Sift afternoon tea at Graham Street – a new addiction

We all know (and love!) Sift’s cupcakes, but did you know that their creator Jennifer is also a dab hand with all kinds of other desserts too? In the past, I’ve often been too distracted by my cupcake addiction to try out Sift’s other pastries – but now they’re doing an amazing afternoon tea set at their Graham Street Dessert Bar that will have you just as addicted to all their other delicious desserts!

Sabrina and I had been excited for weeks about our Sift date… and we weren’t disappointed! The tea set is ridiculously good value – three types of mini dessert, four types of mini cupcake AND two regular-sized cupcakes to take home each, plus pots of tea all round.

We decided to kick off with the desserts and our hearts were instantly won over with the mini sticky toffee pudding, topped with scoops of banana ice cream (cue some very fast photo-taking by Sabrina!), butterscotch and little nuggets of honeycomb. These were so utterly perfect that memories of all other sticky toffee puddings paled into insignificance. It had that cosy homely richness of the best sticky toffee puddings whilst somehow still remaining beautifully light, and the flavours and textures were balanced perfectly.

The other two desserts were also lovely and light. The strawberry pavlova boasted textbook perfect meringue – crunchy, chewy, airy sweetness. Meanwhile, the lemon tart had a great fresh tang to it and a pastry so light I barely noticed I was eating it, although personally, I would have preferred the filling to be more of a typical lemon curd consistency and less gooey.

As for the cupcakes – well, do I even need to tell you how awesome these are?! And you know what mini versions means? Double the amount of cupcake flavours for the same amount of calories!

For me, Sift cupcakes strike the perfect balance between light moist sponge and creamy indulgent frosting, and the mini ones are every bit as wonderful. The Salty Caramel Chocolate has always been a favourite of mine (salted caramel AND chocolate – how can anyone resist?!), so I devoured that up in no time! Sabrina had been singing the praises of the Banana Foster to me, which I had always dismissed as too healthy sounding (ha), but I was quickly converted by its gooey gorgeous beating heart of pure caramel goodness! I also unexpectedly loved the Carrot cupcake, with its appetising sprinkle of cinnamon.

By the time we reached the somewhat intense Triple Chocolate cupcake, both of us had lapsed into a state of sweet deliriousness. I now realise why most tea sets include savouries – Sabrina and I were riding a sugar coma for the rest of the day! We recommend grabbing a super virtuous salad somewhere to quell that sugar high (and any residual feelings of guilt you may be suffering)… and don’t forget about the two cupcakes you’ve each got to take home too!

Sift’s Graham Street store is quiet, relaxed and grown-up (they serve wine here too!), the perfect place to while away a few hours with your girlfriends over some sweet treats of the highest order. I can see Sift’s scrumptious afternoon tea set becoming quite habit-forming… and now I’ve discovered their desserts, there’s no turning back!

The Sift afternoon tea set runs daily from 3-6pm and costs $300 for two people, including two cupcakes each to take home. Reservations must be made in advance so you can choose your cupcake flavours!

Sift G/F, 46 Graham Street, Soho, Central
2530 4288 www.siftdesserts.com/

Photos by Sabrina Sikora Photography