The flavour of Earl Grey comes from bergamot, a non-edible citrus fruit with a lovely aroma. So it’s no surprise that Earl Grey goes wonderfully with most fruit flavours, such as apple.
For this apple cake, I used Elstar apples from our garden, but Jonagold, Goudreinet or another tart or sweet-tart apple would also be delicious.
You can taste the Earl Grey in the cake as a subtle tea aroma, while the fruit layer is lovely and fresh thanks to the apple and lime. The buttery crumble topping finishes it off perfectly.
Apples turn brown quickly after peeling. Goudreinet apples are especially prone to this. The interesting thing is that the browning of green tea leaves is actually the same process: oxidation. While oxidation of green tea leaves produces black or oolong tea, a brown apple isn’t very appetising or tasty.
Luckily, you can stop oxidation with a little acidity (lemon or lime juice). This keeps your apples nice and light in colour, and makes them taste even better too.
This cake is easy to make and requires just a little extra time for the Earl Grey cake base. To infuse the cake with the flavour of tea, I infused the Earl Grey in butter. Simply put, I let the tea steep in melted butter. You can then use this Earl Grey-flavoured butter in any recipe you like.
Ingredients
The cake
- 250 g unsalted butter, plus a little extra
- 30 g tea – No.175 Oriental Earl Grey
- Zest and juice of 2 limes (or lemons)
- 200 g sugar
- 3 medium Elstar apples
- 3 eggs
- 225 g cake flour (or self-raising flour)
Crumble topping
- 90 g flour
- 60 g sugar
- 60 g butter (cold)
- Pinch of salt
Method
Infusing the butter with Earl Grey
Melt 250 g of unsalted butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add the tea and keep it just below simmering for 5 minutes. Don’t let the butter brown, as this will change the flavour. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to steep for another 5 minutes.
Pour the contents of the saucepan through a sieve into a mixing bowl set on a scale. Press as much butter as possible out of the tea leaves with a wooden spoon. I usually get a maximum of 190 g. Top it up with a little butter to make 200 g.
Leave the butter to cool until it has set. You can do this by placing the mixing bowl in cold water in your sink or in a larger bowl. Don’t put it in the fridge, or the butter will get too cold.
Grate the limes and stir the zest into the sugar. This lets the flavour of the lime zest infuse the sugar. Set aside for now.
Peeling the apples
While the butter sets and the lime zest infuses the sugar, you can peel the apples. Slice them into quarters and remove the cores. Cut each quarter lengthwise into slices about half a centimetre thick. Add the juice of one lime to stop the apples from browning.
Cake batter
Now preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a 20 x 20 cm square baking tin with baking paper. I usually fold the paper around the upside-down tin first. It then fits into the tin fairly easily.
Add the sugar to the set butter and beat until the butter is pale and creamy, about 5 minutes. Then add the 3 eggs one at a time, beating until each one is fully incorporated. Finally, mix in the juice of one lime.
Mix 225 g of cake flour into the batter. Once it is fully incorporated, the batter is ready. Transfer it to the baking tin and smooth the top. Arrange the apple pieces over the batter, leaving a 1 cm border around the edge.
Crumble topping
Mix the flour, sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl. Rub the cold butter into the flour between your fingers, or chop it into small pieces with two knives—this is how my mother taught me. Then quickly mix everything together with a cold hand (run it under cold water first), until the mixture just starts to clump together. You can now crumble it over the cake.
Bake the cake for 50 to 60 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned.
Leave it to cool and cut it into as many pieces as you like. It’s best enjoyed fresh; otherwise, store it in an airtight food container.
