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Orange, almond and earl grey cake
( SERVES 8 )

Herald on Sunday

Photo by Michael Craig

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150 g	Butter, softened
150 g	Sugar
1 tsp	Vanilla extract, good quality
3	Eggs
150 g	Plain flour
2 tsp	Baking powder
70 g	Ground almonds
½ cup	Natural yoghurt
1 Tbsp	Orange zest
2 Tbsp	Orange juice
2 Tbsp	Earl grey tea, ground until fine, I used Fine and Dandy Earl Grey loose leaf tea

225 g	Cream cheese
3 Tbsp	Icing sugar, sifted
½	Lemon, juiced
1 Tbsp	Freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tbsp	Orange zest, plus more to garnish

Preheat oven to 180C fan bake. Grease and line 2 x 20-22cm cake tins with butter and baking paper.
Cream butter and sugar until very pale and fluffy. This takes a good 10-15 minutes. Add the eggs and the vanilla and continue to beat until combined.
Sift over the flour and baking powder, and then add the almonds, yogurt, orange juice and zest, and the tea. Mix gently to combine — the mixture will be quite thick.
Divide mixture evenly into the two tins. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave cakes in their tins for about five minutes, before cooling on a wire rack. Once cool, ice and decorate.
For the icing, beat all ingredients in a mixer (I take my cream cheese out of the fridge about an hour before using) until smooth and creamy. Spread some icing between the two cakes as you layer them, and spread the remaining icing on top. Decorate with orange zest and tea leaves. Serve with your favourite tea.

Comments

sallyhoare100
added 1263 days ago
The Earl Grey tea flavour didn't really come through. Use the whole 250g cream cheese package for the icing or you'll find it on the stingy side. A small cake so use the 20cm cake tins.
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