But this is how I like to think we will look back on the anti-bread era we seem to be stuck in. I overheard a group of teen lads in the supermarket banging on about avoiding the big G too; "Nah mate, can't eat that, I've had two slices of bread today."...What? You can't put a pair of socks on, yet you know your precise carbohydrate consumption for the day? What is this World?

Firmly avoiding any of that balderdash* is Sugardough, emporium of glorious gluten, mecca of the carb. The window displays are lined with luscious loaves, perfect pastries and the cabinets contain the cakes of dreams. From the central bustle of Brighton you are transported into what feels like a French patisserie; bentwood chairs, silverware, vintage bakeware line the walls and an Amelié-esque soundtrack plays in the background.

There are some lovely teas, proper hot chocolate with house made marshmallows, natural soft drinks or if you need something stronger, wines and a short cocktail list. The latter, being the weekend, I chased my golden mylk with. Balance innit? My mimosa, with freshly squeezed orange juice, was a welcome perk up. There's a Cherry Bakewell with kirsch, amaretto and prosecco or an espresso martini. All of which perfect brunch or cake partners. 

The menu is served from 8am-5pm everyday starting with a pretty sounding confetti bircher, French toast, croques and of course pastries.

I chose the Turkish cilbir eggs, a dish of soft poached eggs, garlic yoghurt and an insane amount of beurre noisette, warmed with chilli. Exotic dippy eggs, if you like. To mop up the butter and yolks was sourdough toast filled with teeny chopped confit tomato and red onion. This was supposed to be served with brioche but was delicious none the less. Such a refreshingly different brunch choice and worth the order, although next time I'd love a bigger hit of spice.

If you're venturing into the lunch side of things there are some great sounding dishes, which are an interesting cultural mash up; smokey aubergine with greek skoldalia and Jerusalem classic a'ja bread fritters or roast cauliflower and chickpeas with pea humus sprinkled with Egyptian dukkah. I saw the posh ploughmans which looked a treat, but Rosie settled for a Burrata with spiced, roast butternut squash, fried sage, brown butter and sourdough toasts - simple, classic and a lovely thing to eat.

The interior has been nicely done. It feels beachy without being themed, a lovely space to drop in any time (they also do salads and sandwiches for lunch too.)

Service is faultless, friendly and welcoming. I noticed a table of clearly well treated regulars that small businesses like this do well to retain. 

I'm really glad I trekked over. This isn't my neck of the woods but if it were, I'd be in a lot, believe me. You can't fault the quality, service or attention to detail at all.

V and H Cafe

Holland Road

Hove

I dined as a guest of V and H Cafe. Words and thoughts, as always, my own.

Unlike the extensive tea menu, the food on offer is more simple. You can pop in for a sandwich or a slice of cake for just a few pounds or have the full afternoon tea with a choice of sandwiches, scones and a slice of cake.

Cake gets a big shout out. They are made in-house and are all gluten free, not that you'd know it. The enormous slices of chocolate & raspberry and carrot cake were both super light. I sometimes find gluten free options quite cloying and dense but these were anything but. And although they don't cater for vegans, you can call in advance and they will make something specially.

I would have liked the scones to have more height but they were pleasant and sandwiches simple but delicious enough. They could probably tweak it here and there—cut the crusts off and the like—but this is all very relaxed and everything feels about right. This is a pleasant afternoon tea that won't be breaking any banks (£10.95 for 1 person or £19.95 for 2 people).

Being so close to town it's a handy one to know about for a pit shop and quick bite or a lingering tea-fuelled lunch with the ladies. And with piles of games, magazines and books, it's the place to spend some time if you have it. They are so friendly here and welcomed my two crumb making kids but I think it's not the best place for a meet up with the children in tow if they are very young due to the size of the place, lack of highchairs etc. Look, before I had kids, I wouldn't have been keen to have my quiet afternoon tea hijacked by some squarking little ones. Even though I could take my 4 year old boy confidently to a fine dining restaurant for a 3 hour meal, well the 18 month old girl is cut from a different cloth! 

Now more than ever with the increase of the chain restaurants and coffee shops in the city, we should really make the effort to celebrate and support our independent places, as after all, they are what makes Brighton Brighton.

talkoftea.co.uk
26 Spring St
Brighton BN1 3EF

I was invited to review Talk of Tea, words and thoughts, as ever, are my own. 

Makes 10 cupcakes

Ingredients
125g Caster sugar
125g Unsalted butter, room temperature
125g Self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Line a muffin tin with 10 muffin cases.

Beat together all of the cake ingredients for a couple of minutes until you have a smooth batter. Divide between the muffin cases and bake for about 15 minutes, until risen and golden. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

For the decoration

Ingredients
Ready to roll icing (Half a standard 1kg pack or 500g pack)
Icing sugar
Red and green colouring paste
Silver dagrees/sugar balls (I like the soft ones you can get now)
Green edible glitter

Method
Cut a third of the icing off and reserve. Dust the work surface lightly with icing sugar and roll the larger icing block out thinly, flipping and turning to ensure it doesn't stick. it needs to only be about 3mm thick. Using the round cookie cutter that is a little bit smaller than the finished cupcake, cut 10 circles.

Cut a third off the smaller piece of reserved icing. Put a few drops of red colouring onto the larger piece and a few drops of the green into the smaller piece. Go easy as you want a soft pastel colour. Work the colour into each icing until you have a smooth, even colour. Chill this for a little while if it has gone too soft with the heat of your hands.

