Earl Grey Tea Cakes
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
“I don’t much care where –”
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite Disney movies. It is a classic, beautiful story about he loss of childhood innocence and how life is an eternal puzzle. Both of these themes are universal, which makes this story as valuable today as it was when I watched it as a child.
The movie (and, of course, the book) is so full of meaning and symbols that every time you watch it, you learn something new. I could probably create various different types of recipes inspired just by this one movie, but today the scene that inspired me is the ‘Mad Tea Party’ scene.
I like to think that Alice and the Mad Hatter’s crew would appreciate these little Earl Grey Tea Cakes. I mean, how couldn’t they? They are British and we all know the British love their tea. So nothing more appropriate than tea cakes, right? Unless the Mad Hatter hates it and throws it at my face or something. As we could see in the video above, manners are not his strength!
I’d never had a tea cake until recently, when I tried one at a brunch while in Florida. It was seriously love at first bite. Cliche, I know, but nevertheless true!
I mean, how can a cake TASTE fragrant? I have no clue, but they do. They are also incredibly moist and not too sweet, my favorite kind!
And, as a bonus, this cake will fill your home with the most amazing aroma while it’s baking in the oven. The day I made this I was actually in a pretty bad mood. The bad mood was immediately gone as this contagious uplifting perfume took over my apartment and made me feel happy again.
As you can see, I decided not to make any icing to go with my tea cakes. I wanted the cakes to be the kind of baked goods that you can enjoy while sipping some tea, or coffee. So they couldn’t be overly sweet.
You can, however, serve them with some butter and different kinds of jam and marmalade on the side, so your guests can customize their cakes according to their tastes.
I hope you guys enjoy these tea cakes like I did. And “a very very unbirthday to you!”. Unless today is your actual birthday. In that case, Happy Birthday! ;-)
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Alice's Earl Grey Tea Cakes
Ingredients
- 2 Earl Grey tea bags
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 1/3 cup milk
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 stick, 4oz unsalted butter (8 Tbsp) plus more to grease muffin tin
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups self raising flour
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/8 tsp Kosher salt
- Zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
- Grease (with melted butter) and flour a muffin tin.
- Empty the tea leaves from the tea bag into a cup and add the hot water. Stir to combine and let it cool.
- Once the tea is cool, add the milk and stir. Reserve.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, add the sugar and the butter and beat until you have a pale cream.
- Add the eggs and beat to combine.
- Then add the tea, the flour, the honey, the vanilla, the salt and the lemon zest and beat on medium low speed, just until well combined. Don't over mix!
- Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin tin.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the cakes come out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool for 2 to 3 minutes. Run a knife along the sides of the cakes and turn them into a wire rack to cool.
- Serve with your favorite type of tea or coffee!
