Tea Cakes and Toast Ice Cream are my whimsical creation of a bergamot tea cake with hot toddy icing, toast ice cream and toast dust. Tea Time Anyone!
The Comforts Of Tea And Toast
Simply the sound of the words ‘tea and toast’, bring about a feeling of comfort.
Being married to a Brit, I’ve never seen him start his day without a cup of tea and several pieces of toast with his favorite topping, usually Orange Marmalade.
Starting each day with something that makes you feel good, sets the tone for the remainder of the day.
A Cup Of Tea And A Piece Of Toast For Dessert!
As a kid, I remember my mom always bringing me a cup of tea with toast when I was feeling unwell. It always seemed to work, like magic!
Experiencing the comforts of tea and toast is something I wanted to create in a whimsical dessert.
Consequently, I couldn’t be more please and excited to share this with you, and who knows, maybe this creation will get me an invite to The Great British Bake Off!
After all, the hubby is still a British citizen and that should count for allowing me in, right?
The British History Of Toast With Tea
Certainly you are aware of the sad history of tea and toast in Britain during war times, when most food was rationed?
Despite your social status or wealth during difficult times, everyone found their comfort in a humble cup of tea and a plate of toast.
Surprisingly, in life, it is often the humble things we cling to when times are difficult that bring us great pleasure when life feels abundant again.
Therefore, I couldn’t think of a better dessert to elevate into something whimsical and noteworthy, than cake and ice cream transformed into tea and toast!
Bergamot Tea Cakes
As I have said often, I resort to my Mediterranean roots for flavors, and while Earl Grey is a bergamot tea, I find a stronger flavor of bergamot in a Persian tea I keep in my pantry.
Those lovely citrusy notes found in bergamot tea, are the perfect essence I wanted to capture in my sweet tea cakes.
After all, tea time denotes something more than just a drink to sip on. I would say, for many of us, tea time is a social gathering over tea and little cakes.
So why not actually make a tea cake, made with tea!
I found that steeping the tea in the milk, that would go into my cake recipe, offered just the right amount of tea essence to the tea cakes.
Toast Ice Cream Dessert
Also, I wanted to capture the essence of toast, a smell that fills the kitchen with good feelings, once bread has been toasted.
Perhaps this sounds like an odd flavor for an ice cream, hubby assures me I should make this ice cream often, with or without the cakes.
The transformation of a simple piece of bread, once toasted, intensifies the essence of bread.
Once the toast is blitzed into a powder, it brings both the flavor of toast and a lovely texture to the ice cream.
Definitely going to try making Creme Brûlée, infusing the essence of toast, next time I make it.
Making Ice Cream From Toast
If you’ve made ice cream before, you know it is important to temper egg yolks, in a warm liquid, to about 165 degrees.
This assures that the egg has been cooked enough to eat or drink it, as you will find in my holiday EggNog.
I find this step easy to do in advance, then add the toast dust to the egg and cream after it has been tempered.
Letting it sit in the fridge a day or so, until you are ready to make ice cream with it, assures that it’s cold and the flavors are there.
Hot Toddy Icing On My Tea Cakes
How could I not make the icing for my whimsical cakes, with anything other than a ‘hot toddy’ icing!
We look to a hot toddy as a hot tea with a little booze, maybe some cream, when it’s unusually cold outside or we are feeling a bit under the weather.
It’s a comfort either way and certainly tastes delicious too.
How To Make Hot Toddy Tea Icing
For the hot toddy icing, I simply steep an Earl Grey tea bag, or loose Persian tea, in a cup of rum, adding that tea flavor to the rum.
I’d say, butter is cream, wouldn’t you, and a darn good way to start this whimsical icing?
The making of a buttercream, is often simply soft butter, powdered sugar and whatever flavors you want.
And since the Brits do love a heavy schmear of butter on their toast, why not a butter icing on the cakes, flavored with tea and rum!
