Earl Grey & Lemon Cake
After a blissful two weeks away, we come back to a damp and slightly chilly Blighty. I will miss the mountains and valleys of the Languedoc, dotted with its sleepy villages and glorious local markets with their abundance of fresh local produce. Although I have eaten far too much cheese, fresh bread and pastries. Blistering days without a care in the world, idly contemplating what to have for dinner will soon be a distant memory. Having said all that, it is nice to be home. There is nothing like your own bed and decent cup of tea.
For some reason, it is impossible to get a decent cup of tea in France.It seems almost fitting that this coming week is Afternoon Tea Week, the perfect excuse to indulge and make up for the lack of tea for the past couple of weeks. From 10th -16th August there will special events across the land, tea lovers everywhere will be celebrating the great heritage of British afternoon tea. If you remember my Tea: A Day of Celebration post last year, Earl Grey was my tea of choice for afternoon tea. It's not just the Bergamot flavouring that sets it apart from other teas, I always think it has a unique sense of luxury and indulgence.
I created this Earl Grey & Lemon Cake for my Tea: A Day of Celebration post, but I didn't include the recipe at the time. I've been asked for it many times since, so finally here it is to celebrate Afternoon Tea Week. It is one of those cakes that is actually very quick and simple to make. If you don't own a bundt tin, you can easily make this cake in a 1 litre loaf tin, but I think the bundt shape adds to the sense of occasion. I used Jing Tea's lovely Earl Grey, which contains dried blue cornflowers, to make the cake but you can use any good quality Earl Grey leaves. I couldn't resist sprinkling a few fresh cornflower petals on top, such a glorious shade of blue.
Earl Grey & Lemon Cake
Slightly adapted from Fanny Zanotti's Earl Grey Tea Weekend Loaf from Paris Pastry Club
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Total time: 55 mins
Serves: 8
Ingredients
1 tablespoon Earl Grey tea leaves (I use Jing Tea's Earl Grey)
250g caster sugar
4 eggs
200g plain flour, plus a little extra for dusting the tin.
zest of an unwaxed lemon
1 teaspoon baking powder
150g full fat creme fraiche
50g butter, melted, plus a little extra for the tin.
Icing
160g icing sugar, sifted to remove any lumps
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 tablespoon boiling water
edible flower petals to decorate (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan.
Brush a 6 cup/1.4 litre bundt tin with a little of the melted butter and dust with flour, tipping out any excess.
Place the Earl Grey tea leaves and 50g of the caster sugar in a food processor and blend until it becomes powdery.
Tip the Earl Grey and sugar mix into a bowl, add the remaining caster sugar and eggs and whisk for 4 minutes or until thickened and light in colour.
Sift the flour and baking powder into another bowl and add the lemon zest.
In another separate bowl stir the melted butter and creme fraiche together.
Gently fold the flour mix into the egg mixture and then add a couple of spoonfuls to the melted butter and creme fraiche mix and stir well.
Fold the melted butter and creme fraiche mix into the main batter as gently as you can, until just combined.
Pour into the prepared tin and place in the preheated oven.
Bake for 5 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 190C/170C fan for 10 minutes.
Then reduce the temperature again to 180C/160C fan for a further 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in to middle comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and place the tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out.
Leave to cool completely and trim any excess sponge if necessary.
While the cake is cooling make the icing by mixing the icing sugar, lemon juice and 1-2 tablespoons of boiling. water until the icing is the consistency of thick pouring cream.
Drizzle the cake with icing and top with edible flower petals if using.