Hosting a Christmas Afternoon Tea

"Flavored with delectable hazelnuts, fresh raspberries, and a scrumptious Whipped Cream Frosting, this beautiful and impressive dessert is perfect for afternoon tea at Christmas."

"The pièce de resistance of any celebration, sumptuous Red Velvet Cake boasts a festive wreath of sugared cranberries and rosemary."

Rich and utterly divine, this Chocolate Bundt Cake is an easy-to-make, super moist, dense, chocolate pound cake recipe you won't forget anytime soon. Rich but simple with a hint of espresso.

This simple Raspberry Christmas Trifle Recipe is an easy to make layered dessert of fresh raspberries, ladyfingers, and a heavenly pastry cream. It's a festive, traditional style British Christmas dessert that takes minutes to make, plus chilling time.

These Cranberry Poached Pears are a delicious and festive holiday dessert. And so simple to make, you'll find them a perfect addition to your seasonal feasts and gatherings. Poached in cranberry juice, they're sweet and fragrant with orange, cinnamon, and cloves.

This Spiced Christmas Cake is a buttery, light, and moist spice cake rich with warm spices of the season. Simply dusted with confectioners' sugar and topped with sugared cranberries. It's a beautiful, festive, and simple cake, perfect for the holidays.

This easy-to-make Gingerbread Loaf Cake is a timeless, classic recipe for a dense, soft, richly flavored treat. Filled with molasses, brown sugar, and cozy, warm spices, every bite of this moist and tender cake will remind you of holiday flavors and wintery days and is perfect addition to a Christmas Afternoon Tea sweets course.

Cut into small slices, these easy Cranberry Cream Cheese Danishes will bring the holidays to your your tea table! Twirls of flaky puff pastry are braided over layers of sweetened cream cheese and a delicious cranberry filling with hints of cinnamon and citrus. Every bite of this glazed braided danish is holiday-worthy!

This Red Velvet Bundt Cake is an incredibly moist, velvety, soft, red-colored cake with a delicious cream cheese filling. Utterly perfect and festive for a holiday themed afternoon tea.

Much like an easy fruit cake, Irish Barmbrack is filled with soaked dry fruit with delicious and interesting flavors. Perfect for a teatime bread course.

"Pretty snowflake sandwich cookies flavored with a scrumptious and festive Eggnog Spice Filling make a picture-perfect sweet for the holiday season."

Simple pinwheel cookies with festive and delicious Christmasy filling is a sweet addition to Christmas tea.

“A timeless classic coffee cake filled with a moist and rich dark chocolate flavored with a touch of espresso. A cake you’ll come back to time and again.”

"Baked in individual portions, Honey Spiced Clementine Cakes dazzle with sliced fruit that caramelizes during the baking process for a mouthwatering dessert" perfect for Christmas Tea.

"Perfect for a holiday tea… or an evening curled up in front of the fire."

Simple to make Pecan Tassies are perfect, teacup-size bites of deliciousness and perfect to add to your holiday tier tray.

“Garnished with kumquats and fresh rosemary is a fabulous Christmas dessert.”

Christmas Kugelhopf is a moist sponge cake infused with aromatic spices like cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It has a soft and tender texture that is incredibly delightful. This traditional spiced fruit cake is popular in Austria, Alsace, Germany, and Switzerland.

“This updated interpretation of a traditional English Plum Pudding is made in the microwave oven.”

“Simple cakes that aren’t complicated to make and look great on a festive table.”

"An homage to Esther Bolick’s signature dessert in the treasured Mitford series, our Mini Orange Marmalade Cakes feature ribbons of marmalade between layers of fluffy cake crowned with creamy vanilla frosting and fresh begonias."

"This beautiful Cherry Danish Christmas Tree doubles as both a scrumptious offering for a brunch-themed tea and as a pretty centerpiece for your holiday tablescape. "

This festive Yule Log, a traditional rolled, flourless Christmas cake, is filled with luscious whipped cream and adorned with bark-like etchings of decadent chocolate buttercream frosting.

Christmas Swedish Tea Ring, filled with cinnamon, sugar, and raisins and topped with a simple powdered sugar glaze, is a beautiful and delicious Scandinavian recipe for the holiday season!

Every holiday baker needs a recipe for Gingerbread Cookies that boasts both good taste and a generous yield. 

These Christmas Icebox Cookies are slice and bake cookies that are incredibly easy to make, festive with colors of the season, and delicious with a vanilla buttery crumb.

Vanilla Tea Cake Cookies are a simple buttery, soft vanilla tea cookie perfect for afternoon tea. Much like Scottish Shortbread, the ingredients are simple, but the texture and vanilla flavors are deliciously unforgettable.

Christmas Thumbprint Cookies are buttery cookies filled with jam and rolled in finely chopped almonds. A classic Christmas cookie perfect for parties, cookie platters, or Holiday cookie exchanges.

These Peppermint Mocha Chocolate Blossom cookies are like Christmas in every bite. They are densely rich with chocolate and espresso, merry and bright with peppermint, and crunchy with sparkling sugar.

These Spritz Cookies are an easy recipe that makes dozens of sweet bite-size, dense cookies with a delicious buttery vanilla flavor. A quick and simple Christmas cookie for trays, gifts, or tea.

“Mini Snowflake Cupcakes pictured Gingerbread Candy Bark and Chocolate-Filled Christmas Tree Cookies.”

Buckingham Palace Shortbread Cookies are a recipe from pastry chef John Higgins that's perfect for the holidays or afternoon tea.

“A party fit for a queen… throw the tastiest street celebration in town with these delicious nibbles.”

