May 2012: Earl Grey Tea cake with Lemon drizzle icing

I must confess I'm not a big hot drink drinker, I'd rather have fruit cordial than a cup of tea most days, I make an exception for Earl Grey tea in cake though (shown as the rectangle cakes - I was given cardboard cases as a present they are from Lakeland Plastics).

It is the perfect blend (ahem) of light and airy, with a delicate taste which is just perfect for a peaceful break in the afternoon, and the lemon drizzle just matches perfectly with it.

So now I have you drooling how do you make them - couldnt be simpler which is another thing I love about this recipe.

You want to buy some good quality Earl Grey tea bags (I use Twinnings) It needs to be good quality, and also finely chopped if you get cheaper quality the bits of tea will be too big and give you an unpleasant texture, and you wont get that lovely delicate taste. Basically all you do is cut open two of the tea bags and put to one side (I would guess if you have good quality loose tea then the equivalent is probably two tablespoons).

Start making the basic cake recipe and add 4 tablespoons of milk at the egg stage and omit any flavour extract (the tea has such a delicate flavour anything else is likely to overpower it) then just before you add the flour gently stir in the the tea leaves, everything else is the same.

You want to drizzle the lemon drizzle over the cakes while they are still warm, to make the drizzle simply put 1 tsp of Lemon extract in a bowl, add about 2-3 heaped tablespoons of icing sugar and enough milk to make a runny icing that you just coat the top of the cakes with.

That's it. Ridiculously easy.