Blueberry Earl Grey Cake

Who else is still getting snow right now? I swear we got so much snow just in this past week! I really don’t mind it since I don’t have to be out in it, but come on its nearly May! The sun is out and melting it all off today, so I’m hoping to get a long walk in.  I feel as though we are nearing the end of our quarantine days. It’s really hard to say what will happen in the next couple weeks. Here in Colorado, our stay at home order is set to expire April 26. I think our government has been preparing for an influx in hospitals these last few weeks, and I feel as though we will most likely get that order lifted on time. I’m not sure if I’m happy or sad about that? In the beginning, I was definitely bored out of my skull, but I’ve come to really enjoy my days (especially with my boyfriend working from home). I suppose we will just have to see what happens!

How is everyone doing? I’ve been happily baking away with different recipes each day. I’ve been doing a lot of bread baking, a lot of pickling, and a lot of savory cooking as well. I am just happiest when I’m working in the kitchen. So is my dog. 

For this recipe I’ve used one of my standard vanilla cake recipes, and enhanced it with some earl grey tea I’ve got in my cabinet. Blueberries made a nice addition and topped it with a super creamy and light lemon cream cheese frosting. It’s a cake, I think it would be perfectly acceptable to call it breakfast as well. These flavors go so well together, but if you’ve got another tea you’d like to sub, go for it! Alternate berries as well, just make sure to cut them to smaller sized if its a large berry. 

For the flowers, I’ve used piping tip #61. For the leaves, piping tip #352 or #67. And for the stems, just a simple #4 to make the long strings.  To get 2 colors into one bag, I put in my desired piping tip, the inverted the bag as much as i could. Use a small spatula to put one color on one side, and the other opposite. It’s ok it the colors blend a little together, it’ll come out of the tip in a natural gradient look. Enjoy, friends!

Blueberry Earl Grey Cake

Yield 8”x8” baking dish

Cake

Oil 4.2 oz

Sugar 5.25 oz

Egg 1

Yolk 1

Milk 3.75 oz                    

Vanilla ½ tsp

Flour 4.9 oz.

Pinch salt

Earl grey tea bags 2

Baking powder 1 tsp

Baking soda 1/8 tsp

Fresh or frozen blueberries ¼ cup

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream cheese, room temp 8 oz.

Butter, room temp 4 oz.

Powdered sugar, sifted ¾ cup

Lemon zest ½ a lemon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8”x8” pan with parchment paper. Let the parchment paper come up about ½ inch over the pan edge so you can pull the cake out later with ease.

In a medium size bowl, combine sugar and earl grey tea leaves. Mix together with your finger tips to infuse the tea with the sugar.

In a separate bowl, coat blueberries with 1 T of the flour used in the recipe.

Add the remaining ingredients to the sugar/tea mixture and whisk to combine. Fold in blueberries. Pour cake batter into cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan at room temp, about 2 hours.

Next, make frosting by combining all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Use a paddle attachment to paddle until very smooth. Scrape down sides as needed.

Scoop ½ a cup of prepared frosting into smaller bowls and color with desired colors. Make flowers first, then freeze them. Place green frosting in a piping bag with a small tip and set aside.

Smooth frosting over the cake and use an offset spatula to cover each side.

Once flowers are frozen, use an offset spatula to lift it off paper and place on the cake. Repeat with all flowers. Decorate the rest of the cake with stems and leaves.

Chill until ready to serve. Enjoy!