E is for Earl Grey Fudge Cake

I’ve allowed my baking stocks to run low … so this cake had to wait until I went shopping, and even then I ended up buying things that I didn’t need for this cake – I had in my head I needed cocoa (which I ran out of the other day), but I didn’t, instead I needed some plain chocolate, so the cake had to wait for a few days until my next visit to the shops!

This cake can be found in Baking Heaven’s (Spring 2015) magazine and also on the Divine Chocolate‘s website.  I have set out the recipe below, as I did make a few changes to this, but not many.  They finish the cake off with some Earl Grey Dust, but due to the fact I had family members hovering around waiting to try the cake, i didn’t get to put this on the top.  Perhaps if I make it again, I will.

Ingredients

• 6 Earl Grey teabags
• 150ml boiling water
• 100g unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
• 3 large eggs
• 150g soft dark brown sugar
• 100g light muscovado sugar
• 250g self-raising flour
• 120g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp Greek yoghurt

For the Earl Grey Cream

• 2 Earl Grey tea bags
• 100ml boiling water
• 3 tbsp muscovado sugar
• 250g cream cheese

For the Chocolate Icing

• 150g dark chocolate
• 100ml double cream
• 3 tbsp honey

Method

1. Grease a 23cm deep round tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas Mark 4
3. Place the 6 Earl Grey teabags into a cup and pour over the boiling water.  Leave to ‘soak’ for 5 minutes.  Squeeze and remove the teabags and leave the liquid to cool for a while.
4. Weigh out and place all the other ingredients in a bowl, including the tea, and mix (either using a stand mixer or electric hand whisk) until all the ingredients are well blended and you have a smooth batter.
5. Pour the mixture into the tin and level the top.  Pop the cake into the oven for approximately 50 minutes.  My cake actually took 45 minutes –  at which point a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake came out clean.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 2 hours.
6. To make the Earl Grey Cream make the tea as above, but this time use a small saucepan (I only used 2 teabags this time, although the original recipe states 4 teabags).  Add the sugar and bring the mixture to a boil for a few minutes or until it has reduced to a syrup.  Allow to cool for around 10 minutes.  Whisk in the cream cheese and put to one side.
7. Remove the cake from the tin and cut it into 3 layers.  Place the bottom layer on a plate and spread this layer with half of the Earl Grey cream.  Put the middle layer on top and spread the top of this with the remaining cream.  Finally put the top of the cake on.
8. To make the icing, break the chocolate in bowl or saucepan and add the cream and honey.  Either melt over a low heat on the hob or put in the microwave until the chocolate has melted.  Whisk the mixture to bring it together.  Leave for around 10 minutes to cool slightly.
9. Once the icing has cooled, pour onto the top of the cake and (with a little help) allow it to drizzle over the sides.
10. Allow the icing to set and then cut and enjoy.

You really do only need a thin slice of this cake as it is very, very rich and quite sickly if I’m honest.  You can definitely taste the Earl Grey tea and I’m glad that I didn’t use 4 teabags in the cream.  You can also taste the honey in the chocolate icing, so if you’re not too keen on honey, then I suggest you either leave it out or perhaps swap it with golden syrup.  You definitely need to eat this with a fork – please don’t try to eat it with your fingers as my husband did ..