Recipe: Tea Cake with Dark Chocolate & Orange Zest
We love using tea in all types of ways, including traditional steeping, cocktails, mocktails, and of course - dessert! So this delicious Tea Cake with Dark Chocolate and Orange Zest made by Samantha Seneviratne for New York Times Cooking was an absolute hit. We adapted the recipe to experiment with one of our own black teas, Darjeeling Second Flush.
See below for the full recipe to make your own tea cake! This cake serves ~10. 
Ingredients You'll Need:
Frosting:
- 3/4 cup (180ml) heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons loose Alaya Darjeeling Second Flush Black Tea (ground up into smaller bits using a mortar and pestle.)
- 1/4 cup (30g) confectioners' sugar
- 1/2 cup (115g) mascarpone cheese
Cake:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (190g) flour
- 1 tablespoon loose Alaya Darjeeling Second Flush Black Tea
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- the zest of 1 orange
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (45g) chopped dark chocolate
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Step 1:
Prepare the frosting: In a small saucepan, bring ½ cup/120 milliliters heavy cream to a simmer over medium-high heat. Stir in the tea, remove from the heat, cover and let stand for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. Strain the tea through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding the solids, and chill the remaining cream until completely cold, at least 1 hour.
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Step 2:
Prepare the cake: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, tea, baking powder and salt.
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Step 3:
In large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the orange zest and beat to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the flour mixture on low, until just combined, then beat in the milk. (Don’t overmix.) Add the chocolate and fold it in using a spatula. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake just until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for about 15 minutes. Then tip the cake out onto the rack to cool completely.
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Step 4:
To finish the frosting, add the remaining ¼ cup/60 milliliters cream and the confectioners’ sugar to the tea cream. With an electric mixer on medium, beat the cream mixture until medium-stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the mascarpone and beat just until stiff peaks form. (Do not overmix.) Top the cake with the frosting to serve. Store leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 3 days; let come to room temperature before serving.
Want to experiment yourself? Pick up a pouch of Darjeeling Second Flush here and get started.
