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! 

Carrot Muffins with Oat Streusel Topping

As mentioned in a previous post, I received the Bouchon Bakery cookbook for Christmas. It really is a beautiful book filled with lots of pictures and delicious sounding recipes. Wanting to try something simple to start, I decided to follow the carrot muffin recipe. Now, muffins are a seemingly easy thing to make. You mix the dry ingredients, add in the the wet, give a little mix and into the pan and oven it goes - piece of cake. However, Bouchon Bakery makes their recipe a little more complicated with awkward measurements and lengthy resting times. This being said, I tweaked the ingredients and measurements a bit to make them simpler, but kept the resting time in just in case. They were delicious! Not too sweet, very moist and a nice crumb to follow. If you have the time for muffin batter rests then follow through - I really think it took a leading role in the moist muffin that resulted. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup All-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

1 3/4 cup shredded carrot

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and oil together with an electric mixer on low speed. Add the vanilla and egg and mix until just incorporated. Gradually mix in the flour mixture, on low speed, until combined. Gently scrape the bowl with a spatula to ensure all the ingredients are mixed, and stir in the shredded carrot. Cover and refrigerate up to 36 hours (or if you're really impatient I would wait at least three hours). Preheat the oven to 325 F. Pour the batter into a greased muffin pan. Sprinkle the oat streusel topping on top of the muffins and baked for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Oat Streusel Topping 

(this recipe was way too big for my liking, so again the measurements were reduced)

1/2 all purpose flour

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 a stick)

Stir together all ingredients except the butter. Cut the butter into pieces, and using a fork, mix until it is well incorporated - the butter should be no bigger than pea-sized chunks.

These muffins are a great breakfast on-the-go, or the perfect companion to your mid-afternoon cup of coffee. The oat streusel topping adds an extra sweetness, to the slightly spiced muffin. Enjoy!

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!

Apple Oat Scones

Happy first day of fall! Even though technically it was yesterday I am celebrating today with hot cups of tea, snuggly blankets, cozy sweaters and everything pumpkin, apple and spice. School has been hectic and come October there will be even more to get done, but fall is my favourite season so I'm going to do everything I can to welcome it with open arms. These scones are perfect for just that. Our CSA shares have been filled with apples recently (and I know I didn't post Week 9, but it just came and went so quickly!) and the combination of oats and apples in Martha's scones were just perfect! Here's my version of the recipe:

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups of all purpose flour

1 1/3 cups rolled oats

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 1/2 cups diced apple 

2/3 cold buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix together the flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a pastry blender (or two knives works well too) cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the apples and buttermilk just until mixed. On a lightly floured surface shape the dough into a large rectangle, about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut the dough into 12 square scones and place onto the baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until lightly browned.

As with most baked goods, these scone are best served warm on the day of. They're moist, not too dense and have the perfect amount of apple and spice. 

Simple Iced Tea

We all know by now that I have a strong obsession love for tea. When I'm not drinking water I am having tea, it's a given. Though as the temperature rises I am no longer looking for the cozy, warm feeling tea gives me and need something a bit more refreshing. Enter iced tea - my summer time staple for cooling off and taking care of my much needed tea fix.

Here's what you'll need:

• Your favourite tea - maybe something fruity (I like David's Tea Pink Flamingo)
• a large tea infuser ball
• honey
• one lemon
• a pitcher
• a wooden spoon for mixing
• a measuring spoon
  
  Oh, and of course water, but I figured that was a given.

1. Measure 4-5 teaspoons of your favourite tea into the tea infuser ball and seal it. 

2. Pour approximately 1L of boiling water into the pitcher (with the infuser hooked on) and let steep for 5-7 minutes.

3. Stir in 2-4 teaspoons of honey, depending on your preferred sweetness.

4. Slice up a lemon for extra flavour and freshness when serving. 

5. Chill for at least 2 hours, or until ready to serve.

This tea is best enjoyed outdoors when the sun is shining. Put your feet up, get comfy and just relax knowing that you'll be refreshed in a matter of sips. Though, that being said, as I was settling in and enjoying mine it started to pour down rain - so it can just as easily be enjoyed indoors with your ceiling fan!

Tip: if you don't have a tea infuser you can use 2-3 regular sized tea bags instead! Green Tea is another one of my favourites - especially with the honey and lemon.

P.S. I am loving the new beautiful mess app!

Out & About: Tea at the Windsor Arms

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Anyone who knows me will tell you that my soul is more akin to an eighty year old grandmother than it is a twenty five year old. Though I do enjoy a good party now and again (more so if there is karaoke involved), I am just as happy, if not more, cozying up with a nice cuppa tea. That being said, it makes perfect sense that I spent my birthday weekend drinking lots of tea, watching movies, and heading downtown for afternoon tea at the Windsor Arms Hotel. For those of us in North America, Sunday was also Mother's Day so as a dual celebration we made a reservation for four a couple months ago to ensure we had a spot.

The hotel is beautiful. It is classic, small and chic and located in the luxurious Yorkville, Toronto. The tea room has three spaces of slightly different decor that seats a fair number of people without being too crowded, and design that gives your afternoon outing the right amount of elegance without being overdone.

We were seated in the contemporary 'Purple Room' and afternoon tea started with our choosing of one of about twenty loose-leaf teas. I chose a passion fruit green tea that was the perfect combination of earthy and sweet. Next came the tiers of treats. The top plate featured four different kinds of miniature cakes (from a white chocolate cup with edible gold to a mini dark chocolate cupcake), the middle plate had a variety of tea sandwiches (such as smoked salmon with caviar and sun-dried tomato cream cheese with cucumber) and the bottom plate held four homemade scones. Of course it wouldn't be a proper afternoon tea if Devon clotted cream (bringing me back to my exchange student days) and jams - mixed berry and strawberry-guava - weren't provided. Since most of the other guests were there celebrating Mother's Day it was assumed we were as well, but my Dad informed our server that it also happened to be my birthday. After we finished our plates of goodies, out she came with a white chocolate and pistachio dipped strawberry courtesy of the chef! The final course was a raspberry sorbet with a small shot of champagne poured over top - delish.

Needless to say my family and I experienced a major sugar crash-food coma afterwards, but it was well worth it. The service was impeccable, the atmosphere was cozy and elegant, and the food was nothing less than perfection. If you are ever in the Toronto area I highly recommend making time for tea at the Windsor Arms. Thanks to my wonderful family and friends for a fantastic birthday - and to my mother for giving me a birthday to celebrate!