After all, the Brits did create the concept of Tea and Toast!
Whimsical Tea Cakes
Okay, so maybe I went a bit over board in trying to make my little cakes look like a tea cup, but hey… it’s whimsical!
I tend to gravitate towards creating food into a whimsical presentation, perhaps from years of raising four kids that loved my ‘funny food’!
You will find several ‘funny foods’ throughout my pages, Carrot Risotto, being a favorite, or my Edible Flower Cookies.
Let’s not forget the cookbook I published, My Muffin Madness, filled with whimsical, some never before created, muffins, 52 of them, to be exact!
Of course, we can’t forget my all time favorite Button Cups that I made on The Great American Recipe, on PBS!
Tea Cakes Into Tea Cups
Wanting to extract as much tea flavor in the cakes as possible, I allowed tea to steep in the milk, that would go into the cakes, overnight in the fridge, then strain.
Also, for an added measure of flavor, I crushed a little tea into the butter, while melting it, and added that to the cake batter.
Once the batter is whisked together, I baked them in muffin tins, designed for large muffins, seeing how I am the Muffin Queen, but you could use small decorative pans as well.
The cakes bake quickly, and once cooled they are ready to spread icing on and enjoy with a scoop of toast ice cream!
Equipment Needed
- Ice cream maker
- Toaster
- Wire whisk
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Mixing bowls
- Small saute pan
- Jumbo muffin tin
- Ice cream scooper
- Food processor
- Stovetop
- Oven
Ingredients Needed
- White bread
- Heavy cream
- Milk
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Butter
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Bergamot tea
- Rum
- Powdered sugar
Tea Cakes and Toast Ice Cream
Equipment
- Ice-cream maker
- Jumbo muffin tin
Ingredients
- 2 White bread slices
- 1 cup Heavy cream
- 2 3/4 cups Whole milk
- 1 1/2 cups Sugar
- 2 Egg yolks
- 16 oz Butter softened, 2 sticks
- 2 Whole Eggs
- 1 3/4 cups Flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 4 Bergamot tea bags
- 1 tbsp Rum
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- Ice Cream – Toast the bread long enough to create a deep brown color. Cool. Whirl in the food processor until the toast becomes a powder.
- Place 2 cups milk into a saucepan on top of the stove along with 3/4 cup sugar and heat it until small bubbles begin to form.
- In a mixing bowl, place the egg yolks. Slowly (very slowly), pour in the hot milk while whisking, little at a time until it is all added.
- Transfer the egg mixture back to the saucepan and continue to simmer on low until the temperature reaches 165 F.
- Remove. Whisk in the cream and 1/4 cup of the toast dust (reserving the rest for garnish). Cool. Place the mixture in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
- Once the mixture is chilled, make it into ice cream with an ice cream machine, following the instructions.
- Scoop out the ice cream and set in a muffin tin, so the portions have time to firm in the freezer, yet are ready to served, already portioned.
- Cake – Place 2 tea bags in the remaining milk to steep for 30-minutes. Remove the tea.
- Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare a large muffin tin, that makes 6 cakes, with butter or non-stick spray.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the 8 ounces of softened butter and remaining sugar together until creamy. Whisk in the whole eggs, and then half of the remaining milk. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients, add the last of the milk, until the batter is blended.
- Transfer evenly to the prepared baking tin and bake until golden on the tops, about 30 minutes. Cool.
- Icing – Place the remaining tea bags into a small cup with the rum and allow to steep for 10 minutes. Remove the tea.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the remaining butter and powdered sugar and slowly pour in the rum until you have a spreadable consistency of icing, adding more sugar if needed.
- Ice the little cakes, sprinkle a little of the toast powder across the icing and set them in the fridge until the icing is set and firm.
- To Serve – Plate the tea cakes individually, place a serving of the toast ice cream on top, and sprinkle a little toast powder on top and serve.
Video
Notes
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.