Earl grey cupcakes with maple cream, orange zest and thyme

I have been trying to find a great earl grey tea cake recipe for ages, so decided to create my own.

I have used a basic cake base (see below) which is my fail-safe, fall-back-on cake base I've been using for years, and added some earl grey tea infused water and milk, and maple vanilla cream. I have fresh thyme growing in my garden, so thought it might add another element of earthiness to the cakes along with the tea. I also have rosemary growing too, but was unsure whether it might be a little too overpowering. I also grated some orange zest over it too, to go with the earl grey bergamot flavour. Don't add any earl grey tea leaves to the cakes – I find them gritty and they ultimately take away from the delicate tea taste.

Basic cake recipe

• 2 Earl Grey tea bags

• 60ml (1/4 cup) boiling water

• 80ml (1/3 cup) milk

• 100g butter, at room temperature

• 2 eggs

• 160g (2/3 cup) caster sugar

• 190g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour

Preheat oven to 180c and place 24 cupcake patty pans into a tray.

Infuse the tea with the water for 3 mins, discard teabag and add milk.

Add the tea mixture to the flour, butter, eggs, and sugar, and beat on low for 2 mins then medium for 2 mins.

Add to patty pans, cook for around 20 mins, but check after about 18.

Allow to cool, then dollop on the cream, thyme and orange rind.

Cream

• 1 cup of cream

• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Whip all together until soft peaks form. Grate orange zest and place thyme leaves on top.