Mini Bundt Earl Grey Cakes

Today I walked home feeling a little restless and blue - I didn't feel like idling the day away, yet heading out didn't seem like a good idea given the heat.

It suddenly struck me that I had flour, sugar and milk to use up, and a brand new mini bundt pan I'd yet to try out. I considered making chocolate chip mini bundt cakes, but that idea bored me even before I reached my door step. So when I got home, I scanned the larder for anything else I could use.

What I saw were teabags... literally hundreds of them that would probably never see the light of a teacup had I not used them. I quickly found a recipe for earl grey bundt cakes, but then realised I didn't have enough earl grey for the recipe, so I mixed some with english breakfast. However, I realised that the taste of english breakfast was too mild for my liking (it tasted like a very boring teh) so I would recommend using stronger teas like earl grey and chai.

The recipe I used is adapted from the gorgeous food blog le jus d'orange:

Yields 12 mini bundt cakes

Ingredients:

1/3 cup buttermilk (or 1/3 cup milk with 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice)
125g all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 bag earl grey tea (for milk)
3 bags earl grey tea (for batter)
85g unsalted butter
85g granulated sugar
1 regular egg + 1 yolk

1. Heat up the milk with the lemon juice and tea bag until almost boiling, then take off heat. Let it cool or put into ice-bath if you're impatient.
2. Preheat oven to 180degc. Grease bundt pan.
3. Sift flour, and add in all dry ingredients EXCEPT sugar (salt, baking soda, tea).
4. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until fluffy.
5. Add in vanilla and beat again.
6. Beat eggs and add in gradually, making sure it doesn't curdle.
7. Add half the flour mixture and mix. Add in 1/2 the buttermilk and mix. Repeat until all ingredients have just come together, preferably by folding them in gently with a spatula. The final mixture should resemble a creamy gelato.
8. Fill each mini bundt mold until 3/4 full only. Tap pan on countertop to remove trapped air.
9. Bake for 18mins, mini bundts should loosen easily from the pan when cooled.

Tips: 

• Simply multiply ingredients cording to the number of trays you wish to make. To make a full bundt cake, triple the ingredients or follow de jus d'orange's original recipe. 
• If baking several batches, always wipe the tray clean and lightly grease before filling the pan (I forgot to do this and the latter batches came out very brown, but taste wasn't affected)

I'd consider this time's baking adventure a moderate success, considering I'm a lot better at cooking than cakes as I've mentioned before. The mini bundts were slightly crisp around the edges and fluffy on the inside, I quite enjoyed them myself.

Now please excuse me while I cuddle up with two (or more) of these, a cup of tea and a good book.