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To the cake-erati, Lily Vanilli is queen. With a mega 115,000 Instagram followers, the east London baker and princess of piping is known for spectacular creations which look almost too good to eat, but trust me, you can – and you very much should.
You’ll get your chance at Vanilli’s latest project, which is perhaps one of her grandest yet. From this October she’ll be hosting a Regency-style afternoon tea in the Grand Saloon of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in Covent Garden, which has just had a £60 million refurb.
A mixture of high camp and lavish bakery skills, the menu will include mini sticky toffee puddings with custard and salted caramel, pink lemonade tarts with elderflower jelly and gilded chocolate cherubs, as well as Lily’s signature piped cakes and a trolley full of what all trolleys should be full of: absinthe-infused mint choc-chip ice cream. There will be savoury snacks too, including sausage rolls and madeleines topped with lapsang souchong-glazed salmon and pickled fennel or bite-size cannelés with whipped ricotta and pickled beetroot. You’ll get all that for £49 per person, or from £57 with champagne.
‘I am over the moon to be a part of such an ambitious and exciting project. I’ve always wanted to put my spin on a classic afternoon tea and felt that there was room to really shake things up and do something different, so working on this has been so much fun,’ said Lily. ‘I can’t wait to see the theatre come to life, with guests sitting in the incredible Grand Saloon to get stuck in and revel in the hedonism and decadence that the Regency period was so well known for.’
The Grand Saloon, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Catherine St, WC2B 5JF. For more info, click here.
The best afternoon teas in London.
Check out Lily Vanilli’s Bethnal Green base.