Birthday afternoon tea

It was glorious. The old Royal Albert Serenity pink tea set, three proud cake creations from Jocelyn's Provisions, three kinds of tea, German rock sugar, the lace napkins and the silver. A delicate and decadent afternoon tea for a beautifully simple celebration.

Without a doubt, the best of the cakes was the berry tart. It was a almond-paste-filled, crumbly and buttery pastry casing scattered with fat juicy mixed berries, apple, apricot and lemon zest, dredged with icing sugar. Heavenly.

The other two cakes were a flourless orange and almond cake with poppy seeds, and some mixed cupcakes (all from scratch) with passionfruit, chocolate and strawberry flavourings. Teawise, we had Earl Grey from the Villeroy & Boch Naif setting, plain black from the RA, and Chinese flower ball tea from the glass setting. The flower ball looks like a beautiful and mysterious sea creature, floating and plotting to itself.