WHAT'S COOKING...A Healthy High Tea?

Making a high tea healthy might seem like quite a challenge!  The traditional British  tea with sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream, and cakes does not particularly conjure up thoughts of a healthy meal.  Read on to find out how we adapted our High Tea to include some healthier elements...

Also find out about the tradition of High Tea, how to make a Victoria Sandwich cake, and see the photos from the event.

Generally a high tea is enjoyed as a special treat every once in a while, and while there is nothing wrong with treating yourself now and again, we decided to try and incorporate some healthier elements as well.  Our approach was to combine some indulgences along with some healthier choices to create a delicious and healthy treat.

To make the first part of our high tea healthier, we used whole grain bread rather than white for the sandwiches.  This is better for you due to its higher fiber content, which helps reduce risk of heart disease.  Fiber is also important for digestive health.  While we chose traditional fillings to keep the high tea authentic and tasty, using low-fat cheeses and mayonnaise helped to cut down on fat and calories.  Although high in fat, cheese is still good to include in your diet since it is a good source of protein and calcium.    

We decided to swap out the most indulgent ingredient, the clotted cream for something a little lower in fat.  Clotted cream typically has a fat content of about 55%, so we chose low-fat crème fraîche as an alternative.  Although its taste is a little different, the slightly tart taste it has complements the fruity jam really well.  Since an average serving contains around 3% of your recommended daily fat intake compared to clotted cream which can contain around 27%, the saving on calories and fat is well worth the swap.   

When it comes to the cake, the final treat of a high tea, we decided to make a Victoria sandwich.  This is traditionally made by sandwiching together two sponge cakes with butter cream and strawberry jam.  Delicious, but rather high on the sugar and calorie content!  As an alternative, we kept the two sponge cakes, but instead used crème fraîche and fresh strawberries and blueberries as our filling.  Blueberries and strawberries are packed full of vitamins and minerals which are a real boost to your diet, and crème fraîche has a much lower fat and sugar content than butter cream.  As well as this, the red, blue and white created a lovely patriotic feel to our cake!