Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Easter are all looming, all heralding spring. But how to ring the changes in the gift line?
Aah, well, just sometimes we are able to sample something extraordinary, mark you, we knew it would be because our contributing editor, Margaret Graham, has a special fondness for Yorkshire, in particular North Yorkshire, and when there she homes in every time on Bettys Tearooms and shops, of which there are six. They are her absolute haven of deliciousness, and she raves about them. Well, you can see that she does.
They are proper tearooms: lovely tea, lovely buns, lovely staff. Big fat rascal scones are her downfall, so sampling some of Bettys new season gifts was NOT a chore. Have a look at the three we all pitched into.
The sponge cake 13CM DIAMETER | 500G | £12.95 Hand-decorated with a pretty spring flowers design in Royal icing, this light almond sponge cake is sandwiched with raspberry preserve and buttercream. And surely that was white chocolate on the bottom? Or so Margaret and her daughter thought. The mix of flavours, even in the icing, was fascinating, and worked extraordinarily well.
Bang went the diet.
That is presented as an Easter or Mother’s Day cake. But we fear it’s addictive, and can be on any table, at any time for any occasion, so enjoy.
We tried the NEW Saddleback Chocolate Pig 12 X 7 X 7.5CM | 130G | £9.95 which was such a lovely image, and we had to pace ourselves as the tasting was leading to a disgusting exhibition of greed.
And the hand made small chocolate eggs made in Bettys craft bakery…
And myriad other gift boxes of chocs.
But let’s have a look at Valentine’s day.
It would take the hardest heart to remain unmoved if any of these were the gift of the day:
With Love Chocolate Selection BOX OF 15 | 16 X 9.5CM | 140G | £19.95 An exquisite collection of Swiss Grand Cru milk and dark chocolates, with ganache, fondant cream and caramel centres.
Or try the Valentine’s Gift Box BOX: 25 X 19.5 X 9CM | £30.00 Contents:
- Chocolate Heart Assortment • Grand Cru Ganache Chocolate Cake • With Love Butter Biscuits and Strawberry • Strawberry, Cherry & Rose Tisane 2. Vanilla Caramel Hearts BOX OF 15 | 16 X 9.5CM | 150G | £17.95 Grand Cru Swiss dark chocolate filled with creamy vanilla caramel and finished with a dusting of gold lustre.
- Champagne Truffles BOX OF 15 | 16 X 9.5CM | 165G | £17.95 Grand Cru Swiss milk chocolate filled with Moët & Chandon Champagne and Marc de Champagne ganache and finished with a melt-inthe-mouth raspberry powder.
- Chocolate Heart Assortment BOX OF 7 | 22.5 X 3.5 X 2.5CM | 70G | £8.75 Includes: Blackcurrant Ganache, Champagne Truffle, Cru Sauvage Truffle, Raspberry Ganache, Rose Fondant, Violet Fondant and Vanilla Caramel.
Easter
These are the MOST BEAUTIFUL EGGS YOU CAN GIVE THIS EASTER. Forget Faberge, these are works of art. We weren’t sure we would be able to tuck into them. Oh come on, of course we could.
Bettys founder Frederick Belmont was a chocolatier and a Swiss master chocolatier. Nearly 100 years on, the Chocolate Room at Bettys remains a haven of true craftsmanship where our hand decorated Easter eggs are still made to Frederick’s exacting standard employing great attention to detail and using the very highest quality Swiss chocolate.
Take as an example the Spring Bloom Egg 19CM HIGH | 315G | £30.00 This is a strikingly colourful egg. Made with eau de nil coloured white chocolate, and finished with a silver lustre, it is decorated with bluebells, primroses, bumble bees and a sugar paste butterfly.
These we have mentioned are just a little bit of a taster, there are many others to choose from. Where?
Online www.bettys.co.uk Telephone 0800 456 1919 or 01423 814008
Shops Visit one of the six shops in Harrogate, Ilkley, Northallerton and York. Have tea while you’re there.
Corporate Gifts Service Please contact: pr@bettysandtaylors.co.uk or telephone 01423 814186.
There are many more fabulous gifts to be found on their website. We don’t always endorse so enthusiastically, but this time yes. We do just wish that we were sitting in one of Bettys Tea Rooms rather than in the office.
Try the mail order gifts, AND try Bettys Tea Rooms and shop whenever you see one.
Deliveries & Charges Bettys delivers to homes and businesses across the UK, as well as to Europe, North America, Australasia and the Far East.
Delivery charges start from £3.95 for the UK and from £12.95 internationally. Last order dates for Easter UK, Highlands & Islands – Friday 23 March UK, Mainland – Tuesday 27 March EU & Rest of world – Tuesday 20 March