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By Elizabeth AtiaJanuary 7th 2016
Elizabeth Atia

After running a successful trial pop up tea room for some time, Victoria Mouat opened Britain's most northerly tea room - Victoria's Vintage Tea Room - in the Old Haroldswick Shop on Unst.

I had the pleasure of visiting her lovely establishment at the end of the season last year, stopping there for lunch en route to a gin tasting session at Shetland Reel Gin.

Victoria's Vintage Tea Room is situated along the coastline of Haroldswick on the north end of the island. You can sit indoors at one of the tableclothed tables, or grab a blanket and sit outside (weather permitting!) for stunning views of the sea.

Victoria's Vintage Tea Room serves a wide variety of delights on their menu, from jam and cream scones, tray bakes, all manner of cakes, sandwiches, soup and teas.

They also provide Afternoon Tea for two - a selection of plain Jane sandwiches and cakes served beautifully on a two tier cake stand along tea and coffee, or a Luxury Afternoon Tea for two - a selection of posh Penelope sandwiches, salad and coleslaw, cakes and mini cream tea served on a three tier cake stand, with your choice of their extensive range of specialist teas, coffees or hot chocolates.

My travelling companion (who insisted on being called 'The Blonde' for the purposes of this write up!) and I enjoyed the posh Penelope sandwiches; roast ham and wholegrain mustard for myself and roast chicken and peppercorn for her. Both sandwiches were served on locally made Skibhoul Bakery bread (they try to use as much local produce as they can), served with salad and coleslaw.

We washed our sandwiches down with a delicious cup of vanilla chai.

For afters, we indulged in some chocolate mocha cake and freshly brewed coffee, sharing a table with some rather entertaining Unst regulars treating themselves to lunch.

There was a wide range of home bakes on offer that afternoon - it was hard to choose which one to indulge in!

All in all it's an absolutely delightful place to visit with friendly staff and plenty to choose from on the menu. It's all very reasonably priced too. If you're in Unst during the summer months, you absolutely must visit!

Victoria has very kindly shared her recipe for her Chocolate Mocha Cake so you can make it yourself at home until she reopens again for the season in March.

You can find Victoria's Vintage Tea Room online on their website or Facebook page.

Chocolate Mocha Cake

Course: Main
Servings: 8 people
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour


Ingredients:

for the chocolate mocha cake
  • butter - 12 oz ((or margarine))
  • caster sugar - 12 oz
  • self-raising flour - 12 oz
  • eggs - 6
  • cocoa powder - 3 oz
  • kahlua - 2 fl oz ((or coffee))
  • double cream - 3 fl oz
for the frosting
  • Betty Crocker Vanilla Icing - 2 tubs
  • cocoa powder - 2 tbsp
  • mocha drinking powder - 1 sachet

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 180 C and grease and/or line two 7 inch cake tins.
  2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition.
  4. Add the cream and kahlua/coffee and beat well.
  5. Fold in the cocoa powder and flour and combine well.
  6. Spoon into the prepared tins and bake for one hour.
  7. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
  8. To prepare the frosting, mix all of the ingredients together well.
  9. Sandwich the cooled cake layers together with the frosting.
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