Earl Grey Cake With Chocolate Lavender Frosting Recipe 465

SKYSCRAPER CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH EARLY GREY LAVENDER CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease 3 8" straight edge cake pans. Line with parchment paper and grease. Set out butter and cream cheese to soften for frosting.
• In a small sauce pot, scald the cream (do not boil!). Remove from heat and add lavender extract. Open the earl grey bag and empty contents into the cream. Let sit for 10 minutes to infuse the cream. Strain the cream into a small bowl or measuring cup and set aside. (some earl grey contents is fine).
• In a large bowl, cream sugars and beaten eggs until light and fluffy. Whisk in oil, vanilla extract, yogurt, buttermilk and coffee until completely combined.
• In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder, mixing until fully incorporated.
• Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and beat until smooth.
• Pour batter into greased layer pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of each cake. Set on a wire rack to cool, at least one hour, or frosting will melt.
• *: In a standing mixer, whisk butter and cream cheese until light and creamy. Add powdered sugar, infused cream,vanilla paste, and vanilla extract. Whisk until completely smooth.
• When the cake layers are cooled, place one of the cake layers with the flat side down on a plate or cake stand. With an offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top of this frosted layer and spread frosting. Add on the final layer, flat side up to make the cake even, and top with remaining frosting, evenly spreading on the top and sides of the cake. Place in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes to an hour, until frosting is set.*
• Garnish as desired (I topped it with dark chocolate shards, silver decorating sugar, in season berries and a dusting of powdered sugar, plus a few strawberry blooms and culinary lavender buds).

EARL GREY AND LAVENDER CAKE

Steps:

• Set your over to 170°C/150°C Fan/340°F/Gas mark 3.
• Cut out circles of greaseproof (parchment) paper to cover the bases of your sandwich tins, grease the tins all over with some softened butter and then place the paper on the base and give it a light greasing too.
• Tip the contents of your Earl Grey tea bags into your pestle and mortar and add your culinary lavender, grind both until fine.
• Sift together your flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and salt and set aside.
• Using the whisk attachment, beat your eggs and sugar. Start on a low setting and turn up to fast once combined. This will take less than a minute to achieve. Once the mixture is frothy with little bubbles on top and has turned a paler yellow it is ready.
• Add your yoghurt, oil and vanilla extract and whisk until just incorporated.
• Replace your whisk attachment with the paddle attachment, add half of your flour mixture and mix in on a low setting, when incorporated mix in the rest along with your ground culinary lavender and Earl Grey tea. Stop once incorporated and just mixed in, do not overmix.
• Transfer to your prepared cake tins ensuring equal amounts of batter are added to each tin.
• Bake on separate shelves in your oven for about 35 minutes, or until golden all over and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Leave to cool in the tins for 5-10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack to fully cool.
• Place your culinary lavender and milk into your small saucepan and heat until bubbles just start to appear on the top.
• Set aside and leave to infuse and cool for 20 minutes, then strain using your sieve of tea strainer and discard the lavender.
• Using the paddle attachment, beat your softened butter until it is nice and spreadable.
• Leaving your mixer running on low, gradually add large spoonfuls of your sifted icing sugar, letting each one mostly beat in before adding another.
• Once you have added about half of your icing sugar pour in your lavender flavoured milk and beat in, then continue with your icing sugar until it has all been added.
• Ensure the buttercream is fully beaten and no icing sugar remains, then split it equally into 2 bowls.
• Add a little purple food colouring to one bowl and mix in thoroughly.
• Cut the end off your piping bag and add your piping nozzle. The nozzle should protrude through the end and the bag should fit tightly around it.
• Take one of your palette/butter knives and scoop half of your purple buttercream up and add it to one side of the bag. Do the same with half of your uncoloured buttercream on the other side.
• Holding the bag vertically above the edge of one of the tiers of your cake (base side up), gently squeeze so as to add a star-shape of buttercream, repeat around the edge of the cake.
• Then fill in the centre by just piping in a circular fashion.
• Refill your piping back with purple and uncoloured buttercream as per above.
• Add the top tier of the cake and ice all over with star shapes, fill in any spaces with smaller piped star shapes so that the cake is completely covered.

EARL GREY TEA CAKE WITH DARK CHOCOLATE AND ORANGE ZEST

Steps:

• Prepare the frosting: In a small saucepan, bring 1/2 cup/120 milliliters heavy cream to a simmer over medium-high heat. Stir in the tea, remove from the heat, cover and let stand for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. Strain the tea through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding the solids, and chill the remaining cream until completely cold, at least 1 hour.
• Prepare the cake: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, tea, baking powder and salt.
• In large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the orange zest and beat to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the flour mixture on low, until just combined, then beat in the milk. (Don't overmix.) Add the chocolate and fold it in using a spatula. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake just until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for about 15 minutes. Then tip the cake out onto the rack to cool completely.
• To finish the frosting, add the remaining 1/4 cup/60 milliliters cream and the confectioners' sugar to the tea cream. With an electric mixer on medium, beat the cream mixture until medium-stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the mascarpone and beat just until stiff peaks form. (Do not overmix.) Top the cake with the frosting to serve. Store leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 3 days; let come to room temperature before serving.