Earl Grey Sponge with Lemon Buttercream Icing

These are a beautiful summery, mid-afternoon cupcake. The earl grey gives them a beautiful richness while the lemon adds something a bit special and tangy to them. Don't be shy with the amount of lemon you put in your frosting, if you think it needs more, add it, just be aware you will also need to increase the amount of icing sugar you use.

      I opted to use blue gingham cases and a simple, chocolate silver heart dragée on the top, because it's a quintessentially British mouthful and deserves to be treated as such :)

My Recipe (Makes around 16 cakes)

(For The Sponge)

5 Earl Grey teabags
100ml just boiled water
80g butter
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
200ml semi skimmed milk
2 large eggs

(For The Frosting)

50ml semi skimmed milk
500g icing sugar
160g butter
2 tbsp lemon juice

• The only thing I will point out is that while mixing your sponge ingredients together, you should leave you teabags soaking in their 100ml of water. It worked out nicely that once I had combined all my ingredients, my earl grey was stewed enough to add in.
• Otherwise, set your oven to 190ºC (Gas Mark 5) and cook for 18-20 minutes. Remove until cool and then decorate as you please!

Enjoy, K x