Earl Grey Tea Bundt Cake + Lavender Icing
Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? I had a lovely one – with the weather “warming up” (and by warming, I mean that the temperature rose to above freezing. In Boston, that’s pretty amazing), Alex and I actually were able to photograph two engagement sessions! Both were outdoor, winter-wonderland-esque shoots, and I had a lot of fun fighting my way through hip-deep snow to get some shots. We had munchkins, hot chocolate, blankets, and a positive attitude. Sometimes, that’s all you need to make a session special. It felt a little surreal to walk quietly in the woods, unused to hearing only the subtle creaking of branches, straining under the weight of the snow. There were no chirping birds, no rustling of leaves – just the muffle sounds of footsteps in the snow of fellow hikers.
I was also surprised and honored to be one of Food52’s 8 Food Blog Link Love! I’m there with some really great company, so I definitely recommend you check each one of those blogs out.
I’ve been struggling with the feeling of cabin fever, especially when we’ve had basically a snow storm every single week. I dislike nothing more than the feeling of being idle, with plans canceled because of the snow. I become a woman possessed, whirling around the apartment to clean, organize, scrub the stove, clear out the pantry, cook for the next few days, brainstorm, sketch, whatever. This is when Alex usually takes his studying downstairs… oops :). I made a cake. Earl grey tea cake with lavender icing, to be precise. It turned out to be the perfect moist cake for a snowy day. In addition, the light on snowy days is gorgeous. The snow basically acts like a natural reflector – all that soft, diffused light streaming in is actually perfect for food photography!
This cake is the type of cake you want to eat in bed, curled up beneath cozy quilts in front of a gentle fire. My tiny apartment in Boston doesn’t have a fireplace, so I make do with just the quilts. Cup of tea in one hand, fork in the other, with Gilmore Girls playing on Netflix. After all the cleaning/baking/domestic activities, I’m happy to settle down with a slice of earl-grey scented cake smothered in fragrant lavender icing.
RECIPE: Earl Grey Bundt Cake with Lavender Icing
Adapted from Buttered Up.
*I didn’t have buttermilk on hand, so I added 1 tbsp lemon juice to 1 cup milk. To give it more earl grey flavor, I first infused the milk with earl grey, then added lemon juice. You can omit this step if you want to!
Ingredients
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)
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)
1| Prepare beforehand: I wanted buttermilk to be infused with earl grey tea, so I made my own buttermilk. I first heated up milk until it is just boiling, then added in earl grey leaves to steep for 10 minutes. Then, I let it cool. I added 1 tbsp lemon juice to make buttermilk.
2| Preheat oven to 350. Grease bundt pan and dust with flour.
3| Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground up tea.
4| Cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
5| Add in extract and beat until well incorporated, about 1-2 minutes.
6| Add in eggs, one at a time, making sure it is well incorporated after each addition.
7| Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix. Add in 1/2 of buttermilk and mix. Add in another 1/3 of flour. Add in remaining ½ of buttermilk. Then, add in the remaining amount of flour. After each addition, mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
8| Pour batter evenly into the pan. Lightly tap it against a surface to remove any air bubbles.
9| Bake for one hour, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Invert onto a wire rack and cool for another hour.
10| Drizzle glaze on completely cooled cake.
Lavender honey icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp ground up lavender
1-2 tbsp milk
1| Heat up milk in microwave for 30 seconds. Add in lavender. Let steep for 10 minutes. Strain.
2| Whisk in sugar, extract, honey.
Beautiful photos and congrats! I love shooting on snowy days as well, it’s the one upside in my opinion, that and how beautiful it looks outside ;). I will have to try this recipe, I love earl grey and this looks beyond delicious.
Thank you!! I love earl grey too – I took a quick skim through my recipe index, and I realize I have so many earl grey tea flavored recipes!! Eek! 🙂
Sounds Lovely! Booked on my to-bake List!
woohoo!
Oh my! How wonderful! I’d love to have a slice or two while I watch Downton Abbey 🙂
Oh!! I’ve heard Downtown Abbey is really good and that people who like Gilmore Girls would love DA. I’ll have to watch it after i finish Gilmore Girls 🙂
Oh I highly recommend it! And lucky for you , you have 5 seasons to watch! So jealous haha.
Your photography skillzzzz. Amazing!
Thanks Mabel!
Gosh, this cake is so beautiful!
