Earl Grey Mad Hatters Tea Party Cakes!

These little numbers were what i made for our Mad Hatterz Tea Party and they went down a treat! The Earl Grey really complimented the theme too.

They were inspired by Sarah of North West Nosh's Earl Grey Cake, which was absolutely delicious!

I got the Recipie from The Primrose Bakery Cupcake Cookbook  which was a 20th Birthday present from my Ma'Dukes - best present ever!


It really is such a great book, I would recommend it to anyone! Saves me in my moments of desperation...

Preparation Time: 20 Minutes (extra for decorating)

Cooking Time: 25 Minutes

Makes 12 Cupcakes

Ingredients:

125 ml milk

4 Earl Grey tea bags 

110g unsalted butter

225g granulated sugar

2 large eggs

¼ tsp almond essence (optional)

125g self-rising flour

120g plain flour

Frosting:

115g unsalted butter at room temperature

60 ml semi skimmed milk

1 tsp good quality vanilla extract

500g icing sugar

Few drops of lilac food colouring (i decided to skip this on this occasion)

Royal Icing 

A few days prior to baking/decorating, mould some royal icing into shapes for the theme and store in an lunchbox in a cool, dry place.

I made:

• The Mad Hatters hat, and added green glitter for a bit of jazzy colour
• Cheshire cat smiles and drew on the teeth using an edible food pen
• The white rabbit! (This wasn't easy - you have to use your playdough skills)
• Clocks - same idea as the Cheshire Cat Smiles, use edible pen to draw some quirky times
• A tea cup and saucer - again this was a case of moulding until your happy with the shape, i then wrote 'Time 4 Tea' on the saucer and filled the cup with edible glitter, YUM!

Method

Preheat oven to 180c/ gas mark 4.  Line a 12 hole muffin tray with cupcake cases.  

1. Heat milk in a saucepan over a medium heat until it begins to boil. Remove from the heat and add teabags. Cover with a lid or cling film and leave for about 30 minutes.

2. Cream butter with sugar in a bowl until the mixture is pale and smooth. 3-4 minutes with electric whisk.  Add almond extract and eggs one at a time, mixing WELL after each addition.  Scrape bowl with a spatula to make sure that the mixture is well combined.

3. Combine the flours in a separate bowl. Add a third of the flour to the butter and sugar mixture and beat well. Pour in a third of the milk/tea mixture and beat. Repeat until all the flour and milk has been added to the mixture.

4. Carefully spoon mixture into cupcake cases, filling each one around two-thirds full.  Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes (i usually do a check at about 15-20 minutes). Stick a skewer or knife in the middle to see if it comes out dry, yes? then they are ready! :D Place on wire rack to cool down.

5. To make butter cream, beat butter, milk, vanilla and half the icing sugar until smooth. Gradually add the rest of icing sugar to produce a creamy and smooth consistency. Add a drop of colouring and beat thoroughly. (Add a drop of water/milk if too thick) When cool, ice the cupcakes with a generous swirl and sprinkle with a little extra granulated sugar and add your decorations accordingly! 


Let me know how you get on!

Here are some photos from the party... 

 

Party photos courtesy of Adam Air Photography on the pocket camera ;)