sweet Potato
  • Melon Mascorpone
  • Baked Creme Brulee style
  • Grape
  • Yogurt & Mint

A lot of the flavours are White Chocolate based besides the Banana. I suppose that allows strong flavours to come through and not be overwhelmed by the Chocolate. My faves were Peach, Melon and Salty Lemon. Nobody was a fan of the Wasabi one tasted a bit like Onions! Watch the live video from 1hour for 20 minutes of flavour discovery and reactions

You’ve done it you’ve won I knew you could do it. Thanks for reading all about behind the scenes of how it happened. Hope you enjoyed the insights and look forward to the next Tea number 16!

Adam x