Here’s the results of my February Baking with Tea Challenge!
THE TEA: Caramel Toffee Oolong Tea by Octavia Tea
(image courtesy of Amoda Tea)
Description on Amoda Tea’s site: “An oolong dessert tea! Sweet and creamy with decadent caramel and hazelnut. It’s certainly rich with flavour, but balanced out by the roasted profile of the dark oolong so you can enjoy every last sip without getting overwhelmed.”
What’s in it: oolong tea, hazelnut brittle, caramel pieces, natural flavouring (contains nuts and milk)
When I opened up the latest tea sample from Tegan of Amoda Tea, my first impressions were of caramel and candy. This tea is definitely geared for dessert! After my last Baking with Tea blog post, I knew that I would need something very subtle so that I could really show off the sweetness of this tea.
Confession time: although I own two bundt cake pans, I’ve never actually made a bundt cake before. So I figured that this would be the perfect opportunity to give it a whirl. I chose a simple vanilla bundt recipe and adapted it to incorporate the tea.
THE OUTCOME: The bundt cake came out better than I had ever imagined! It was light and moist and turned out of the pan without a hitch. Paul, who’s always my most honest taste-tester, said it was great and my parents, who don’t really like sweets, kept asking for seconds (they pretty much polished off the entire cake within a couple of days).
Because I deliberately kept the flavours of the bundt cake to a bare minimum (just a touch of vanilla), the caramel toffee flavours of the tea really came through and you could really taste the tea in both the cake and the glaze. It was still subtle and not overpowering, but resulted in a nice, light fragrance.
BAKING WITH TEA LESSONS LEARNED: To get the most flavour when steeping tea in milk, start with hot milk. Remember to ‘agitate’ the milk while it’s hot so that the tea really gets incorporated. After an hour, the milk was fragrantly steeped and really added its flavour to the cake without being overpowering or too obvious.
- 3/4 cup milk, hot
- 4 teaspoons loose leaf Caramel Toffee Oolong tea
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Steep the loose leaf tea in the hot milk for 1 hour until it cools to room temperature. Agitate the mixture while the milk is hot to get as much of the tea flavour into the milk as possible. Once the hour has passed, remove all the loose leaf tea (I used a fine sieve) and set the milk aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Lightly grease and flour a bundt pan.
- In a stand mixer, beat the sugar, butter and eggs on medium speed until well blended. Decrease the mixer speed to low and add the milk and vanilla. Once the milk and vanilla have been incorporated, increase the mixer speed back to medium and mix well. Add in flour, baking powder and salt. Beat at medium speed for about 1 minute or until the batter is smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
- Gently loosen the edges of the cake from the pan with small spatula or knife and turn the cake out onto a wire rack. Cool completely before glazing.
source: adapted from I Am Baker’s Vanilla Bundt Cake with Vanilla Frosting
- 1/2 cup milk, hot
- 3 teaspoons loose leaf Caramel Toffee Oolong tea
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- Steep the loose leaf tea in the hot milk for 1 hour until it cools to room temperature. Agitate the mixture while the milk is hot to get as much of the tea flavour into the milk as possible. Once the hour has passed, remove all the loose leaf tea (I used a fine sieve) and set the milk aside.
- Mix the milk with the powdered sugar until a thick glaze forms.
- If the glaze is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If the glaze is too thick, add more milk.
source: adapted from Adventures in Cooking’s Milk Tea Glaze
ABOUT AMODA TEA
Founded by Darryl McIvor & Tegan Woo, Amoda Tea is an online tea shop that focuses on ‘craft tea’ – teas blended in small batches by artisanal tea companies. Amoda’s craft tea selections are all-natural (no artificial flavourings or sweeteners) and many are organic and/or fair-trade.
With their Tea Sets and Monthly Subscription service, there’s a couple of ways to sample their teas. Fall in love with something? Then you can buy that specific tea through their site as well.
THE KITCHEN FROLIC ‘BAKING WITH TEA’ PROJECT
Each month, Tegan will be send me a package of tea of her choosing. My challenge? To come up with something in the kitchen using that tea! And by “something”, Tegan and I have both agreed that it will mainly be something baked. Click here to check out all my kitchen creations that incorporate tea (including all my Baking with Tea recipes!)
Disclosure: kitchen frolic received product samples courtesy of Amoda Tea in order for recipes to be developed. This in no way affected our opinions; all opinions expressed are our own. Please read our disclosure policy for further information
I love the addition of tea here, really takes cake to the next level.
Thanks Ayngelina! It was a totally impulsive addition as I was looking for something to bake with the tea. I’m so happy with the way it turned out – I’m hoping to do a few other bundt cakes with other tea flavours soon!