Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

A light, tall chiffon cake soaked through with the bergamot-scented Earl Grey that the second Earl's tea blend made famous, its crumb perfumed from within by tea-infused milk and finished with a barely-sweet Earl Grey glaze

Origin: London, England

From the journey of Tea.

Earl Grey is the world's most commercially successful flavoured tea: a blend of black tea (classically a combination of Chinese Keemun, Darjeeling, and Ceylon, though today almost exclusively a Ceylon or Assam base) scented with oil of bergamot, extracted from the rind of the bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia), a fragrant citrus fruit grown almost exclusively in the Reggio Calabria region of southern Italy. The origin story attributes the blend to Charles Grey, the 2nd Earl Grey, British Prime Minister 1830–1834, who supposedly received a gift of bergamot-flavoured tea from a Chinese mandarin whose son the Earl's diplomats had rescued from drowning. The story is almost certainly apocryphal: bergamot orange is not grown in China, and the first documented commercial version of the blend was sold by the London tea merchant Jacksons of Piccadilly, who may have created it themselves. What is certain is that Earl Grey became the defining British perfumed tea of the Victorian era and has maintained its position as the world's most recognisable single tea variety. Its specific bergamot aroma, simultaneously citrus, floral, and resinous, makes it one of the most versatile culinary tea flavours, pairing superbly with vanilla, honey, chocolate, and cream. The chiffon cake, an American innovation of the 1920s (invented by Harry Baker, an insurance salesman in California, who sold the recipe to General Mills in 1947), is an ideal vehicle for tea flavours: its oil-based, egg-white-lightened structure produces a supremely tender crumb that absorbs the Earl Grey infusion at every stage of preparation.

Ingredients

Tea

4 tbsp loose-leaf Earl Grey tea (a quality blend with genuine bergamot oil, not artificial flavouring); divided into 2 tbsp for the milk infusion and 2 tbsp for the dry cake

Tea Infusion

200 ml whole milk

Cake

225 g plain flour, sifted
180 g caster sugar, divided into 120g for the yolk batter and 60g for the egg whites
1.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp fine salt
5 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
100 ml flavourless oil (sunflower or light vegetable oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract
0.25 tsp cream of tartar

Glaze

150 g icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp very strongly brewed Earl Grey tea (cooled), for the glaze

Method

Infuse the milk: heat the milk to just below boiling, remove from heat, add 2 tablespoons of the Earl Grey leaves, and steep for 15 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing the leaves to extract all the liquid. Allow the tea-milk to cool to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan (180°C conventional). Use a 25cm ungreased tube pan (angel food cake tin). Do not grease the tin: the batter needs to cling to the sides as it rises.
Whisk together the flour, 120g caster sugar, baking powder, salt, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of dry Earl Grey tea leaves (finely ground or left coarse for texture) in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. Add the egg yolks, oil, tea-infused milk, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with the cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add the remaining 60g caster sugar while whisking at high speed until firm, glossy peaks form.
Fold one-third of the whisked whites into the yolk batter using a large spatula, stirring to lighten. Then gently fold in the remaining whites in two additions, using large sweeping cuts to preserve as much air as possible.
Pour the batter into the ungreased tube pan and smooth the top. Bake for 40–45 minutes until the top is golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Immediately invert the tin onto its legs (or over a bottle neck if the tin has no legs) and cool upside down for at least 1 hour.
Run a thin palette knife around the outside and inside tube of the cooled tin to release the cake. Make the glaze: mix the icing sugar with just enough cold brewed Earl Grey tea to form a thick, pourable glaze. Drizzle over the top of the cake, allowing it to run down the sides.

Notes

This cake keeps well for 3 days wrapped at room temperature; the Earl Grey flavour deepens on the second day. It is an ideal afternoon tea cake, served in slices with a pot of the same Earl Grey that went into it. The bergamot flavour of Earl Grey pairs beautifully with lemon: a teaspoon of lemon zest added to the batter alongside the infused milk produces a Earl Grey and lemon version that is arguably finer than the plain.

The Gastrographer

Name: Earl Grey Chiffon Cake
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 10
Cuisine: England
Ingredients: 4 tbsp loose-leaf Earl Grey tea (a quality blend with genuine bergamot oil, not artificial flavouring); divided into 2 tbsp for the milk infusion and 2 tbsp for the dry cake; 200 ml whole milk; 225 g plain flour, sifted; 180 g caster sugar, divided into 120g for the yolk batter and 60g for the egg whites; 1.5 tsp baking powder; 0.5 tsp fine salt; 5 large eggs, separated, at room temperature; 100 ml flavourless oil (sunflower or light vegetable oil); 1 tsp vanilla extract; 0.25 tsp cream of tartar; 150 g icing sugar, sifted; 2 tbsp very strongly brewed Earl Grey tea (cooled), for the glaze

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control