Earl Grey Cake with Honey Buttercream

Remember that time I said I was going to lessen the food and just up the overall happy? Well food makes me happy and lately I've been baking up a storm so here's another recipe! Believe it or not I've actually been baking more than both the blog and Instagram might suggest - which really means I've been going baking crazy because there has been no shortage of food posts on either. 

The Pastry Affair is probably the best food blog out there. All the recipes I've tried are easy and delicious. She always has cute quotes to accompany the gorgeous food pictures and the ingredients are usually already in my cupboard - A++! That being said whenever I need some baking inspiration the Pastry Affair is where I go. Within a couple clicks I'm guaranteed to feel the creative juices flowing. Last week I really wanted to make cake but wanted it to be a bit "jazzier" than regular ol' chocolate or vanilla. Enter tea cake. A simple cake recipe with a deliciously light tea flavour, and honey buttercream frosting on top combine to give you one of the best ideas ever - tea you can eat!

Here's the recipe (adapted from the Pastry Affair): 

Ingredients

1 cup 2% milk

2 tablespoons Earl Grey Tea
(I used David's Tea 'The Earl's Garden')

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 F and lightly grease two 9-inch round cake pans.

In a small saucepan, warm the milk until simmering and stir in the Earl Grey tea. Remove from heat and allow to cool. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, until well incorporated. Add in the vegetable oil and vanilla until fully combined. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gradually mix into the butter mixture until combined. Finally, stir in the tea and milk until the batter is is smooth (you can choose to leave the tea leaves in or out - I put in about half). Evenly spread the batter into the two cake pans and bake for 20-24 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Allow to cool before icing or serving. 

For the honey buttercream, I completely followed the recipe on the Pastry Affair, with the addition of about 2 tablespoons of milk. 

I love the look of a naked cake, with the icing only in the middle and on top. There's something so rustic and cozy about the simplicity of it. If you're feeling fancy pipe a few designs on the top to make it extra pretty - I attempted some buttercream roses but they're more like swirlies. I just loved this cake, finally I can drink my tea, and eat it too! 

Ginger Molasses Cookies

I'm not usually a fan of the big, round, cookies that you can get at Starbucks - they're too much cookie! However this time of year always makes it extra difficult to resist their ginger molasses cookies. They're soft, chewy with just the right amount of spice. A few years ago I was determined to recreate those cookies in our annual christmas cookie baking day. I found a few recipes online and pooled together the ones that sounded best, and was sure to make them even better in bite size form. This recipe is from my scraps of notes of favourite recipes and has been a winter classic in our cookie making. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon allspice

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup molasses

Preheat the oven to 375 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift together to flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and molasses until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until well combined. Roll the dough into small balls, approximately 1 inch in diameter, and roll in granulated sugar. Place on the baking sheet and lightly press down with two fingers. Bake for 6-8 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned.

These cookies give you the spice of gingerbread while still remaining soft and chewy. They're perfect with a winter cup of tea (I recommend Alpine Punch or Sleigh Ride from David's tea) or if you're feeling fancy, a gingerbread latte! Enjoy!