Shabby Chic Bridal Shower Hightea

It's been quiet around the blog since my camera gave up the ghost, despite the fact I have been quite busy in the kitchen. Christmas Holidays meant taking time off to be with the family, but I had a few parties in the mix too. One of which was a gorgeous shabby chic style high tea held in honor of a friend who was to be married. It was for her bridal shower and screamed all things feminine and girlie. I themed the menu so that everything was decadent and pink, featuring roses and sugared rose petals, pearls and floral fondant toppers. Teapots sporting beautiful roses, delicate ferns, and lisianthus decked a table strewn with cake stands and champagne glasses, tiered high tea trays and pretty china saucers. Our poison was sweet moscato, with the addition of old fashioned pink lemonade for the non drinkers, and we also had some Rose on the side.
The trays were piled with ornately decorated cupcakes, mini banoffee tarts, mini lemon meringue tarts, pink lamingtons, cake pop skewers, pastel meringues, coconut ice domes topped with edible roses, jelly cheesecake shots, dark chocolate cointreau truffles, white chocolate Tia Maria truffles, dark chocolate royals, and a strawberry topiary.
And, as you can see, one of my Christmas presents was a nice camera, which I was able to take these photos with. I am still working out all the settings and getting used to it, so please bare with me for a while while the photos are not at their best. I will eventually get there! (If you wish for any of the recipes for the above menu, click on the word above--it will take you to the recipe link. Any that are not linked up, these recipes are yet to come! Keep checking back!)

Shabby Chic Bridal Shower Hightea

Strawberry Topiary

As a table centre peice for a shabby chic style high tea, I thought a strawberry topiary would work a treat. It stood 40cm tall and stood atop a french provincial style candle stand I purchased from Dusk. It brought out "wows" from the guests and they all enjoyed pulling a couple off each during the afternoon tea I threw. I recommend placing this in the centre of a round table within arms reach of all your guests. I made the mistake of placing this in a place where only one side of a table could reach, and topiary was picked at from one side and the ball ended off overbalancing in the end because one side was all strawberries and the other was bare. If you cant place this in the centre of a small round table, I recommend rotating the topiary every so often, so that the strawberries are taken from all sides.
This would be great on a table at Christmas, for a baby shower, wedding or any sort of girlie or feminine party. It looks decadent and fancy as a table centrepeice while offering your guests a fresh, healthy, gluten free fruit option.

Step by Step Strawberry Topiary How To

You will need:

6x 250g punnets of strawberries
1x 15 cm Styrofoam ball
1x candle holder or similar stand (this must have a metal prong in the centre to secure the ball)
cocktail toothpicks
a small knife

Secure the styrofoam ball in the centre of the candle holder. The stand you choose should have a metal spike in the centre to hold the ball on securely. Glue may be another option if your stand doesn't have a spike in the centre.

Cut the leaves from the strawberries. Cut as closely to the leaves as possible, taking off as little fruit as you can. Keeping a little bit of the "woody" part of the top of the strawberry helps in holding it to the toothpick, so it doesnt just slide off. Reserve the leaves for the final touches of the topiary. These will be used to fill any gaps in the completed topiary.

You will see above that the toothpick is inserted into some of the harder part on the top of the strawberry. This is the goal in the following steps--it doesn't have to be completely centred as long as its well secured in the strawberry. Unlike the picture above, the toothpick goes into the foam ball partway before the strawberry is inserted.

Insert one toothpick partway into the top of the foam ball. Positioning is not very important yet, but it helps if you put the strawberries on the ball evenly so that the ball does not overbalance as you are creating the topiary.

 Push the strawberry onto the toothpick, ensuring that the wood is driven through the thick/woodier part of the strawberry top.

 Carefully push the strawberry downwards to the foam ball. If the toothpick end pops through the top point, ensure you push subsequent toothpicks a little further into the foam ball before topping with the strawberry.

Continue this method over the top of the styrofoam ball.Do not worry to much if there are gaps, as these will be later filled with the strawberry leaves.Try however to limit the size of any gaps, choosing strawberries that are the best size for particular areas.

Continue securing the strawberries until the entire surface is covered in strawberries.

Take the strawberry leaves to fill any gaps (I should have used more but I was in a hurry to snap this photo before guests arrived. Alternatively use clusters of mint leaves for larger gaps--this is also very aromatic and offers a breath freshener to your guests too)