Make afternoon tea together

Have you got some time this weekend – why not make an afternoon tea with your child?

This weekend, the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee is being marked with various events around the country.  

To help the Queen celebrate, why not treat yourselves to afternoon tea? If the weather is good, you could walk to a park and turn it into an afternoon tea picnic.  

Start by making some sandwiches, you can choose whichever fillings you have at home. Let your child make their own sandwich. Making choices, using a knife to spread fillings, thinking about how to place items and the sequence of making a sandwich will help your child to master various physical and cognitive skills. They will also enjoy the independence and feel confident that they can do this for themselves. If your child needs a little bit of help, try to think about parts of the sandwich-making they can do so they can develop their skills.  

Make a Victoria Sponge cake: 

As with all our recipes, allowing your child to do as much of the process themselves, where appropriate, is key in supporting their learning and development. So, think about whether they can weigh, mix, chop or scoop independently, as this is where the real learning comes in!

Ingredients: 

• 4 medium eggs 
• 225g caster sugar 
• 225g self-raising flour 
• 2 tsp baking power 
• 225g butter at room temperature, or margarine, plus a little extra to grease the tins 

If you don’t have baking powder, don’t worry, you can make this cake without. 

Fillings: 

• Strawberry or raspberry jam 
• Whipped double cream (optional) 

Toppings: 

• Icing sugar 
• Strawberries or raspberries (optional) 

How to: 

1. Preheat oven to 180C/160C or gas mark 4.
2. Line two 20cm/8in sandwich tins with baking paper.
3. Mix eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and butter.
4. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins.
5. Bake for 25 mins. They will be golden brown and springy to touch. 
6. Lift out and leave to cool.
7. When cool, top one cake with jam and cream. 
8. Place the other cake on top.
9. Sprinkle with icing sugar and fruit.
10. Eat! 

Adapting the recipe to make small cakes 

If you would rather make small cakes for your afternoon tea, use two eggs, and 100g of caster sugar, self-raising flour and butter or margarine to make 12 cakes. Place paper cases in a 12-hole bun tin, and use a spoon to put the mixture into each case.  Small cakes will take a little less time to cook so should be ready after about 20 minutes.