Quarantine time is the best time to use up any odds and ends that you might be keeping around your house and get creative with those somewhat forgotten ingredients. I’ve had a bunch of some fancy, but altogether too strong black tea hanging around for a while now. I stumbled upon a black tea cake recipe on the internet and the rest is really history. I’m also a huge fan of chai flavors and spices, so I decided to take my cake along such route. Unfortunately, I didn’t have star anise and cardamom, but my cake turned out delicious either way. I’m definitely baking this again and soon.
INGREDIENTS:
(Yields 1 cake / 3.74 EUR)
For the tea infusion:
1 and ½ cups milk (0.30 EUR)
2 tbsp black tea leaves (0.80 EUR)
Thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced (0.20 EUR)
1 tsp whole black peppercorns (0.07 EUR)
1 tsp ground cinnamon (0.07 EUR)
½ tsp ground nutmeg (0.03 EUR)
½ tsp ground cloves (0.03 EUR)
For the batter:
4 tbsp butter, softened at room temperature (0.53 EUR)
½ cup brown sugar (0.20 EUR)
½ cup date syrup or honey (0.40 EUR)
2 eggs (0.40 EUR)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (0.03 EUR)
½ tsp salt (0.01 EUR)
Tea and spice infused milk – see above
2 and ½ cups all-purpose flour (0.17 EUR)
1 and ½ tsp baking powder (0.03 EUR)
1 cup of raisins (0.40 EUR)
Additional:
Butter for greasing the pan (0.07 EUR)
METHOD:
Prepare the tea infusion in advance by mixing together milk, black tea leaves, ginger, peppercorns, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves (also add cardamom and star anise if you have any) in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, turn off heat and allow to sit for about an hour at room temperature to cool down and infuse. After one hour, strain and discard the tea and the spices and set the infused milk aside.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a bread pan, line with parchment paper then set aside. In a bowl, whisk together butter, sugar and date syrup (or honey). Add in the eggs, vanilla and salt, then whisk until everything is well incorporated and creamy. Gradually add in the infused milk and keep on whisking before adding in flour and baking powder. Stir well to evenly combine, until no big lumps remain. Finally, gently fold in the raisins.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and gently shake to even out. Bake for about 50 minutes, until a test skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Immediately transfer the cake to a cooling rack and allow it to cool down completely before slicing and serving.
You can also lightly toast the cake slices and smear them with a bit of butter for some extra deliciousness. Having some good hot tea with this cake is mandatory.
Karantensko doba je definitivno najbolje vrijeme da iskoristimo sve neke ostatke koje su nam nakupili po doma te da smislimo nove kreativne načine kako upotrijebiti te zaboravljene sastojke. Mi doma već neko vrijeme imamo zalihu nekog fensi, ali definitivno prejakog crnog čaja. Na internetu sam bila nabasala na recept za kolač sa čajem i stvari su se onda jednostavno dogodile same od sebe. Također, veliki sam fan chai začina, pa sam svoj kolač odlučila sprovesti tim putem. Na žalost, nismo imali doma zvjezdastog anisa i kardamoma, međutim, i bez njih je kolač ispao jako ukusan. U svakom slučaju, definitivno ga pečem opet i to ubrzo.
SASTOJCI:
(Za 1 kolač / 27.86 kn)
Za infuziju čaja:
1 i ½ šalica mlijeka (2,25 kn)
2 žlice crnog čaja u listićima (6,00 kn)
Komad đumbira veličine palca, oguljen i narezan na ploške (1,50 kn)
1 žličica crnog papra u zrnu (0,50 kn)
1 žličica cimeta u prahu (0,50 kn)
½ žličice muškatnog oraščića (0,25 kn)
½ žličice mljevenih klinčića (0,25 kn)
Za smjesu:
4 žlice maslaca, omekšanog na sobnoj temperaturi (4,00 kn)
½ šalice smeđeg šećera (1,50 kn)
½ šalice sirupa od datulja ili meda (3,00 kn)
2 jaja (3,00 kn)
1 žličica ekstrakta od vanilije (0,20 kn)
½ žličice soli (0,01 kn)
Mlijeko sa infuzijom čaja i začina – vidi gore
2 i ½ šalice glatkog brašna (1,25 kn)
1 i ½ žličica praška za pecivo (0,15 kn)
1 šalica grožđica (3,00 kn)
Dodatno:
Maslac za namastiti kalup za kruh (0,50 kn)
PRIPREMA:
Unaprijed pripremite infuziju čaja tako da u lončiću pomiješate skupa mlijeko, crni čaj, đumbir, papar, cimet, muškatni oraščić i klinčiće (dodajte i zvjezdasti anis i kardamom ako ih imate). Pustite da zavrije, maknite s vatre te ostavite da odmara na sobnoj temperaturi oko sat vremena. Nakon sat vremena procijedite mlijeko i stavite ga na stranu, a čaj i začine bacite.
Zagrijte pećnicu na 180°C. Lagano namastite kalup za kruh, obložite ga papirom za pečenje te stavite na stranu. U zdjeli pomiješajte maslac, šećer i sirup od datulja (ili med). Dodajte jaja, vaniliju i sol, pa miješajte da se sve sjedini i bude kremasto. Postepeno uz miješanje dodajte procijeđeno mlijeko, pa na kraju ubacite i brašno i prašak za pecivo. Miješajte tako da se sve sjedini i ne bude velikih grudica, a za kraj još nježno umiješajte i grožđice.
Smjesu preselite u pripremljeni kalup i lagano protresite da se sve poravna. Pecite oko 50 minuta, sve dok testna čačkalica koju upiknete u sredinu kolača ne izađe čista. Kolač odmah preselite na rešetku i pustite ga da se do kraja ohladi prije nego ga razrežete i poslužite.
Također, kriške kolača možete i lagano tostirati i premazati sa malo maslaca da budu još ekstra fine. Naravno, šalica dobrog vrućeg čaja uz ovaj kolač je obavezna.