High Altitude Earl Grey Tea Cake
This earl grey tea cake is moist, tender and slightly dense, flavored with vanilla and earl grey tea leaves. It's baked in a Charlotte bundt pan for a simple but lovely cake that can be served warm with tea or coffee. This cake is wonderful plain or topped with honey whipped cream.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 tbsp loose earl grey tea leaves, finely crushed
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup full fat sour cream, buttermilk or kefir
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Whipped Cream
- 2 oz block cream cheese, cold
- 2-3 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, cold
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray a Charlotte cake pan thoroughly with non-stick baking spray, or use your favorite "cake goop" to coat the pan.Baker's Note: If you don't have a Charlotte pan, you can also just use a round 8-inch cake pan.
- Using an electric mixer (hand held or stand mixer), beat the sugar, butter and tea leaves on medium speed for 4 minutes, until fluffy.Baker's Note: If using tea bags, you'll need to cut open approximately 3 tea bags to get 1 tbsp of tea leaves. Depending on the brand of tea, these may already be finely crushed. If using loose tea leaves, you'll need to crush them before adding them to the batter.
- Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating each for 30 seconds before adding the next. Add the vanilla and the sour cream, beating until well combined.
- Separately, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the batter, and mix for about 15 seconds on medium low speed, until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bang the pan firmly on the counter to settle the batter into all the grooves of the Charlotte pan.
- Bake the cake for about 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, and the top of the cake springs back when gently touched.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack to cool for 15 minutes. Then invert the cake onto the cooling rack, remove the pan, and cool for another 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Whipped Cream
- In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, honey and vanilla with an electric mixer (either a hand held or stand mixer) for about one minute, until smooth.
- Add the cold heavy whipping cream, and beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until thick and fluffy.
- If serving the cake all at once, you can pile the whipped cream on top of the cake before cutting into slices. If you'll have leftover cake, serve the whipped cream on the side.
Notes
Store leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Store leftover whipped cream in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The whipped cream may need to be re-whipped if it deflates.
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