Super Moist INDIAN BLACK TEA CAKE

Living in the UK, I realised how much British people love tea. Some of my friends drink it at least 10 times a day and honestly, I have never understood the obsession. However, I love cake. And this is probably the moistest cake I have ever had! The components are a fluffy, spiced, delicious sponge, a tea sugar syrup the cake is soaked in, and a silky white chocolate and tea whipped ganache. The cake is quite sweet, so feel free to adjust the sugar levels, or even omit the ganache on top. I have a sweet tooth though, so there’s never enough sugar 🙂

Ingredients

For the sponge:

  • 235 ml milk
  • 5 bags of Indian black tea
  • 60 g butter, room temp
  • 150 g sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 60 g oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 165 g soft flour
  • 15 g cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground cardamom
  • 35 g poppy seeds
  • 12 g baking powder
  • 3 g bicarbonate of soda
  • pinch of salt

For the syrup:

  • 100 g sugar
  • 100 g water
  • 3 bags of Indian black tea
  • 2 lemon slices

For the frosting:

  • 100 g white chocolate
  • 200 g double cream
  • 1 bag of Indian black tea

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
  2. Heat the milk in either a microwave or on the stovetop, and add in the contents of the teabags.
  3. Beat the butter and the sugar until light. Add in the eggs, one at a time, then vanilla and the oil.
  4. In another bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  5. Add the third of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, followed by the half of the milk with tea leaves in it. Add in another third of the dry ingredients, followed by the second half of the milk mixture. Finish with the last third of flour and mix well.
  6. Transfer the batter to a mould of your choice, and bake for 25-40 minutes, depending on the size of your mould.
  7. For the syrup, put all the ingredients into a small pot, and cook until melted. Leave to cool. Brush the cooled syrup over the cooled cake.
  8. For the frosting, heat up 100 ml of the cream with the tea and pour over the chocolate. Mix until the chocolate has melted and then add the rest of the cream. Leave to chill. Once chilled, beat until soft peaks form and spread over the cake. Enjoy!