Pink Geranium serves up piping hot scones on a stoep with a view

I have another contender for the best hot scone in the Cape. I’m not talking about any old heat-and-eat or cook-from-frozen scones. Although they have their place and certain members of our family have been seen splicing a frozen scone and popping one into the toaster during a scone crisis.

I’m talking about fresh-out-of-the-oven, to-the-table scones. So far Cape Town’s Scone Route consists of one entrant, the mother of all hot scone makers: The Scone Shack near Cape Point.

We stopped in to look at the nursery at The Pink Geranium and discovered there were scones in the oven and they were coming out in two minutes. 

This off-grid shack produces batches of hot scones throughout the day, using a wood-fired oven, locally milled stone ground flour and a secret recipe. Add to this some homemade preserves and you’ve got scones that are top-notch on the Richter Scale of scone scores.

What do you have with your hot scone? It's one of those things best not messed with, one feels: a warm scone, a pat of butter, strawberry jam and a dash, just a dash, mind you, of thick cream. None of that over whipped cream in a can (with a nod to The Crown).

I’ve been watching The Crown on Netflix, a lot. Before that, I watched the entire series of Weeds, every night for weeks on end (newbie to Netflix). Now it’s The Crown. The Queen and her corgis and afternoon tea in the drawing room. 

I imagine the Queen’s scones are fairly insipid compared to the light-as-air scones produced by the DIY oven on the off-grid farm near Cape Point. 

A scone purist, or someone from Cornwall in the UK (not necessarily the same thing), would say clotted cream is best but a good double cream should do the trick. I’m not one of those pile-it-on-thick jam and cream people. 

It’s all about the scone. Is it crisp on the outside but have a good “give” as you bite into it? Does the strawberry and cream aroma perfume each mouthful? Is the scone all crumbly butteriness, slightly savoury from a dash of salt? 

We have a worthy entry into the hot scone route of Cape Town. Photo: Melanie Farrell