Earl Grey Cupcakes

Anyone for a cuppa? It was a friend's birthday this week and a few weeks ago she happened to mention how much she loved Earl Grey tea. So when I came across these cupcakes they were the ideal choice as a birthday treat!

The recipe is from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days recipe book. The cupcakes themselves were light and moist with subtle hints of Bergamot. To get the flavour a couple of tablespoons of steeped Earl Grey tea was added, and then to the frosting tea infused milk was added.

Adding tea is a good way to add a twist to a conventional cupcake, for example the same recipe could be used but with peppermint or fruit teabags instead.

To continue with the tea theme, I accessorised with some cute red teapot toppers on top. I also tried out some silicone teacup baking moulds which you can present the cupcakes in, as above...and if that wasn't enough I couldn't resist the teapot cupcake display stands below from 'Talking Tables'...I may have got a bit carried away!

Ingredients

3 Earl Grey teabags
3 tbsp boiling water
80g unsalted butter
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
200ml whole milk
2 large eggs

Frosting

50ml whole milk
500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter

Half an hour before you want to start making your cake, place the 3 teabags in the 50ml of boiling water. These should then be left to infuse for 30 minutes. During this time the oven can be preheated to 190c/170c fan/ gas 5 and prepare a muffin tin with cases.

Mix together the flour, sugar, butter, baking powder and salt, preferably with an electric whisk or mixer. You should start on a low speed, this will result in a breadcrumb like mixture. Then mix the eggs, brewed tea and milk together in a jug by hand. Squeeze the teabags out fully. You will then need to keep the teabags for the frosting.

Finally, add three quarters of the egg/milk mixture to the dry ingredients and combine on a low speed, before turning up to medium to give a smooth batter. Then add the remaining milk and beat thoroughly. Divide between the cases, filling to about two thirds full. These should then be baked for 18-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Whilst the cakes are baking, place the reserved tea bags from earlier into the milk and leave for another 30 minutes before removing and squeezing out the teabags. To make the frosting beat the butter and icing sugar together, so the butter disperses but the icing sugar is still powdery. Add the tea infused milk and whisk until nice and fluffy. Finally, pip the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes. Alternatively, the frosting can be swirled on with a knife.