A cake is something to share

I’ve been baking for many a year, and while I have many old favourites, I also love trying out new things. It is also easy to get complacent about techniques or styles, so it is good to ring the changes and/or go back to basics once in a while. With these two things in mind – trying something new, perfecting technique – I turned to a recipe for Earl Grey Yoghurt Cake on the Bon Appetit site. It also happened to be part of their 10-week Basically Guide to Better Baking, which meant it also had lots of simple handy hints for, well, better baking.

I used t Leaf T’s Earl Grey blue flower for the tea, my favourite Earl Grey, which comes complete with cornflower petals. It is a rich, flavourful tea so I thought it ideal for this loaf cake, where it is central stage.

Whenever I try out new baking, I always stick to the letter the first time, and on this occasion it was the right thing to do. For example, whisking the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda) am sure contributed to the light and fluffy result. I topped the cake with demerara sugar, as turbinado sugar is nigh impossible to get in New Zealand. It still gave a glossy, crunchy topping though.

Verdict: maybe a tad too sweet for me (note to self for next time), but a lovely, fluffy and moist cake. I wonder if it might benefit from a touch of lemon, but the fear is that that would dominate the subtle taste of the cake. I’ve seen Earl Grey and lavender as a cake combination, that I think might work well and worth a try in the future. In the meantime, I give Molly Baz’s cake *****

Footnote: who else irons watching Bon Appetit videos? Or do you watch them to switch off after a stressful day?

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