i love love love making people’s birthday cakes (see exhibits a through f below)
i love getting to reflect on the birthday girl/boy/person and thinking of what flavours i associate with them most
for gigi, it’s yorkshire tea
she brings her own yorkshire teabags to my house for a cup of tea
she brings her own yorkshire teabags when we go away
people bring her back boxes of yorkshire tea from the uk when they visit
so it was only right that her entire birthday cake would be centred around yorkshire tea
feeds 12-14
ingredients
tea cake
200g milk
3 yorkshire teabags (red label, no substitutes accepted)
200g caster sugar
135g neutral oil
3 eggs
0.5 tsp salt
200g self-raising flour
tea mascarpone cream
300mL thickened cream
2 yorkshire teabags
250g mascarpone
40g icing sugar, or to taste
method
cake
gently warm the milk (200g) and tea (3 teabags) together and let steep for 30 minutes to infuse the milk
press the teabags to extract all the tea-infused milk, and then set the tea-infused milk aside to cool
preheat the oven to 170°C
lightly oil a round cake tin
add the caster sugar (200g), oil (135g), eggs (3), and tea-infused milk to a bowl and whisk to combine
sift together the salt (0.5 tsp) and flour (200g) in a separate bowl
add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir until just combined
pour the batter into the prepared cake tin
bake for 30-40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out cleanly
let cool completely before cutting in half
mascarpone cream
gently warm the cream (300mL) with two teabags and let steep for 30 minutes
press the teabags firmly as you remove them, then cover the infused cream and chill completely
optional: if you’d like tea speckles in the cream, cut open one teabag and add the loose tea to the cream mixture
transfer the chilled infused cream and icing sugar (40g, or more to taste) to a stand mixer and whip to firm peaks
add the mascarpone (250g), and a pinch of salt and gently beat together until smooth and free of lumps
assembly
spread one third of the mascarpone cream over the bottom half of the cake
replace the top half of the cake, and spread over the remaining mascarpone cream
top with two little teabags
keep chilled before serving
