Ceylon Milk Tea Drip Cake

 

The month of June welcomes in the first birthday celebration in my family and it starts with the youngest in the family. She likes anything strawberry with cream and that was why she have had strawberry and cream cakes for the past 2 years. But this year, she wanted something different but was unsure about the cake flavors. 

This June school holiday, she spent most of her time at home doing homework and revising for her milestone examinations coming in September. We have been taking breaks during lunch and tea break for her to unwind before going back to her routine. I will always make tea and noticed that she loves drinking tea with milk (lots of milk) with anything served.  

So, that's how the idea of this Ceylon milk tea drip cake came about. 

It is also her first birthday that she is able to celebrate with her friends in school as they report to school today for extra holiday classes. She brought some homemade raspberry and white chocolate cookies to share with a few of her best pals. She decorated and personalized each bag of cookies for each of her friends and is most happy to carry them to school to share this morning. 

Happy birthday, Eunice! Mummy wish that you will stay positive, happy and continue to be thoughtful and generous to the people around you. Most importantly, in all things take heart that it is Christ that gives you strength. 

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  Phillipians 4:13

'Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

Enjoying a slice after the birthday song, candle blowing and wish making formalities are done. 'Yum' after her first bite of the cake and that gave me joy. Simple joy!

 

Ceylon Milk Tea Drip Cake

(makes 2 x 6 inches cake layers)

Ceylon Tea Sponge cake layer

Ingredients

20g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 3/4 Tbsp full cream milk, room temperature

90g organic unbleached flour

1 tsp Ceylon black tea, ground and sifted

3 medium eggs, room temperature (57g each with shell)

90g sugar

Steps to bake:

• Preheat oven to 180C. Line the bottom of  two 6" cake pan with parchment paper.
• Mix melted butter and milk in a small bowl and set aside.
• Sieve the flour and Ceylon tea powder twice to aerate and mix the mixture evenly.
• Prepare a small sauce pan of simmering water (over low heat), about 5cm/ 2 inches of water, to create a double boiler for the next step.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, add eggs and sugar. Place it over the simmering water and whisk the mixture with a hand whisk until it is lukewarm or till sugar have dissolved. Rub the mixture between your fingers and if you can feel the sugar grains, continue to whisk over the double boiler until sugar is dissolved. When checking for sugar grain, remove the mixing bowl off the heat.
• When the sugar have fully dissolved, whip the egg sugar mixture, on high speed for about 4 minutes, until the egg mixture is very thick (when the whisk is lifted, the egg mixture forms a soft peak).
• Add the sieved flour and Ceylon tea mixture in 3 parts into the whipped egg mixture. Fold, by hand, with a spatula one-third of the flour until it is incorporated into the egg mixture and repeat till all the flour is added.
• Then fold in the mixture of melted butter and milk.
• Pour the batter equally into the 2 prepared pans. Bake for 14 - 15 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean from the center of the cake.
• Take the cake out from the oven and leave it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Use a paring knife to go around cake and remove the cake from the pan and let it continue cool on the rack for 30 minutes.
• When cake is cooled, level the top of the cake and splice each of the cake into 2 equal layers, so in total, you will get 4 layers of cake. 

Milky Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients

2 medium egg white, room temperature

100g sugar

170g unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

  

Steps to Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

• In the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer set over a saucepan of simmering water, combine egg whites and sugar. Cook, whisking constantly, until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch (about 71 degrees C).
• Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat the egg white + sugar mixture on medium high speed until the mixture is fluffy, glossy and cooled, about 10 minutes.
• Change the whisk to the paddle (k beater) attachment. With mixer on medium-low speed, add butter, a 1/2 a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. (If frosting appears to have separated or looks cuddly after all the butter has been added, do not be worried just continue to beat on medium-high speed and it will turn into a smooth, fluffy and shiny mixture.
• Mix in the condensed milk and vanilla extract until they are fully incorporated into the buttercream.
• Keep the buttercream in an airtight container in a cool place until ready to use. If you are not using it on the same day, keep it in the fridge and take it out 1 hour before using and give it a mix in the mixer with paddle attachment to loosen and fluff up the buttercream.

Ceylon Tea White Chocolate Drizzle

Ingredients

50g white chocolate (I used Callebaut's white chocolate)

50g heavy cream

5 Ceylon tea bags

Steps to make drizzle:

• In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to almost a boil. Place in the tea bags and allow the tea to steep for 15 minutes.
• Strain the tea leaves from the cream and heat the cream to a gentle simmer and add the hot cream to the white chocolate and allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes. 
• Using a spatula, gently stir the cream and white chocolate mixture until it a smooth, uniform mixture is formed. Pour the mixture into a small pipping bag or a small ziploc bag and set it aside at room temperature until ready to use.

Steps to assemble the cake:

• Place one layer of the sponge cake on a cake board. Spread a layer of the milky Swiss meringue buttercream on it and place the second layer of sponge cake on top. Repeat until the layers are all stacked up.
• Frost the top and side of the cake with the remaining buttercream with an offset spatula.
• Place the cake into the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours or overnight before going on to the next step.
• Making the drip effect: Take the pipping bag (Ziploc bag) that is filled with the Ceylon tea and white chocolate mixture, pipe carefully at the circumference of the cake to create the drip effect on the sides of the cake. With the leftover drizzle, fill the top of the cake. 
 

Note:

• The drip effect did not turn out very well as the humidity in the air was just too high (all thanks to the rain this morning). The water vapour in the air started to form on the surface of the cake and the white chocolate drizzle. Soon the cake was literally 'crying' and me too. So much drama! Hahaha... I think I need to turn on the air conditioning the next time when I decorate and take pictures of a drip cake. Lesson learnt. 

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