Lady Grey Tea Cake

My husband, Prince Consort, loves a good cup of Earl Grey tea.  So does Queen Elizabeth, apparently.  Personally, I prefer Prince of Wales tea, named by Twinings in honor of Edward VIII before he gave up his throne to marry Wallis Simpson, but that’s neither here nor there.

Chef Darren McGrady has a recipe in his book for Earl Grey tea cake, and I thought I’d make it for Prince Consort’s birthday one year.  But not only am I not a fan of the rather strong bergamot oil in earl grey tea, I’m really, really not a fan of raisins, and there are four cups of those in the original version of this cake!  So the first year I debated about making this cake for Prince Consort’s birthday, it didn’t happen.  Now that another year has gone by, I’ve decided to alter the recipe a bit and give it a go.

I swapped out the Earl Grey tea for Lady Grey tea, a tea with far more subtle flavours.  We found a wonderful lady grey loose tea at our Farmer’s Market, and it smelled more citrus-y and less like bergamot than earl grey tea generally does, so I used that.  I also replaced those raisins with dried cranberries, and even found orange flavoured ones at that, adding to the whole citrus theme.  I decided to make an orange glaze to drizzle over the cake, too, tying it all together.  So this version is definitely a little different from the original, but if you like orange and cranberry and icing (and who doesn’t like icing?), hopefully, you won’t mind my substitutions.  If you do, feel free to use the original ingredients of raisins and earl grey tea, and to omit the icing.  To each his own.

I also multiplied the proportions by one and a half, as I wanted to use my larger bundt cake pan instead of the bread loaf pan Chef McGrady uses.  I wanted this to be more like a cake with icing and less like a fruit cake, even though it’s really a fruit cake.  So I had planned to use 4 cups of cranberries, thinking that would be plenty, despite knowing that to make the whole recipe 1 ½ times the original, I should be using 6 cups of those.  But when I stirred the first bag of dried, orange-flavoured cranberries into the batter, it became obvious that even 4 cups would be too much.  So you can really get by with just one bag of those.  I ended up using about a bag and a half, which is to say approximately 2 ½ cups.  If you want more, use more.

I replaced the eggs in the original recipe with both applesauce and banana, due to not wanting to make the entire substitution with applesauce and have the batter be too wet and dense.  This way, there is a bit of banana flavour and a bit of apple going on in there, rather than it being too strong with either.  And the fruit flavours only add to this cranberry, orange tea cake. 

So if you like tea, and you like cranberries with oranges, this may be the cake for you.  It’s certainly not the traditional “fruit cake” that most Americans have learned to be terrified of, and it won’t make a fabulous door stop.  But it will make a rather sophisticated birthday cake or just a delicious addition to your next tea party.  Even if you and your cat and a copy of Alice in Wonderland are the only guests at your tea party.

Enjoy!

Lady Grey Tea Citrus Cake with Orange Icing

2 c. boiling water

1 heaping c. Lady Grey loose tea leaves (which can be found at some Farmer’s Markets or specialty tea shoppes)

¾ c. Earth Balance vegan butter, plus more for greasing the pan

2 ¼ c. packed light brown sugar

1 c. apple sauce

1 large banana or 1 ½ medium bananas

2 ¼ c. AP flour

¾ c. ground almond flour

2 c. dried cranberries, either plain or orange flavored (Trader Joe’s has these)

¾ c. chopped walnuts, pecans, or any other nut you prefer

2 c. powdered sugar

A few T. orange juice (or orange/banana/pineapple, etc.)

Pour the boiling water over the tea leaves and allow to steep for an hour.  When the tea is done steeping, strain it and allow it to cool completely. 

In the meantime, heavily grease your largest bundt pan with Earth Balance butter, making sure to get every corner.  I usually use a small sheet of waxed paper to do this, to keep from getting butter all over my hands and to get into all the pan crevices. 

No, those aren't my hands-- they're Prince Consort's hands!  I'm the one taking the picture!

Pre-heat the oven to 325.

Cream the butter with the brown sugar, the apple sauce, and the banana/s until smooth and creamy.  Gently stir in both flours until combined.  Stir in the dried cranberries and nuts.  Pour the cooled tea over everything and stir until everything is well combined.

Ready to go into the oven.

Pour your batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 1 hour, testing it then with a toothpick or a knife.  When the toothpick or knife comes out clean, allow the cake to cool in the pan.  When the cake is fully cooled, put a serving plate on top of the pan, upside down, and invert the cake so that it is sitting on the plate.  Remove the pan.  If you did not get the pan greased quite thoroughly enough, you may need to use a knife to gently unstick the cake from the sides of the pan before inverting it onto the plate.

Mix your orange juice into the powdered sugar, 1 T. at a time.  Add only enough juice to make an icing the consistency you want.  If you add too much juice and the icing is runny, just add some more powdered sugar until you have the perfect consistency.  If you don’t mind a little icing around the edges of your cake, pooling a bit on your serving plate, then drizzle away, slowly pouring your icing over the top of the cake so that it runs down into the center of the bundt shape as well as down the outside edges.  If you want a cleaner plate look, then slide small pieces of waxed paper under the edges of your cake before you drizzle the icing onto it.  When your cake is iced, gently and carefully remove the pieces of waxed paper and whatever icing has dripped onto them.  More pieces of waxed paper will be much easier to remove than 1 or 2 big pieces, so keep that in mind when you are sliding pieces of paper under the edges of your cake.

Since this is a version of the British fruit and nut cake, it will generally keep well for a very long time.  Refrigerate it for up to a few weeks, assuming it is not eaten right away.