This Christmas Cake is a delicious and moist cake packed with dried fruit, citrus zest, and applesauce. And with every bite, you will taste the holidays.

“The cranberry filling is sweetly spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and the zest of an orange. Every bite, truly, takes like Christmas.”

“Cucumber tea sandwiches are always welcome at teatime, but this charming version will enchant your guests.”

These delightful Christmas Eve Tea Sandwiches are both festive and scrumptious. Made with simplicity in mind, they truly capture the essence of the holiday season with their vibrant red, white, and green colors.

A trio of delightful savories with a cup of Simpson & Vail’s Assam Nahorhabi Black Tea, FTGFOP. 

Recipe links:

• Curried Beef Triangles
• Broccoli-Gruyère Quiches
• Turkey & Pesto Tea Sandwiches

“These Smoked Turkey and Cranberry Cream Sandwiches are a delightful addition to any holiday tea event.”

“These tea sandwiches look very festive when we cut them out with a holly leaf cookie cutter. We use both white and wheat bread to vary the color and flavor.”

“These watercress tea sandwiches are made even better with caramelized shallot butter.”

These opened-face Radish and Cucumber Tea Sandwiches are as delightful to the eye as they are to the palate. Scrumptious, crisp, and peppery radish flavors mingle with curried butter for a decidedly unique addition to your tea party.

“These Ham Salad Tea Sandwich Stackers are a delightful treat.”

A simple ham salad recipe elevated to incredible with the addition of a few unique ingredients. And is utterly delicious. Ready in 10 minutes, it's a salad you'll make all season!

“Eggs poached in a mixture of white wine and spiced white tea add a new twist to Eggs Benedict. Serve them over flaky Tarragon Scones with Truffled Hollandaise Sauce.”

Make-Ahead Tip: Tarragon Scones can be mixed, rolled, and cut up to a week ahead of time. Place unbaked scones on a rimmed baking sheet, and freeze. Store in a resealable plastic bag. Bake scones, unthawed.

"These charming and oh-so delicious Santa Hat Scones are sure to delight children and adults alike at a whimsical Christmas tea."

“Cranberries, toasted pecans, and chopped rosemary make flavorful Cranberry-Pecan Scones.”

"Serve at a Christmas tea — or simply curl up before a fire with Cinnamon-Date Scones and a freshly brewed cup of tea."

Gingerbread Scones bring instant holiday coziness to your home with these flavorful, delicious scones—tender with cream and molasses and warmly spiced with the season’s best flavors.

“A cozy treat throughout the holidays, made perfect with a cup of tea.”

It's the holiday baking season and these White Chocolate Cranberry Scones are top of my list! Buttery, mildly sweet, infused with fresh cranberries and rich, velvety white chocolate.

A Royal Currant Scones Recipe, from the archives of Queen Elizabeth, to serve with afternoon tea, or anytime you're craving an authentic British style scone.

A beautiful and seasonal scone for Christmas.

“These Butter-Pecan Scones are delicious with clotted cream.”

“These delicious Gluten-Free Banana-Nut Scones feature pecans, banana chips, and cinnamon.”

“Traditional Texas caviar is a mixture of corn kernels, black-eyed peas, and bell pepper tossed in a light vinaigrette. Served with goat cheese on toasted baguettes, this Southern favorite becomes a gourmet treat.”

Mini Cranberry Pecan Goat Cheese Balls, a festive, delicious appetizer or snack for the holidays, that's so simple and easy it will become your go-to recipe. Packed with cranberries, pecans, fresh parsley and seasoned with cinnamon and honey. It's incredibly delicious.

“This is an easy, festive, perfect-for-the-season soup. Earthy chestnuts and mushrooms are simmered in a fresh herb-infused broth before being pureed into a creamy soup.”

This Warm Vichyssoise Soup is a vintage potato soup recipe, much like cream of potato soup. It's a French-inspired creamy and velvety soup that is deliciously special and even elegant. Plus, it can be made in 15 minutes or less.

Homemade Mini Quiche is so incredibly easy to make, you'll find yourself skipping the freezer section of your market.

"Perfect sized cheese ball bites make the perfect savory for a festive afternoon tea."

Smoked Salmon Quiche is a delightful dish that’s simple to make, utterly creamy and delicious, and a wonderful addition to any tea.

“Pepper jelly brie bites are the perfect appetizer for any party or gathering. Crispy phyllo shells filled with slightly spicy pepper jelly topped with creamy brie cheese. Sweet and spicy bites of flaky deliciousness!”

Mini Yorkshire Pudding Canapés with roast beef and horseradish sauce, perfect for Christmas Tea.

Chocolate Waffles, flavored with cocoa powder and chocolate tea, make a delightful breakfast treat on Christmas morning. The added surprise: The syrup is infused with Earl Grey tea.

Make-Ahead Tip: Earl Grey Syrup can be made up to a week in advance and refrigerated until needed. Get a head start on Christmas morning breakfast by mixing dry ingredients for waffles (baking mix, sugar, and cocoa powder) the night before. Then add wet ingredients in the morning.

“These Spicy Curried Walnuts are simple to make and are a lovely Christmas gift for family and friends to enjoy during afternoon tea.”

“A medley of dried fruits, distilled spirits, and spices, mincemeat reflects Canada’s—particularly British Columbia’s—English roots, where this fruity mix originated.”

While these Christmas Mini Pancake Stacks may be perfect for a holiday brunch or breakfast, they're equally perfect for a whimsical holiday tea or children's tea. Quick and easy and ready in about 5 minutes.