Earl Grey Pound Cake

This earl grey pound cake is soft, tender, and buttery. It has plenty of earl grey flavour from the earl grey infused cream and tea leaves. It's a cozy and simple loaf cake to make when you need a pick-me-up!

If you're a lover of earl grey tea and earl grey flavoured desserts, you'll love this earl grey pound cake. Take it from someone who tries to infuse every dessert with earl grey (me!).

After making my Earl Grey Chiffon Cake and Earl Grey Lemon Cake, I needed another similar cake in my life. A pound cake was great for this because it's baked in a loaf pan and easy to just slice and enjoy without too much fuss. Thus, this earl grey loaf cake was born. It's just as delicious as I had hoped it would be.

Why you'll love this recipe

• This earl grey pound cake is fragrant and full of earl grey, bergamot, and vanilla flavours.
• The cake texture is dense but soft and buttery!
• Pound cakes baked in a loaf pan are easy to make and low maintenance. Just slice and serve!
• When served warm, the cake is so tender and almost melts in your mouth.

Tools

• Small pot - You'll need a small pot and a stovetop to make the earl grey-infused cream. You probably already have one at home. A small one works best so that the tea bags stay submerged in the cream.
• 9x5" loaf pan - This recipe is scaled for a standard loaf pan. Another common loaf pan size is 8.5x4.5" which you can also use with no adjustments to the recipe amounts. You'll just end up with a taller loaf and you might need to bake it for a few minutes longer.
• Electric hand mixer - You'll need a hand mixer or a stand mixer to cream the butter and sugar for the batter. Everything comes together easier and quicker with a hand mixer. If you don't have one, I highly recommend picking one up! You can also use a whisk or spatula but just make sure your butter is very soft.
• Fine mesh sieve - Since cake flour tends to clump, you'll need a sieve to sift the flour mixture into the cake batter.

Ingredients

• Heavy cream - You'll be steeping this with earl grey tea leaves to infuse it with tea flavour and use it as the liquid in the pound cake batter. Heavy cream makes a very rich pound cake. You can also use whipping cream, which has a lower fat content.
• Earl grey tea bags - Use your favourite earl grey tea bags or tea leaves. If you're using loose tea leaves, use 1 teaspoon of tea leaves per tea bag in the recipe.
• Cake flour - Cake flour contains less gluten and will make a softer cake with a finer crumb. This is particularly important here since pound cake is typically a denser cake. You want it to be dense but still soft.
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Unsalted butter - This should be softened to room temperature before using it in order to be able to cream it together with the sugars. The act of creaming aerates the butter and sugar mixture for a fluffier cake.
• Brown sugar - We're using more brown sugar than granulated sugar just because I enjoy the caramelized brown sugar flavour paired with earl grey tea. You can adjust the ratio of brown sugar to granulated sugar as you like if you keep the total amount of sugar the same.
• Granulated sugar
• Eggs - These should be at room temperature before using them in the recipe. Room temperature eggs mix more seamlessly into the batter and prevent the butter from solidifying on contact or curdling.
• Vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar
• Milk - Use any dairy or non-dairy milk. You only need a small amount to make the icing so it doesn't matter what kind you use. You could even use the same heavy cream or whipping cream you used for the earl grey infusion or even water for a more translucent glaze.

How to make an earl grey pound cake

For the earl grey-infused cream

Steep cream: Fill a small pot with heavy cream. Submerge the tea bags in the cream. Heat on medium-high heat until it comes to a simmer. Cover, remove from the heat, and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Strain tea bags: Press the earl grey-infused cream out of each tea bag (make sure you get it all!) and discard the tea bags. Set the cream aside to cool.

For the pound cake

Prep: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x5" loaf pan with a sheet of parchment paper, leaving overhangs on the sides. Secure the parchment paper to the pan with metal binder clips. Set aside.

Mix dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, stir together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the contents of an earl grey tea bag. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugars: In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat softened butter until it becomes very creamy. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and cream together until fluffy.

Mix wet ingredients: Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing in between each addition. Finally, add the earl grey cream you steeped earlier. If your steeped amount is less than 210g, at extra heavy cream to top it up. Mix until combined.

Sift in flour mixture: Use a fine mesh sieve to sift the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Use a spatula to fold together until just combined.

Fill pan: Transfer the batter to your lined pan. Use a spatula to smooth it into the corners of the pan.

Bake: Bake for about 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for at least 30-60 minutes before lifting it out of the pan by the parchment paper overhangs.

For the glaze

Mix glaze: In a small bowl, stir together powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until it becomes a thick but pourable consistency. If it's too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar. if it's too thick, add a bit more milk.

Pour glaze: Pour the glaze over the loaf and let it drip down the sides or help it along by smoothing it with a spatula.

Slice: Use a serrated knife to cut the loaf into slices and enjoy warm!

Storage

This earl grey pound cake can be stored in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Reheat leftovers in a toaster oven or microwave to soften and enjoy warm.

Freezing

Leftovers can be frozen in an airtight container or wrapped well in plastic wrap and/or aluminum foil and frozen for up to 1 month.

Thaw them in the fridge overnight and reheat them in a toaster oven or microwave to soften and enjoy warm.

Tips for success

• Use room temperature ingredients. As always, using room temperature ingredients whenever indicated in a recipe is key for the best texture in baked goods. And sometimes completely necessary technique-wise like when creaming butter and sugar together. Try doing that with cold butter and it won't go very well unless you have a strong industrial mixer.
• Press all the earl grey-infused cream out of the tea bags. Since the cream is so thick, it tends to get trapped inside the tea bags and tea leaves. Your infusion will likely look like nothing happened until you press all the infused liquid out of the tea bags. It also helps if you swish the tea bags around in the cream, press it all out, and repeat a few times to get the most out of the tea.
• Enjoy this pound cake warm. As you know, butter solidifies when it's cold and even at room temperature. Since pound cake contains a higher butter ratio than other cakes, it tends to become firm when it cools especially after the first day. Always reheat the slices before serving for the optimal soft and melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Frequently asked questions

More earl grey recipes to try

• Earl Grey Chiffon Cake
• Earl Grey Bubble Tea
• Earl Grey Lemon Cake
• Earl Grey Crème Brûlée
• Earl Grey Almond Croissants
• Earl Grey Hot Chocolate

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