In Photos: A Tea Party

Fleur d'Elise has been very busy! I have been baking and crafting all week, and now my tea party is over and the post-party blues have set in. At least they're mild, because, well, I'm not 5 anymore and I know there will be more parties. It was so lovely having all of my friends over. It's a lot of work, but I think I quite like entertaining. I had an excuse to use my Villeroy & Boch set (appropriately named "Petite Fleur") and an excuse to make loads of delicious deserts!

Here's what I made:

Raspberry-flavored Mexican Wedding Cookies 

Blood Orange Cupcakes

Cardamom-Pear Cupcakes

Peach & Raspberry Gem Candies

Coco Butter Body Balm (not edible)

For the cupcakes, I used a buttermilk recipe, which I cannot find. This Martha Stewart recipe is pretty good, though. I used the juice and the zest from a blood orange to flavor both the cake and the frosting, and just reduced the vanilla extract so it wouldn't make things too runny. As for the Cardamom-Pear cupcakes, I chopped up a pear and added it & ground cardamom to the batter, then used apple jelly, cinnamon, & cardamom to flavor the frosting. (If you would like more detailed directions or measurements, just ask!)

My mom brought delicious scones and homemade pickled vegetables. My friends & family brought green tea short bread, little cucumber sandwiches, Almond Rocha, and those delicious thin cookies that are mostly toffee and chocolate.

 I found the body balm recipe via Pinterest and am crazy about it! The ones I made for favors are little hearts (made in a chocolate mold). I also made bigger ones for Christmas presents that got rave reviews, so I figured they'd make fun party favors. I put them in little chevron print bags (that you can buy here) and then sealed them with a heart. I completely forgot I owned these stickers, so I ended up cutting out hearts from lick-&-stick kraft paper. Oh well, gotta use it for something.

I went all out and bought a piping bag and a number 7 tip for frosting cupcakes. Thanks to the helpful ladies at Home Cake Decorating Supply Co. in the Roosevelt neighborhood, I could not have asked for more perfect cupcakes. The party was a great excuse to spend like an hour browsing at Home Cake. It's been around since 1960 and has pretty much anything you could ever need for baking and making candies. My favorite is the rack of flavorings. They have just about every flavor you could think of (well, ones that would taste good in cakes & candies, anyway) I also really love all the kitschy little cake toppers they have, like dear and bumble bees.

I've already prattled on quite a bit, but I want to tell you about my china set! It's actually the same pattern that my mom chose when she married my dad 30 years ago. Mine, like many of my treasures, was found at an estate sale for a pittance. It's an odd set, possibly factory seconds, but I couldn't be happier with it. Those 15 cups of various sizes really came in handy at the tea party! Villeroy and Boch will always have a special place in my heart. It's even one of the things my husband and I bonded over before we started dating: both our families owned sets from the factory outlet and his mom gave me jam spoons that match my set.

My amazingly talented and patient mother made the felted tea cozy you see to your left. She made it in my favorite color and with my favorite flowers :)

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