Tea and Scone

When I was in 11th grade my English class took a field trip.....to England. It was an incredible trip and we got to see such different parts of England, from the slums of London to the Yorkshire Highlands. From the academia of Oxford and Cambridge, to the beauty of the Lake District.

One of my favorite parts of our England trip was our daily tea. This wasn't built into the schedule, but my friends and I were determined that when in England we MUST have tea every day. This was especially important in London when tea was our only meal of the day (where "food" consisted of canned fruit and a jello-like substance we dubbed "yello").

In England tea is not complete without scones and scones are eaten with jam and a generous portion of devonshire cream. They are delicious and filling enough to last us until our next tea time.

I drink a lot of tea when I'm sick. I drink a cup of tea every 3 hours (because I alternate with water and juice every hour). And nothing goes better with tea than scones....except I really can't make scones. Or at least I've never attempted an English scone. Instead this is my Tea-time cake: A moist mousse cake topped with jam and marscapone-cream. It may not be a scone, but it mimics one well enough for those days I just want to be back on the moors!

Tea-time Cake

1 cup strawberry jam
1/2 tsp crushed ginger
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1 cup marscapone, at room temp
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup chilled heavy cream
1/2 cup cake flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 eggs, at room temp
3 egg yolks at room temp
3/4 cup sugar

1) Heat oven to 350. In small bowl combine jam, ginger, and cardamom. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
2) In medium bowl beat marscapone, confectioner's sugar and vanilla until smooth.
3) In medium bowl, whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into marscapone mixture in 3 additions. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
4) Grease and flour 9" round cake pan. Begin to simmer water in small pot. In small bowl sift together cake flour and cornstarch. Set aside.
5) In medium bowl whisk together eggs and yolks until well combined. Slowly whisk in sugar. Set bowl over simmering water and continue whisking until instant-read thermometer reads 110. Remove from heat.
6) Beat egg mixture until it's tripled in volume, 3-5 minutes. Fold in flour mixture in 3 additions. Pour batter into prepared pan.
7) Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.
8) When cake has cooled completely, cut in half horizontally and cut 4 rounds from each cake half with a round cookie cutter.
9) Top each cake round with 1 tbsp strawberry preserves. Spoon marscapone over preserves and smooth with metal spatula. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours.