earl grey chocolate cake

May 2, 2012

There’s a story behind that photograph. It was taken by my friend Tiffany who was filming me for a class project she had. So that person there sifting in the stripes? That’s me. We spent an entire afternoon in my little kitchen as she made a film, interviewing me and taking some gorgeous, gorgeous shots of my food. Never have any of my creations looked so pretty. She’s one talented lady. She also geeked out with me about shallow depth of field and a plate of asparagus which I think pretty much makes us (nerdy) friends for life.

This cake got to be a bit of a star for the day, since I’d made it that morning. It’s a beauty of a cake – chocolatey with a lovely touch of Earl Grey and that oh-so necessary hint of salt to bring out the flavours.

It’s light and perfect any time of day but the most important thing for you to know is that it gets better after a couple of days. I always freak out a little that my baked goods are going to go stale overnight but this is not so! This cake, stored properly, becomes a little more dense – creamy even – after a day or too, and so chocolatey and wonderful. I ate half of the thing myself. And that is no exaggeration.

Earl Grey Chocolate Cake
from Real Simple via Shutterbean

Ingredients

  • 6 Earl Grey tea bags or 2 tablespoons loose Earl Grey tea
  • 1 cup water
  • 113g/ 4oz/ 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 113g/ 4oz bittersweet chocolate, melted in a double-broiler and cooled
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher/coarse salt
  • 1/4 cup plain yoghurt
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • powdered/ confectioners’ sugar, to dust

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 350F. Grease an 8-cup bundt tube pan with neutral oil.
  2. Brew the tea in hot water 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags or strain the leaves and set the brewed tea aside.
  3. Beat the butter, eggs, and granulated sugar until fluffy. Stir in the melted chocolate. Beat in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, yoghurt, sour cream, and brewed tea. Pour into bundt pan.
  4. Bake 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out with a few crumbs attached. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes.
  5. Turn out of pan and cool on a wire rack. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve. Keeps, stored in an airtight container at room temperature, for several days.
Email this to someonePin on PinterestTweet about this on TwitterShare on Google+Share on FacebookShare on RedditShare on StumbleUpon

Previous post:

Next post: