The earl of grey

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Milk custard
Cuspcake rating: 2.5

I love Earl Grey tea, and it also reminds me of afternoons spent working over my favourite things – travel stories while I was freelance writing, sipping inspiration while designing cushions and rooms, trying to stay awake manning my little store, and many a post-lunch lull editing stories in sleepy Emerald Hill. A box of Twining's is the first thing I bought for my desk drawer, along with a noisy squeeze bottle of condensed milk our British editor used to wrinkle his nose at – I'm sure it offended his English sensibilities! :)

Earl Grey icecreams are one of the flavours I'm most likely to try at icecream parlours as well, so I've been keen on trying this cupcake recipe from Primrose Bakery.

It was surprisingly easy to put together, I think I must be getting used to the process, but it also has slightly fewer ingredients, no baking powder, soda and vanilla extract, so I suppose that's a little less measuring to do.

The tops didn't rise till they cracked as they usually do, I still wonder why my cupcakes always do that. I made sure to beat the butter and eggs for a longer time, and the consistency of the batter did change – it became somewhat stickier – which I have not observed it doing before. Perhaps that made a difference. Or maybe it's because this recipe also calls for a lower temp – 160ºC – than usual. Or the self-raising flour instead of baking powder?

Anyway the batter filled 16 of my 50mm cups, and smelt deliciously of the tea. Texture is good, the top crusts a little and you can taste the sugar, while it's springy and light and slightly fragrant of tea. There seem to be slightly larger air bubbles than usual, but not huge and not detrimental, wonder why it is. The crumb isn't as velvety and fine as the chocolate were, springier instead. Didn't think these should be kept in the fridge, they seem like they'd go heavy, but unfortunately keeping them outside didn't seem to stop them going heavy either. They were much yummier fresh from the oven, but I think this is in part because I didn't bake them long enough, as they looked somehow undercooked the next morning, which is far more offputting when they're cold.

Yet another failed custard buttercream attempt resulted in a milk custard cream topping, which worked although it looked awful – I like taking my Earl Grey with milk, and this is what it tasted like. The wetness of the cream also helped with the heaviness of the cake. Pity, because I think this recipe tasted great out of the oven. Will try cooking them longer next time.