Just a few weeks ago, newspaper headlines declared we were in drought, and decried the start of a hose pipe ban. ‘But how will I clean my block paved drive way witouth my fully-loaded penis-esque Karscher pressure washer?!’ demanded middle-aged men with middle-aged spread.
Fear not, hose-wealders. As if by magic – or by the power of that lesser known phenomenon, Sod’s Law – at the very mention of a hose pipe ban, the mighty sky retaliated by rounding up a gang of the greyest, densest, meanest clouds around, and heartily encouraging them to piss down upon us all for the best part of ten days.
Now, I’m not particularly fond of pounding London’s uneven, puddle-laden pavements in (usually) porous shoes, wrestling with an umbrella determined to show off its jellyfish impression. But what I am fond of is having a perfect excuse to stay indoors, whack the heating up, and get in the kitchen – which is just what this rainy Sunday provided.
Now, don’t judge me, but I only tried Earl Grey tea for the first time a few months ago. (I KNOW). Now, I adore it; I have at least one every day at work and it always feels like a treat. It’s also perfect with a light and lovely piece of cake or a delicate biscuit (not that these are usually in abundance at work – for shame!).
Since my first taste, I’ve wanted to try Earl Grey in a cake, and since I had a bottle of rosewater that I was determined to bake with, too, I decided to bring them both together in a fancy floral experiment using my new bundt tin.
I am thrilled with the result; bundt tins make such a beautiful-looking cake- even before you do anything to the top! In my case, I decorated with my new favourite frosting (that’s a BIG deal, by the way): rose water glaze.
It’s just so gorgeous! I would describe the glaze as like a delicate, fancy version of a krispy kreme glaze – and since it was a bundt cake, I felt like I’d made myself a giant, classy krispy kreme. The best part about a bundt cake is that you use proportionally much less frosting because of the surface area, so it’s great if you don’t enjoy lots of sickly frosting – it’s probably less calories too..? A little like throwing deck chairs off the Titanic, I know, but god loves a trier…
Earl Grey and Rose Water Bundt Cake
Serves 12
Ingredients
- 225 butter
- 125 g caster sugar
- 100g light muscovado sugar
- 225g plain flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp essence of rose water
- 3-4 earl grey tea bags, brewed with 100ml water to form a strong solution
- 2 tbsp lemon yoghurt (plain will do w/a few drops of lemon juice)
- pinch of salt
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan)/gas mark 4. Grease a bundt tin with butter.
- Cream the butter and sugar together. Whisk in the eggs one by one, then add the yoghurt, rosewater and most of tea solution – saving a tablespoon or so for the glaze.
- Sift and fold in the flour, baking powder, and saly until thoroughly combined.
- Distribute evenly into the bundt tin, and smooth around the top with a spatula.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. NB – the colour on the side you will see in the oven will be lighter of the colour of the ‘top’ when it’s flipped, so don’t worry if it’s not golden brown!
For the rose water glaze
- 120g icing sugar
- 2 tbsp rose water
- few drops of the earl grey solution
- Sift the icing sugar into a bowl
- Add a the rose water and tea, and mix together thoroughly with a fork until you have a reasonably thick glaze.
- Once the cake has cooled, use a tablespoon to drizzle the glaze over the cake in lines or criss-crosses to finish.
- Serve with a smug smile as you show-off an effortlessly pretty cake!
PS – Do you like my rather sweet table cloth?I I picked up two tea towels reduced to £1.50 in paperchase and thought they were too lovely to wipe the plates with, et voila!
PPS – What other recipes do you find work with with a bundt tin? I’d love to use it more!
