lemon & earl grey cakes

2 lemons, zest and juice

1 tablespoon baking powder

75g polenta

50g of yoghurt

1 egg

50g of butter, melted

150 g sugar (75g for the drizzle)

2 bags of Earl Grey

100g ground almonds

When I was in bread making mode on the weekend, I ordered loaf tins, because we didn’t have any for some reason, as both of us brought at least one into this household. At least that’s what we thought. Anyway, while I was browsing I stumbled across a pack of four adorable mini loaf tins and knew immediately what to do with them.

When you bake the mini cakes, make sure you definitely make the drizzle too, as they will be too dry otherwise.

First start with making your drizzle: Mix 75g of the sugar with 150ml of water, open your teabags and pour in the earl grey leaves, grate the lemon zest of one lemon into the mix and squeeze in the juice of one lemon. Bring to a boil and turn down the temperature. You want to reduce this to about 150 mililiters, so make sure to check it regularly. The colour will change to a light brown, just like tea. Put it aside and let it cool down.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius.

Beat the remaining sugar with the egg, until light and fluffy. Add the yoghurt, the soft butter, the zest and juice of the second lemon and stir. Add in the almonds, the baking powder and the polenta and leave it for five minutes, so the polenta can absorb a bit of the moisture. In the mean time you can lightly butter your mini loaf tins.

I usually use an olive oil spray, as I dont think it’s necessary to add a lot of fat to new tins, but it depends on your tins obviously. Put your mini loaf tins in the oven and set a timer for 25 minutes.

You want them to turn out light golden, but slightly cracked at the top, otherwise your drizzle will run off to the sides.

Take your mini cakes out of the oven and leave them to cook for ten minutes.

Add your drizzle, spoon by spoon and always wait for the drizzle to soak in, before you add the next spoon. Each cake will need about 2-3 spoons of drizzle. Carefully remove your cakes from the tins and serve them with cream and a nice cup of tea.

If you’re from the UK, teapigs have a really beautiful strong earl grey and darjeeling tea, loose leaves. It is incredibly flavoursome and really mellow. We spend a lot of money on teapigs every month.

Enjoy your cakes!

Hopefully the weather will improve a bit, because they are amazing for a little outdoor-afternoon tea.

Right?!