Earl Grey tea cupcakes

On every family holiday, my father allocates a minimum of TWO days for shopping, which is a very smart system so we don't go nuts on the first day, and also so we don't waste time in shops on the non-shopping days. On the latest holiday to NZ, I went to TOWN in Stevens, Albany Mall. Talk about a dream come true!

See, we don't have shops like that here in Malaysia, and what shops we do have, have (am I the only one who despises using double words like that?) limited supplies and are far too expensive for a poor, entry-level consultant like myself. I bought at least 12 items (including stuff from Living & Giving) for under NZ$100!

Granted, it was also during the Boxing Day sales *snickers*

One of the things I bought were these super cute silicone teacup cupcake molds, and I've been thinking about them ever since. What flavour should I make them? What toppings? When? I decided to go literal and make earl grey tea flavoured cupcakes, with a basic cream cheese frosting (mostly cos I'm lazy...). Oh, for those interested, you can order the molds online here.

I found this brilliant recipe from objetivo cupcake (thank R'hllor for auto translate!) which doesn't require using tea-leaves, straining and so on and so forth. It's quick, easy and doesn't yield very much batter, which is a blessing sometimes as I've already got a backlog of desserts in my fridge and mum's none too pleased about it.

It's been a while since I last typed up a blog post, so I'm a little rusty and the words aren't flowing. Let's just get on with it!

Earl Grey tea cupcakes
Yields 12 large cupcakes

• 125 ml skim milk (use whatever type you prefer)
• 4 bags Earl Grey tea
• 110g butter, room temperature
• 225g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 245g all-purpose flour, sifted
• 2 tsp baking powder

1. Heat the milk in a saucepan until nearly boiling
2. Remove from the heat, infuse the teabags for half an hour, in this time, enjoy a cup of tea and an episode of Friends
3. Preheat the oven to 180C, prepare your cupcake molds
4. Sift the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside
5. Beat the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 4-5 minutes, or until the mixture is light and fluffy 
6. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure all the butter mixes with the eggs
7. Add 1/2 of the flour to the butter mixture, beat at medium speed until fully incorporated
8. Add 1/2 of the milk/tea, beat at medium speed until just combined
9. Repeat steps 7 & 8 until you're done (which means you only repeat each step once, duh, Nabs)
10. Fill your cupcake liners 3/4 of the way up, bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer poked through at an angle comes out clean

Then kick back, and enjoy a cupcake with it's best partner: a cup of Earl Grey tea, and just chill out. Tea solves all problems, doncha know? 

The texture was amazing, slightly denser than the average cake, which is great for a cupcake as it doesn't crumble as much. The flavour of the Earl Grey tea was full-blown and it made for this perfectly citrusy, fragrant aftertaste. The cake on its own without frosting is fab, but with frosting is decadent! I actually gobbled up an entire cupcake sans frosting around midnight last night... bad Nabs.

x Nabs