I had been toying with this particular thing in my mind for some time. And then came the sudden trip of DH to the west coast. My BIL has a penchant for teas.. Of all kinds. I vividly remember my SIL ( being a non tea drinker) enthusiastically making a cup of strong ginger tea for us, only to discover that it turned out to be the dark chocolate tea kind. Oh well ! Knowing his fondness for these and more so because I was experimenting to get the eggless variety right, and buoyed by the recent success of Thandai Chai Masala Cake, this was born – About 4 hrs before my DH boarded the flight !
Black Tea Spice Cake
Ingredients
- Self rising APF : 2 cups
- Non-Fat Sweetened Condensed Milk : 14 oz can
- Butter : 1/2 cup (Melted)
- Baking Soda : 1/2 tsp
- Walnuts: 1/2 cup chopped
For Making the Black Tea Concoction:
- Water: 1/2 cup
- Milk 1% or 2% : 1 cup
- Black Tea : 6-8 tea bags or 3-4 tsp of black tea
- Fresh Ginger : 2 inches. finely grated
- Black cloves : 4
- Green cardamom: 6
- Black peppercorns : 6 . Crushed finely
- Fennel seeds: 1 tsp (optional)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spay oil and dust flour on the pan of your choice. I used a 9 inch round pan for this.
- Sift the APF and Baking Soda together and whisk it.
Making the Tea concoction:
- Boil the water with the ginger, cardamom ,cloves and pepper initially for a few min. The idea being to let the spices steep in.
- Add in 6-8 tea bags or add 3-4 tsp of black tea and boil for a 2 min or so.
- Now add in the 1 cup of milk and let it all boil so the flavors are well steeped in.
- Filter this very thick concoction out and you should have a cup of the final extract in measurement
- Let this cool down.Should be luke warm in about 10 min or so.
Preparing the batter
- Melt the 1/2 cup of butter and add it in along with the thick tea concoction and condensed milk to the dry flour mix.
- Stir it in gently so the flour is completely incorporated.
- Now add in half the chopped walnuts in this and stir it in.
- Add in the batter into the pan.
- Add in the rest of the chopped walnuts – sprinkle on the surface
Baking:
- Bake it in the oven for 38 min or so at 350 deg F.
- This will be a very moist , flavor intense , slight dense but very soft cake.
