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Aug 20, 2020

Earl Grey & Blueberry Tea Cakes

These Earl Grey and Blueberry Tea Cakes, with a bergamot-scented cake filled with juicy blueberries, are wonderful for both breakfast, tea, and dessert.

Earl Grey & Blueberry Tea Cakes in a basket



These Earl Grey and blueberry tea cakes look a lot like blueberry muffins, except they are actually little cakes filled with blueberries and scented with Earl Grey tea!

The cake is so tender and the blueberries bursting in your mouth with every bite will have you making these little cakes over and over. In fact, I made them twice in one week!

Granted, it was because I was trying to figure out the yield of the batter, and massively overfilled my standard-sized muffin tin, causing the batter to overflow and cover the entire top of the pan.

Fortunately, I was able to slice off the overflow, turn the cakes upside down, and serve them with a dollop of whipped cream!

upside down Earl Grey & Blueberry Tea Cakes




I took my favorite large serrated bread knife and, while the muffins were still in the pan, sliced off the overflow, and turned the muffins out onto a wire rack to cool. These little cakes were a huge hit with my taste testers, and disappeared quickly.

I found this recipe in the book, The New Way to Cake: Simple Recipes with Exceptional Flavor by Benjamina Ebuehi. She is is a veteran of The Great British Bake Off.

Her recipes are amazing and have amazing flavor combinations, and every recipe works, but I suspect that a British muffin pan is different from a U.S. muffin pan in size.

mini blueberry cakes with whipped cream




The next time I attempted this recipe, I decided to try using jumbo muffin pans, which worked perfectly and yielded 10 tea cakes as the recipe called for.

If you only have a "regular" sized muffin tin, this recipe will probably yield about 18 to 20 tea cakes. If you have a jumbo muffin tin, the recipe will yield 10 little cakes.

Either way, the cakes are delicious. Plus, I kind of like the the look of the upside down tea cakes with whipped cream!

mini blueberry cakes ingredients



Key Ingredients in these Blueberry Tea Cakes:


  • Earl Grey Tea - it's a tea that has been flavored with oil of bergamot, which is a Mediterranean citrus fruit that is the size of an orange but the color of a lime. It's super fragrant, and is essential in this tea. 
  • Demerara Sugar for the topping - it's a raw sugar that adds a lot of caramel flavor. I've used it in these shortbread cookies, this challah, and these caramel apple cookies. If you don't have demerara sugar, granulated or sparkling sugar would be fine. 
  • Vanilla Bean Paste - which is a great way to get flecks of vanilla beans in your baking without actually scraping a vanilla bean. 


mini blueberry cake on a mini cakes stand



How to make these tea cakes:


First, you steep some Earl Grey tea and vanilla bean paste in some scalded milk.

Next, you sift together the flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt together and set the mixture aside.

Finally, you beat the butter and sugar until super pale and creamy and then add the eggs, one at a time. Add half of the flour, the milk, and the rest of the flour and gently mix. Fold in the blueberries and bake.


mini blueberry cakes




Cake slice bakers logo




Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The New Way To Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi.

We each choose one cake to bake, and on the 20th we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

 Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details. The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.


The New Way to Cake book cover


Our choices for August 2020 were ~


  Summer Berry Cake
Peach & Rosemary Pavlova
Earl Grey & Blueberry Tea Cakes

    Earl Grey & Blueberry Cakes




    You definitely need to try these Earl Grey and Blueberry Tea Cakes!




    Earl Grey and Blueberry Tea Cakes

    Print
    Earl Grey and Blueberry Tea Cakes
    Yield: 18 regular sized muffins or 10 jumbo muffins
    Author: Karen Kerr
    These Earl Grey and Blueberry Tea Cakes, with a bergamot-scented cake filled with juicy blueberries, are wonderful for both breakfast, tea, and dessert.

    Ingredients:

    • 1/2 cup whole milk
    • 3 Earl Grey tea bags
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
    • 283 grams (2 1/4 cups plus one tablespoon) all purpose flour, divided
    • 1 tablespoon baking powder
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 200 grams (1 cup) sugar
    • 200 grams (14 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cool but not cold
    • 3 eggs
    • 200 grams (1 1/3 cups) blueberries, fresh or frozen
    • 2 tablespoons demerara sugar or sparkling sugar, to top the cakes before baking. 

    Instructions:

    1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease the cavities of 18 regular sized muffins or 10 jumbo sized muffins. 
    2. In a one-quart saucepan, add the milk, tea bags, and vanilla, and heat until it bubbles on the sides but does not boil. Remove it from the heat and let steep for 15 minutes.
    3. In a medium bowl, sift together the all purpose flour, minus one tablespoon, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.
    4. In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand held whisker, mix the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. 
    5. Add the eggs and mix, one at a time. 
    6. Mix in half of the flour mixture, add the milk, and mix in the rest of the flour mixture until just mixed in.
    7. Toss the blueberries with the reserved tablespoon of flour and fold them into the dough. Divide the batter among the muffin cavities and sprinkle the tops with the demerara sugar. 
    8. If you are making regular muffin-sized cakes, bake for 15 to 18 minutes. If you are making jumbo muffin-sized cakes, bake for 25 to 30 minutes. 
    9. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 
    Calories
    224.45
    Fat (grams)
    10.88
    Sat. Fat (grams)
    6.14
    Carbs (grams)
    29.16
    Fiber (grams)
    0.70
    Net carbs
    28.45
    Sugar (grams)
    15.83
    Protein (grams)
    3.17
    Sodium (milligrams)
    137.19
    Cholesterol (grams)
    58.36
    blueberries, tea cakes, Earl Grey
    Tea, dessert
    English
    Did you make this recipe?
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    Created using The Recipes Generator




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    Would you like to comment?

    1. These look so great! i've always wanted to make tea cakes.

      ReplyDelete
    2. They did make a big batch. I do have large muffin tins but I was happy to get 16 cakes as I needed them for Frank's class. There is a pan just for making muffin tops so those cut off tops could be a post all of their own.

      ReplyDelete
    3. I think I like the upside down cakes with whipped cream too! You'd never know that's not how they were intended to look! I'll have to remember that trick the next time I bring something to a brunch buffet.

      ReplyDelete
    4. The upside down cakes with the whipped cream on top are ADORABLE. You're going to start a new trend. :D

      ReplyDelete
    5. I made these today subbing in Oolong tea and 1 Tbs of vanilla. Simple and satisfying, the delicate flavor of the tea was splendid. I did not have Earl Gray tea or vanilla paste, and they are still yummy.

      ReplyDelete
    6. Earl Grey not Early
      Early Grey & Blueberry Tea Cakes | #TheCakeSliceBakers

      ReplyDelete
    7. Glad you got to enjoy them twice! Oh, how we must suffer to be cake bakers.. :)

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Yes, we slog on for the greater good, right?

        Delete
    8. I'm a fan of the upside down tea cake as well and the jumbo muffin pan was a great idea.

      ReplyDelete
    9. I agree; I think they look absolutely delightful upside down with a dollop of cream.

      ReplyDelete

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