Earl Grey Tea Cake with an Orange Glaze Icing

Tea cakes would have to be one of the most underrated cakes out there.

This cake has a subtle sweetness, beautifully balanced by the floral fragrance and slight bitterness of the earl grey tea leaves. I decided to use mini-bundt tin moulds for this. With a light, biscuit-y crumb and finished with a sweet orange glaze that slightly cracks when set, it almost reminds me of a french cruller doughnut. To ensure that this tea cake actually tasted like tea, I used 3 packed tablespoons of tea leaves (which is around 6-7 tea bags if you’re using those) and infused the milk with tea beforehand.

The perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea, however, equally delicious with an espresso too xx

Ingredients:

Bundt Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tbsp earl grey tea in a mesh strainer (tea bags work too - use 6-7 bags)

3 tbsp earl grey tea, ground.

1 cup + 2 tbsp (2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter) at room temp

1.5 cups granulated sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk (1 cup milk with 1 tbsp lemon) – infuse the buttermilk with earl grey tea leaves first and then add the lemon juice

Orange Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp honey or maple syrup

Juice of half an orange

Zest of a whole orange

1-2 tbsp milk

Method

1. For preliminary preparation: First heat up milk until it is just boiling, then added in earl grey leaves and steep for 10 minutes. Let it cool and add a tablespoon of lemon juice to make buttermilk.

2. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Grease bundt pan and dust with flour.

3. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground tea leaves.

4. Cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. This should take around 5 minutes. Add in the vanilla extract and beat until well incorporated for another 1-2 minutes.

5. Add in eggs, one at a time, making sure it is well incorporated after each addition.

6. Once the egg mixture is light and pale in colour, add a 1/3 of the flour mixture and gently mix. Now incorporate 1/2 of the butter milk. Repeat this process with the remaining flour mixture and buttermilk, gently folding after each addition, until just combined. Make sure you don’t overmix the batter.

7. Pour the cake batter evenly into the pan. Lightly tap it against a surface to remove any air bubbles.

9. Bake for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Invert onto a wire rack and cool for another hour.

10. To prepare the glaze, heat up your milk and add it to your sifted powdered sugar. Add in the vanilla extract, maple syrup, juice of half an orange, orange zest and milk. Whisk and set aside until cake has completely cooled.

10. Generously drizzle the cooled cakes with the glaze icing. The cake are delicious even without the icing, however, it’s highly recommended that you don’t forgo it as it provides moisture as it seeps into the cake. Enjoy x