Kitchen design
How Many Calories Are in an Afternoon Tea?
Calories in a scone with jam and cream, finger sandwiches, Victoria sponge and a cup of tea, from the UK’s official food composition tables, with a worked example for a full afternoon tea.
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A full afternoon tea for one person comes to roughly 1,200 kcal, based on the worked example below. That is about 60% of the NHS guide of 2,000 kcal a day for an average woman. The scone with jam and clotted cream is the biggest single item, at around 460 kcal.
All figures here are calculated from the UK government’s official food composition tables (McCance and Widdowson’s CoFID). Your own plate will differ with portion sizes, so the weights we used are shown for every item.
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Calories per item
| Item | kcal per 100 g | Portion we used | kcal per portion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain scone, homemade | 352 | 70 g scone | 246 |
| Fruit scone | 338 | 70 g scone | 237 |
| Cheese scone, homemade | 358 | 70 g scone | 251 |
| Clotted cream | 586 | 30 g (a generous spoonful) | 176 |
| Jam | 261 | 15 g (1 tablespoon) | 39 |
| Egg mayonnaise sandwich, white bread | 243 | 40 g finger | 97 |
| Cheese and pickle sandwich, white bread | 282 | 40 g finger | 113 |
| Ham salad sandwich, white bread | 163 | 40 g finger | 65 |
| Sponge cake with jam and buttercream (shop-bought) | 354 | 80 g slice | 283 |
| Sponge cake with butter icing (homemade) | 476 | 80 g slice | 381 |
| Shortbread | 515 | 20 g finger | 103 |
| Tea with semi-skimmed milk | 7 | 200 ml cup | 14 |
| Tea with whole milk | 8 | 200 ml cup | 16 |
| White sugar | 394 | 4 g teaspoon | 16 |
The kcal per 100 g figures come from CoFID (see Sources). The portion weights are our own examples, not official serving sizes: weigh your own portions on kitchen scales for a closer figure.
A scone with jam and clotted cream
One 70 g plain scone with 30 g of clotted cream and a tablespoon of jam comes to about 461 kcal:
- Scone: 246 kcal
- Clotted cream: 176 kcal
- Jam: 39 kcal
A traditional cream tea serves two scones each, so a full cream tea is about 920 kcal before the tea. The clotted cream accounts for well over a third of it.
Worked example: a full afternoon tea
| On the plate | kcal |
|---|---|
| 4 finger sandwiches (2 egg mayonnaise, 2 ham salad) | 324 |
| 1 scone with jam and clotted cream | 461 |
| 1 slice of Victoria sponge (80 g, shop-bought figure) | 283 |
| 1 shortbread finger | 103 |
| 2 cups of tea with semi-skimmed milk | 28 |
| Total | about 1,200 |
With a homemade sponge (381 kcal for the slice) the total rises to about 1,300 kcal; with a second scone, to about 1,660 kcal. The NHS says an average woman needs about 2,000 kcal a day and an average man about 2,500 kcal, though this varies with age, size and activity.
Ways to make it lighter
- Halve the clotted cream. It is the most calorie-dense thing on the stand, at 586 kcal per 100 g.
- Choose one scone, not two, and share the cake.
- Pick lighter sandwiches. Cucumber is just 14 kcal per 100 g, so in a cucumber sandwich most of the calories come from the bread (219 kcal per 100 g) and the butter (744 kcal per 100 g). Spread the butter thinly.
- Skip the sugar in your tea. Each teaspoon adds about 16 kcal, and refills add up.
- Bake smaller scones with a smaller scone cutter.
Planning one at home? Our afternoon tea planner works out how much food to make for your guests, and the afternoon tea menu guide has ideas for each tier.
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Frequently asked questions
How many calories are in a scone with jam and clotted cream?
About 460 kcal for a 70 g plain scone with 30 g of clotted cream and a tablespoon of jam, based on UK food composition data. A cream tea with two scones is about 920 kcal.
How many calories are in a full afternoon tea?
Roughly 1,200 kcal for four finger sandwiches, a scone with jam and cream, a slice of cake, a shortbread finger and two cups of tea. Portion sizes make a big difference.
How many calories are in a slice of Victoria sponge?
About 280 kcal for an 80 g slice of shop-bought sponge with jam and buttercream, or about 380 kcal for a homemade sponge with butter icing, based on UK food composition data.
Is clotted cream or jam more fattening?
Clotted cream has more than twice the calories of jam by weight: 586 kcal per 100 g against 261 kcal, and almost all of it from fat.
Sources
- McCance and Widdowson's Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (CoFID) 2021, Public Health England (GOV.UK). Checked 26 October 2026.
- Understanding calories, NHS, 17 April 2023. Checked 26 October 2026.