Once ready, lightly dust the worktop with a little icing sugar and roll each colour to around 2.5mm thick. For the rose colour cut into thin strips about 10mm tall and 100mm wide. Roll these up slightly unevenly to form the look of a rose. Slightly pinch the bottom to form a "v" shape and to hold it all together. Trim the end point so your rose sits on a flat surface. Repeat until you have 10.

Cut the green icing into 10 small leaf shapes then using a blunt knife, press lightly to form the central vein. Tip a little of the glitter onto a plate and lightly press each leaf into it.

Pour cold water into a small glass. Dip a pastry brush in an remove excess water with some kitchen roll. Lightly paint the underside of the white icing round and press centrally on top of the cupcake. Using a small clean, unused artist paintbrush, dampen the underside of each green leaf and apply slightly off centre to each cupcake. Repeat with the base of each rose and stick centrally. Apply a single silver dagree.







*I was sent the products for review. Words and content, as always, are my own.

Hands down the best patisserie in Brighton, possibly the whole South East, is Julien Plumart. Save that Eurostar ticket money and spend it here at this slice of France. I've raved about the boutique a lot on this blog but now they are serving afternoon teas on glossy tiered stands which of course needed some investigating.

You won't be getting scones and jam here though and you won't miss them either. Along with finger sandwiches, tiny, savoury filled, light brioche buns, ice cream and warm brownies you can choose a selection from their famous macaron and one of the intricate cakes. 

They had just that day won a Taste Award for the Berries and Violet macaron (well deserved) and I teamed that with Black Forest and Raspberry flavours. The macaron are really gorgeously light and crisp, with an intensely flavoured filling. There are always classic flavours to choose from like Pistachio or Rose to more experimental ones like Yuzu & Black Current Pepper. Prepare to stand in front of all the flavours for a while and painfully choose just three. 

Another hard task is choosing from the glossy jewelled cakes but you're practically guaranteed a good one. I've had plenty of these over the years and NEVER once disliked anything and I don't even have a sweet tooth. Although I love the Raspberry Delice and Royal Crunchy Choc, I settled for an unusual Earl Grey and Mandarin dome. There's always an array of textures to these cakes; crisp chocolate coatings, soaked sponges, super-light mousse and incredible decoration. Utterly decadent, technically spot on and virtually impossible to create at home (I'm happy to get a decent lemon drizzle down though. Baker, I am not.) 

The loose leaf teas are from The Rare Tea Company and served in beautiful clear glass teapots which look very pretty. There is a decent selection and the leaves are sourced direct from select independent farms. 

Afternoon tea for two people is £29 which when you consider the quality of everything, is very good value. Julien Plumart himself is still very much in the kitchen crafting the products with a small team so standards have not slipped in the slightest. 

Oh and by the way, they have also recently renovated the top floor dining space. Handy if you are planning a tasteful hen dos or small party. 

Julien Plumart

Duke Street, Brighton

I was invited to review. Words and thoughts, as always, are my own.

Also see my updated post for the best places in Brighton for afternoon tea! http://www.thegraphicfoodie.co.uk/2014/05/gf-guides-best-afternoon-tea-in-brighton.html

I have no idea why I haven't come across a rolling pin like this before. We all know how essential non-stick frying pans are but whenever I roll out pastry or pasta, it ALWAYS sticks to the pin! (Note: I'm not the world's most patient or proficient baker.)

The OXO Good Grips non stick rolling pin is a heavy beast. Aside from the coating,  I love the shaped handles that always remain the right way up due to the weighted design. The handles enable you to keep your grip (rather than rolling with the flat of your hands) and also stop your knuckles bashing the worktop.

The pin is also 30cm wide, so you can get a decent crust top or size rolled out evenly.

Although I don't use a lot of pastry, when I do, it's normally a beautiful, glossy crostata, which is a large Italian jam tart. Delicious on its own or with a big dollop of sweetened marscapone.

Ingredients

500g self-raising flour

200g butter  

150g white sugar

Grated rind of one lemon

3 egg yolks plus l whole egg

Vanilla essence (few drops)

One jar of jam (any flavour) or Nutella!
Milk or beaten egg for glazing

Method 

• Cut butter into cubes & rub into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add sugar and grated lemon rind
• Beat eggs and add to mix with the vanilla essence
• If mixture is dry, add a little milk until it all comes together and forms a ball (take care not to make it too wet – add milk a little at a time)
• Leave to chill in fridge for half an hour

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 5 / 190°C / 170 °C (fan)

• Grease a large, loose bottomed flan tin approx 12 inches in diameter
• Roll out pastry sufficiently to cover bottom and sides of flan tin
• Gently ease the pastry into flan tin and trim off any excess pastry around rim of tin
• Add jam to the pastry inside the flan tin and spread out evenly to cover the base
• With remaining pastry, roll out and cut strips half an inch wide (use pastry wheel if you have one to make the edges of the strips decorative) and arrange on top of the jam, leaving an inch or so between each strip.
• Fold down the pastry on the sides of the flan tin until they seal in the strips & press firmly all around.
• Brush with beaten egg or milk and bake on the middle shelf of a preheated oven at Gas 5 for about 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
• Take out and leave to cool completely in the tin.