Afternoon Tea: Cake Boy

Afternoon Tea author and Master Patissier Eric Lanlard on the perfect afternoon tea

Over at stylish South West London riverside café Cake Boy, Eric Lanlard and his team prepare an exquisite gourmet treat everyday.

Located in Battersea Reach, set in guests to the boutique patisserie can indulge on delectable finger sandwiches, scones, tea, cakes and a glazz of fizz.

Eric said: “Personally, I love afternoon tea. It started as something quite naughty and secret,” said the celebrity chef.

“The story goes when Anna the Duchess of Bedford in the 1840s during the day felt a bit of a ‘sinking feeling’ because there was quite a big gap between lunch and dinner so secretly she will ask a butler to bring to her antechamber some buttered bread and biscuit and a cup of tea or hot drinks.”

Eric, a television personality, shares the elements of a perfect afternoon tea, which these days is desribed as the new lunch.

“So you need to have your savoury, so traditionally that would be finger sandwiches, then the cakes, so you need to have the proper cakes, and then maybe something a bit ‘biscuity’ and then you will have your scone.

He added: “The other big element for an afternoon tea, and being French, you have to have champagne as well on the side.

“And of course it’s all about the tea, so good quality tea should be served in a tea pot, the best China.”

Eric’s latest book, Afternoon Tea, is available to buy now (Mitchell Beazley, £20).