On January 25th, we enjoyed an afternoon tea to celebrate the 18th-century Scottish poet, Robert Burns. January 25th is known as Robert (or Robbie) Burns Day so that seemed like a good reason to have a special afternoon tea. If you have been a long time follower of my website and social media channels, you know I have a genuine passion for afternoon teas and any reason at all to enjoy one is just fine with me! Today, our afternoon tea included a nod to some traditional Scottish foods, including Shortbread and Dundee Cake.

I used a plain white three-tier server with gold trim for the afternoon tea fare. Because tea tables are traditionally small, placing all the food on one stand takes up less table space and is an efficient way to serve the food. Today’s teatime consists of three courses to be consumed in the traditional proper order starting with the sandwiches on the bottom plate, followed by the scones as the second course, and ending with the sweets course found on the top plate of the server.

I don’t have recipes published or available for every item on the tiered server but, for those that I do, I will include a hotlink to the recipes.

For the Sandwich Course, we started out with Egg Salad and Tuna Salad Sandwiches along with some open-faced Cucumber Sandwiches. Always crustless for afternoon tea, the sandwiches were cut in the traditional finger style.

For the Scones Course, classic Currant and Orange Scones were served with English Double Cream (seen in photo above), homemade Lemon Curd, and a selection of jams (below).

The sweet tooth was not forgotten so the top tier of the server didn’t hold back on the sugar! Of course, there was Scottish Dundee Cake and Shortbread along with Toffee Bits and Pistachio Cookies, Macarons, Gumdrop Square, and Brown Sugar Fudge (aka Scottish tablet).

To maintain a Scottish theme, I chose to set today’s tea table with my Royal Adderley “Maple Leaf Tartan” plates. This is Canada’s official national tartan which was designed by David Weiser in 1964 in advance of, and to commemorate, the 100th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation in 1967.

The four colors of the tartan depict the seasons in which a maple leaf exists – the green for the summer when the maple tree is in full lush green leaf, the gold to represent the early fall season when leaves begin to change color, the red as a nod to the color of maple leaves after the first frost, and brown to denote the fallen leaves. On March 9, 2011, the Maple Leaf Tartan was officially recognized as one of Canada’s official national symbols joining the iconic and well-recognized Maple Leaf Flag and the country’s Coat of Arms. Such national symbols are said to represent Canadian heritage and unity.

A petite arrangement of mini red roses was in keeping with the red theme and brightened the table.

I chose two favorite teacups from my red teacup collection. This one is a pretty Royal Albert with gold overlay.

The second teacup I selected was an Elizabethan with gold trim.

Today, my red, cream, and gold Sadler carousel teapot was filled with Taylors of Harrogate’s Yorkshire Tea.

A pot of hot tea, a full three-tier server, and good company and conversation were the ingredients of a great way to leisurely spend a cold winter’s afternoon (it was only -17C without the windchill in PEI!)

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