Tea Time: Earl Grey Cupcakes

When I heard that Allie was going to have a Tea Partay, I knew immediately that I wanted to make tea-inspired cupcakes. I knew that she already loved the matcha cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World that I had made a while back, but I wanted to try something new. I had it in my head that I had seen a recipe in one of my many cupcake books for Earl Grey cupcakes, but try as I might I couldn't find one.

With the help of the Internet, I found a recipe for Earl Grey cuppies from Desert Candy. I changed the recipe a little bit. Honestly, I am not really too sure what Earl Grey tea tastes like. That aside, I thought that the cupcakes tasted lovely! I just used the tea leaves and allowed the moisture of the cupcake and the heat of the oven to work its magic. I should have seen if people could have guessed the flavor of the cupcake, but I was too excited to not tell them that it was Earl Grey. When I made it, I just used the tea leaves, but if I were to make it again, I would suggest using a food processor to make the tea finer.

Earl Grey Cupcakes - Adapted from Desert Candy - Makes 24

• 2 sticks butter, unsalted, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 2 heaping tablespoons of Earl Grey Tea

1. Set oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with paper liners.
2. (Optional): Put the tea in a food processor and mix until the tea is a fine consistency. Set aside.
3. Cream the butter in a bowl using an electric mixer on low-medium speed until light and fluffy
4. Slowly add the sugar to the butter. Mix well until well combined and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. In a separate bowl, add the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix the ingredients by stirring with a wooden spoon.
7. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture. Beat well after addition until well mixed.
8. Add the cup of milk. Beat well until well mixed.
9. Add the rest of the flour mixture. Beat until well combined and the batter is homogeneous.
10. Use a wooden spoon to carefully mix the processed tea into the batter. Stir until it is just mixed evenly into the batter
11. Fill the paper liners 1/2-3/4 full with cupcake batter. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. For the mini-cuppies pictured above, I reduced the baking time to 15 minutes.

The cupcakes had a lovely subtle flavor which I paired with Wilton's Lemon Buttercream. Wilton's recipe is a perfect compliment to these cupcakes. It's nice and lemony and not too sweet. It also holds it shape quite well for piping.

For the above pictures, I used a coupler without a tip to make the Hershey kiss shape of the frosting. It could just as easily have been made by cutting the corner of a zip-lock bad and applying pressure evenly and lightly decreasing pressure while lifting up to make the tear drop shape.

For some unknown reason, I had Belle and Sebastian's "For the Price of a Cup of Tea" stuck in my head while baking :)