The Bettys Blog

A rich, gooey fudge cake recipe that will make you very popular among your chocoholic friends.

Annie Gray is a historian, cook, lecturer, broadcaster, writer and consultant. She specialises in the history of food and dining in Britain from around 1600 to the present day, and earlier this year she spent considerable time immersing herself in Bettys to be able to write our new book, From the Alps to the Dales – 100 Years of Bettys.

Last month, we were delighted to welcome His Excellency Alexandre Fasel, The Ambassador of Switzerland, and his wife Nicole to afternoon tea at Bettys Harrogate. The Ambassador took away a copy of our new book From the Alps to the Dales - 100 Years of Bettys to keep in the Embassy salon.

Sunday 24th November is 'Stir Up Sunday', when families traditionally gather together to make Christmas puddings and cakes. This recipe has been handed down to Lesley Wild by her mother. It makes a beautifully moist and colourful cake which can be decorated with glacé fruits - a lovely centrepiece for the family Christmas table.

Meet our new book! From the Alps to the Dales – 100 Years of Bettys is written by the brilliant Annie Gray and is available in our branches and online now.

We wanted our windows to celebrate 100 years of Christmas magic, so we set our cake decorating team their biggest challenge yet - to recreate the whole of Bettys!

As their success in taste tests year after year shows, we take mince pies seriously here at Bettys, and all of ours are made using a bespoke mincemeat recipe that we perfected four decades ago.

You might be forgiven for thinking that an unforgettable Christmas is all about grand spectacles: the turkey, the pudding, the cake, the tree. But here at Bettys, we know that there’s just as much joy to be found in perfecting the little things.

Have you ever gazed at a display of Christmas cakes and felt just the tiniest twinge of regret that you could only choose one? Then we have something that you’ll love. Our Christmas Cake Selection comprises a trio of festive fruit cakes, each one featuring a traditional design to become a miniature masterpiece of our craft.

Enticing and exquisite chocolates have been a part of our Bettys tradition since the beginning. Before that, even: when he opened the very first Bettys Café Tea Room in Harrogate in 1919, our founder Frederick Belmont could already style himself ‘Chocolate Specialist’, having refined his skills studying with the master confectioners of Switzerland and Paris.

As an increasingly popular complement to festive plates of mince pies, you might view stollen as something of an indulgence. Possibly even a slightly wicked one. But the rich, fruity spiced bread has fans in surprisingly holy places. Originating in Germany, the oldest record of stollen being enjoyed as a Christmas treat dates back to Italy in 1545, where church dignitaries tucked in at the ecumenical Council of Trent.

Our Christmas catalogue is now ready - and it's heading out to homes around the country to spread some early festive cheer. If you have any trouble receiving yours (or are a new customer who'd like one) please email us. You can also browse it online here.

Around now, your thoughts may be turning to Christmas pudding. Rich, fruity and lusciously packed with flavours… for many, it’s the best part of a festive dinner.

Nineteen environmental projects in Yorkshire have been awarded £47,102 from our Centenary Trees for Life Fund. The schemes include a plan to turn unloved patches of land into beautiful community gardens, a project to create an edible forest in a disadvantaged area of Bradford, and tree planting along wildlife corridors to encourage biodiversity.

A few miles from Richard and Ronda Morritt’s farm, I see a reassuring signpost. ‘Fresh asparagus for sale’ it reads. I’m relieved. Despite the claims of my sat-nav, I had begun to doubt whether I was in the right place. As picturesque as this corner of North Yorkshire is, there’s a reason why it’s called Sand Hutton. Surely such dry soil wouldn’t yield such a luxurious, succulent crop as asparagus?

We've been perfecting the art of afternoon tea for 100 years. Join us at our oldest branch, Bettys Harrogate, for a luxurious treat with a side helping of history.

As part of our centenary celebrations, we created this new mosaic at our Ilkley branch. It’s made to be walked on, but it's been crafted with as much love as our most ornate wedding cake - because we believe even the ground beneath your feet deserves to be beautiful. Our thanks to David at Olicana Mosaics for his incredible craftsmanship.

A 100th birthday needs a very special cake. That just happened to be a speciality of our founder, Frederick Belmont – and to mark our centenary, we’ve brought one of his most spectacular creations back to life.

Now, here’s a scene to excite any Bettys fan – all six of our Café Tea Rooms as neighbours in one street. It’s a special illustration drawn for us by Yorkshire artist Emily Sutton to mark our centenary by celebrating the places at the heart of the Bettys story.

Trees are our national treasures – and they need our help. Through Bettys Trees for Life, we’re working to keep our woodlands growing into the future.