A moist and dense Bundt cake, fragranced with Lady Grey tea, orange, lemon and rosewater.
By Christina Soong-Kroeger
Although I’ve flirted with coffee over the years I am, at heart, a tea drinker. 
I like English Breakfast or Japanese green tea in the morning, Earl Grey or Lady Grey in the afternoon and Rooiboos (African bush tea) or peppermint tea after dinner. Not to mention the endless cups of Gook Bo (a heady mixture of whole Chrysanthemum flowers and pu-erh tea) I consume when enjoying yum cha (literally, ‘drink tea’).
So I was quietly thrilled when we decided to go with a tea theme for this month’s Sweet Adventures‘ dessert-themed blog hop hosted by the lovely JJ from 84th & 3rd. Sweet Adventures is a group of Aussie foodbloggers – 84th & 3rd, The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader, Delicieux, Dining With a Stud, and me, The Hungry Australian, who host a monthly, dessert-themed blog hop.
For this month’s tea-themed dessert hop, I decided to do something with Twinings’ Lady Grey, an afternoon tea I’ve always admired for it’s delicate orange and lemon overtones. So I adapted this Vanilla Bundt Cake by Rosie of the gorgeous Sweetapolita blog, transforming it into a Lady Grey Bundt Cake by adding Lady Grey tea, lemon zest, rosewater and honey.
Ms 5 Year Old helped me to bake this cake and it was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon – she greased the Bundt tin and mixed the dry ingredients while I creamed the butter and sugar, then she helped me to crack the eggs, beat the mixture, pour it into the tin and lick the beaters.
After the cake has finished baking you need to let it cool down for two hours before you can ice it. This seems like a very long time because your nostrils are being assailed with the delicious scent of vanilla, butter and lemon. I advise you to leave the house if possible, lest you crack and attempt to ice and eat the cake before it’s fully cooled down.
Resist the temptation and you’ll be rewarded with a wonderfully dense and aromatic cake, almost like a mud cake in texture, with an icing that will make your eyes roll back in your head.
That’s what it did for me, anyway. Enjoy!
Check out JJ’s post to see all the other tea-inspired dessert recipes
Lady Grey Bundt Cake with Rosewater Icing
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 1x
Description
A moist and dense Bundt cake, fragranced with Lady Grey tea, orange, lemon and rosewater.
Ingredients
Lady Grey Cake
- 3 cups plain flour (I used organic but regular is fine)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Tea from 2–3 Twinings Lady Grey teabags
- Zest from one unwaxed lemon
- 250 grams unsalted Danish style butter (2 1/4 sticks)
- 1.5 cups caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla essence
- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 cup Greek yoghurt + 1/3 cup water (OR 3/4 cup normal yoghurt + 1/4 cup water OR 1 cup buttermilk)
Rosewater Icing
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or essence
- 1 tablespoon honey, melted in microwave for 5 seconds
- 1 teaspoon rosewater essence
- 1–2 tablespoons milk
Decoration
- Zest from one unwaxed lemon
- Tea from 1/2 Twinings Lady Grey teabag
Instructions
Lady Grey Cake
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees fan forced (350°F) with rack in middle of oven.
- Grease Bundt pan with butter and dust with flour, knocking excess out.
- In a small bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, tea and lemon zest.
- In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar on medium speed for about five minutes, or until pale and airy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl whenever necessary with a silicon spatula.
- Add vanilla and beat for another minute.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg.
- In a cup, mix together yoghurt and water so it is a runny consistency.
- Add flour and yoghurt mixture to egg and butter mixture in three batches each, alternating between each i.e. add a bit of flour, mix in, then add a bit of yoghurt mixture, mix in, then add some more flour and so on until all is added and combined.
- Pour batter evenly into the Bundt pan. Jiggle it around on the kitchen bench to even it out and reduce air bubbles.
- Bake for about an hour, until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clear.
- Cool cake in pan for one hour, then invert onto a rack and cool for another hour, until it is completely cold.
Rosewater Icing
- To make icing, whisk icing sugar with vanilla bean, honey, rosewater essence and half the milk.
- Continue whisking and add the rest of the milk if necessary. If should be quite thick, otherwise it will just run off the cake.
- Once cake is completely cool, drizzle glaze on top.
Decoration
- Sprinkle with tea and then decorate with lemon zest.
Notes
A note on the ingredients of the Bundt cake:
1) Sweetapolita’s recipe called for 1 cup of buttermilk. I didn’t have that so wanted to substitute with 3/4 cup yoghurt and 1/4 cup water. Unfortunately the only yoghurt I had was Greek yoghurt so I had to add extra water to make it liquidy enough. I also think the thicker yoghurt made the cake even denser and richer. Next time I cook this I will try regular yoghurt and milk in the smaller quantity.
2) I used 2 teabags for this cake, which resulted in a delicate tea flavour. You could try 2.5 or even 3 bags for a stronger flavour.
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
