Baked by the Sea

Address: bakedbythesea.co.uk

Wednesday 26 June 2015

For the very first National Cream Tea Day in the UK, we knew were going to be unable to get out and about on a cream tea hunt, so instead, we thought this was a perfect opportunity to order a delivery from a website we’ve been drooling over for some time – bakedbythesea.co.uk.

Would the delivery arrive on the crucial day? Would the scones survive the rigours of the Royal Mail? Tea isn’t included in the gift box, so we couldn’t carry out our usual cream tea review scoring, but nevertheless here are our findings:

SCONES
Baked By the Sea offer a whole range of delicious sounding scones, including Strawberry & Vanilla, Chocolate Chunk and Apricot & Ginger. However, we ordered a traditional Cream Tea for One which included two scones with a choice of Traditional Plain or Sultana – we chose one of each. It was warm on the day our box arrived, so we popped it into the fridge as soon as possible as it contained cream. Sadly, on opening in the evening, the scones hadn’t travelled too well. They looked great on the outside and were unbroken, but on cutting they revealed a white powdery middle which made us wonder whether they had been previously frozen. It may have simply been the weather conditions en route, but disappointing nevertheless.

CREAM
A small carton of Rodda’s clotted cream. 

JAM
One mini jar of Bonne Maman Strawberry conserve which was barely enough for the four scone halves.

TEA
None provided

SERVICE
We’ve admired the look of the Baked By the Sea offering for some time. They sell gift boxes of scones, brownies and lemon drizzle cakes “delivered fresh overnight”. Ordering was easy and our box arrived on the required day (National Cream Tea Day). As you can see from our ‘Unboxing’ video, the gift box was beautifully presented in a high-quality, white, magnet-closing box. The contents arrived well protected in perfect condition. We felt £15.00 (including free shipping) was perhaps expensive for what we received and thought a “Cream Tea” really ought to include tea in the package.