honey glaze earl grey lavender lemon cake
Hopping on the tea train and not throwing the barrels into the harbor with a Honey Glaze Earl Grey Lavender Lemon Cake.
Chocolate heavy treats are glorious, but sometimes a lighter treat is just what you need. This cake is perfection for such.
We’ve indulged suitably on this adventure, our first since North Carolina in October and our only real substantial one since our Colorado foray last spring. I’m the type of traveler, though, who insists on booking an Airbnb instead of a hotel to limit takeout and balance our treat yoself mentality with familiar, homemade basics. Though I’m far more varied with our meals at home, if needed I can pare down our pantry to staples we consume over and over again and I do such when we take a trip.
To list them out: oatmeal, bananas, berries, plain Greek yogurt, apples, zucchini, broccoli, avocados, tomatoes, sometimes bell peppers, peanut butter, pretzels, and trail mix. Oddly, I don’t keep trail mix at home because it’d be snarfed in about 20 seconds, but since hiking is essential when we’re in Colorado, a bag is a practical, if not dangerous, purchase.
Likewise, if cake is a staple in your at-home collection, why not make this one (and last week’s Almond Blackberry Cake) your new summertime fave?
The key to flavoring this luscious cake is a considerable brew time for the earl grey. I steep the bags, along with dried lavender flours, in milk for a richer taste. Water in cake is just unacceptable. I had the best success with 30 minutes, but I’d call 15 a minimum and 60 an absolute maximum. Leave it too-too long and you’ll get far too many tannins for your tastebuds to handle. Regardless, the brew requires a much longer stay in the liquid than your typical cuppa.
The second bit of advice I’ll bestow is tossing the lemon zest in the sugar before adding eitherr to the batter. I learned this trick from somewhere in the webs and it truly does wonders for ensuring the zest doesn’t clump with the flour or any other component. I used a small bowl for the task.
Third key? Honey glaze. Tea and honey is a marriage of heavenly proportions and I couldn’t separate the two in good conscience. The taste is soft and lovely, a sip on a rainy midday. The lemon juice both creates the needed glaze texture and adds a bit more citrus to emphasize the zest already in the cake.
Tip – use the same lemon for both parts! Less waste, more lemon, more happy.
Tried this recipe out? Leave a comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
Craving more earl grey? Try out the Earl Grey Lavender Vodka Palmer!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 bags earl grey tea
- 2 tsp dried lavender flowers
- 1 stick butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
honey glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Heat milk until just simmering. Steep the earl grey tea bags and lavender flowers in the milk for 30 minutes – this creates a very concentrated infusion that flavors the cake. Remove the tea bags and strain out the lavender in a fine mesh sieve. Let cool to room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan well with oil or butter.
- Toss the lemon zest in the sugar to help the lemon flavor incorporate more evenly into the batter. With a stand or hand mixer, beat in butter until soft and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, whipping until fully combined.
- Measure in flour, baking powder, and salt and beat until just mixed.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake 35-40 minutes until center is set and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully flip onto a wire baking rack to cool completely.
- When the cake is cooled, prepare the glaze. Whisk together powdered sugar, lemon juice, honey, and vanilla until thick but silky. If the mixture is too thick, add 1 tsp milk or water until smooth and glossy. If too thin, add 1 tbsp powdered sugar at a time. Drizzle over the cooled cake.