I so know what you mean about cabin fever. NYC has been freezing too and I just can’t take it anymore :/
Thank you Alexandra!!!
earl grey is such a good flavor for pastries, i’ve only had it in cookies but i imagine it would be lovely in a cake too. and congrats on the food52 feature!!!
Omg it works for EVERYTHING. I was updating my recipe index and I realized that I make a lot of earl grey flavored things! Like ice cream, cookies… I’ve got more planned too :X.
Betty, this is gorgeous. The photos are so lovely, and that flavor combination! <3 <3 <3
Thank you Michelle!! <3<3 I really appreciate your support. It means so much to me <3 🙂
I am loving so much about this. The shape of that bundt? Incredible! Your photos, of course, are stunning. The roses (I’m not quite sure what they are?), contrast so beautifully against the sheet in the backdrop. Just ugh. I could go on and on.
Great addition with infusing the buttermilk, too!
HAha!!! They’re.. fake roses. I was planning a wedding last year and for awhile I got obsessed with the whole DIY track, making tissue paper roses… but I quickly realized how much time that takes. So now I have one small bouquet of soft pink paper roses :). I have to say it works in handy as a prop!!!!!!
They’re cute! And I like the extra texture they add.
Goodness. What a gorgeous bundt. Obsessed with earl grey baked into sweets and then paired with honey lavender icing?! Girl, killing it. Congrats on the Food 52 feature!!
Thank you Alana!!! I really love your blog <3 I can't believe I didn't find it until recently!!!
Where did you get your bundt pan??? It is beautiful! Is there a specific name for the shape?
I just looked it up – it’s a “Nordic ware” Bundt pan. I just chose this bundt pan shape over the more ubiquitous round one! :). You can find it here.
Virtually drooling here….I love cake if you haven’t noticed…and lavender, and tea! Something so majestic about bundt cakes too, perhaps it’s the fact that it’s not crazy time consuming but you still end up with the a beautiful shape good enough to display at the bakery? Yes, definitely one of the reasons! 😉
What a gorgeous cake! Such wonderful flavors together and absolutely stunning photos!
This cake is incredible! I saw one of Betty’s recipes on instagram and visited her blog. Out of all various recipes, I went for this earl grey bundt cake. It came so great: soft, moist and so good even for spring. I had a big piece immediately, and the home people loved it too. Go for it! The recipe is step-by-step and so easy to follow. Thank you, Betty!
@sunnybibi
I’m dead. I’m dead, and the thought of this cake is what killed me, because it was too much for my brain to handle. I mean… a bundt cake with earl grey AND lavender?! Marry me. Also, it’s PAINFUL how beautiful your photography is. Incidentally, my best friend’s birthday is on Sunday and she’s having a potluck party… now I know what I’ll be bringing!
Thank you for existing. (and thanks to Buzzfeed for bringing me here)
Oh my gosh, you are SO welcome!!! Hehe, you’re too sweet – hope it turns out well 🙂
Hi betty! I found this recipe and adapted it for my mini bundt pan. It turned out lovely, and it led me to your about page to find out more about you! I love that you’re chinese (so am I!) and I’m so glad you’ve included chinese classics on your blog. Sending over all my love!
http://chloecake.blogspot.sg/2015/07/mini-bundt-earl-grey-cakes.html
Hi Betty! I was just wondering what type of milk you used (whole, 2%, etc.)
Hi there, I used 2% milk but have had success with whole. I’d say use either.
Made it! Delicious! Thanks for recipe. I almost added some cardamon but stopped myself because that would take away from the earl grey flavour!
This sounds amazing especially with the lavender icing! Yum!
Hi! Can I make this recipe without alterations in a normal round cake pan? It looks amazing!
I’ve been baking for first responders every week and always try to make something different. I made two of these easy to make cakes last night and they came out looking beautiful! About to drizzle tops now!!
*i was confused about weather to add the ground tea as well as steeping it in the buttermilk (especially since I didn’t want anyone to think I laced it with marijuana) so I just steeped the bags. The batter tasted great!!! Thank you. 💛
By the way, I made one in a 10 cup Bundt pan and one in a two piece tube pan and both were perfect….
Hi, for this recipe, is it alright to use heavy cream or full cream milk instead? Also, I do not have bundt pan, for this recipe measurement, can I use 7 or 8 inch round pan to bake it?