Kuchnia

Black Tea Cake with Bramble Jam and Lemon Buttercream.

12g black tea leaves
200ml whole milk
170g unsalted butter, room temperature
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
50g honey
270g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
Lemon Buttercream

zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
115g unsalted butter, room temperature
300g icing sugar, sifted
splash of milk
bramble jam to sandwich
Note: I made this recipe in one 6 inch cake tin however, it took quite a long time to bake. If you have the option of splitting the cake batter in half and baking it in two separate tins, do this as it will reduce the baking time (about 30 minutes) and will probably result in a lighter sponge. Alternatively you can bake this cake in a loaf tin, baking it for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

Method

For the cake:

Place the tea leaves into a spice/coffee grinder and grind until the tea leaves are the size of ground coffee. Pour the milk into a saucepan and place over medium heat. Add in the ground tea leaves. Once the milk has come to the boil, take off the heat and leave aside until cool (or refrigerate if your tight on time.)
Pre-heat your oven to 175C. Grease and line a 6 inch cake tin (see notes.)
Cream together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in your eggs, one egg at a time until the mixture is smooth. Add the honey and combine. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add in the milk (with the ground tea leaves) and dry ingredients alternatively, starting and ending with the flour.
Spoon the cake batter into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. If your cake is browning too quickly, cover the top with aluminium foil for the rest of the baking time.
Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Turn the cake out of the tin and leave to cool completely.
For the Buttercream:

Place the lemon zest, vanilla, salt and butter into a medium-sized bowl. Cream these together until light and fluffy. Start adding in your icing sugar a few spoonfuls at a time and continue to beat until all the sugar is added. Add a splash of milk to let the buttercream down slightly. Beat the buttercream for a few more minutes until smooth, pale and fluffy.
To finish:

Trim the top off of the cake so that it is flat and then cut the cake in half horizontally. Turn the top half of the cake upside down (so that the trimmed top is now the bottom) onto your serving plate. Spread a thin layer of the jam on top of the sponge followed by a thin layer of buttercream. Lay the other half of the cake on top with the base of the cake facing up. Cover the cake with the remaining buttercream. Start with a thin layer to contain the cake crumbs, refrigerate and then finish with a second layer.
Best served the day its made.

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