Afternoon Tea Masterclass at Tennent’s Training Academy, Glasgow

• Learn the art of creating your own Afternoon Tea
• The perfect course for beginners and those looking to improve their baking skills
• Indulge with a glass of prosecco whilst enjoying your own masterpieces
• Takes place in the stylish Tennent's Training Academy in Glasgow

I absolutely love baking, so when the opportunity popped up to attend a prosecco afternoon tea masterclass one Saturday afternoon in Glasgow, I jumped at the chance to go.  

On arrival, we were greeted by our host for the day and offered a hot drink whilst we gathered together. After being shown through to the kitchen, our pastry chef, Lauren, welcomed us and briefed us on what we’d be making (and eating) for the day! Lauren explained that whilst we’d be baking all of our sweet delights, the kitchen staff would be preparing some savoury goodies for us to enjoy, completing our afternoon tea experience later on when everything was ready to eat.

Our first demonstration was making choux pastry, which Lauren explained would always be the first task of any pastry chef. To avoid us spending many hours making our own choux pastry (and therefore avoiding any disasters!) Lauren made the pastry for everyone’s choux buns and eclairs. The process was one I had never seen before, and it was really interesting learning about the different types of pastries and what was involved to get the best outcome. For example, before this experience, I didn’t know how important the temperature of the butter was! Then it was up to us to prepare the slightly easier shortcrust pastry for our raspberry and custard tarts!

Following this, we had a demonstration in Victoria sponge making – the trick to a perfect, fluffy sponge is down to the consistency of the mixture. Afterwards, we each went back to our workstations, ready to get started on our own sponge! With a loaf tin to fill, we began mixing together our ingredients with electric mixers. We also made our own scones, a very different mixing process than the sponge!

Next Lauren walked us through the process of tempering chocolate. This would be used for our eclairs and choux buns. While the chocolate was left to cool, we began filling our pastries with cream. We finished off the eclairs by dipping them into the now-cooled chocolate. I found this particularly challenging because it required a lot of self-discipline not to simply start eating the melted chocolate!

Once we’d completed all of our baked goods, we were each given a beautiful cake stand to display our creations. This was really fun and also quite challenging because it was quickly apparent that we all had far too many treats and not quite enough room to fit them all onto the one stand.

At the end of the class, our hard work had really paid off as we enjoyed our creations with a crisp, cold glass of prosecco. Luckily we were given a box to take our goodies home to share with family and friends as there was far too much to finish! The experience is one that, whether you are a seasoned baker or not, you’re guaranteed to have an incredibly fun (and delicious!) time.