Those Cakes We Like … Are Baking With Tea, And Rum!

First the cake was Indian, now it’s Jamaican. Who knows what’s going on.

Now those are cakes we like!

I don’t know if you’re aware, but this week is going to feature a very important, and hopefully historic, event. Most of the world will be watching the election in the USA with bated breath, hoping that sanity will prevail and the American people will elect an immensely qualified candidate, who just happens to be a woman, rather than a swiftly deteriorating mango coloured buffoon.

There will be two potential outcomes once the votes are counted, and the results announced;

A. We celebrated the election of Kamala Harris as the 47th President of the United States of America, we dance in the streets, eat cake, and party like hangovers do not exist.

B. We’re faced with a nightmare scenario in which eating ourselves into a four-year food coma becomes an attractive idea.

I’m here to help!

My choice of cakes for this month celebrates the heritage of MVP Kamala Harris. There’s an Indian Masala Chai Cake, and a Jamaican Butter Rum Cake, both of which include a caramel element — because we all need a bit of sweetness to get us through the nervous waiting period.

Chai and rum have a lot in common with each other. Both have a history that spans thousands of years, and both can trace their origins back to Asia. Chai is the Indian word for tea, famously grown and brewed in Asia for over 3000 years. Rum can also trace its origins to Asia, and India in particular, as it was here that sugar cane was initially developed in 350 BC, and it was here that early forms of rum were developed before sugar production was brought to the Caribbean during the 15th century and the modern version of rum was developed. The history of the sugar trade in the Caribbean is well known, and too much of a heavy topic of discussion for what I hope will be a joyful, celebratory set of recipes.

The earliest use of tea leaves was for medicinal drinks, something else it has in common with rum, although both are now drunk extensively for pleasure. Tea is widely considered the national drink of Great Britain, and for a considerable part of its history, the British Navy was an important market for the rum industry. Rum is, of course, a very popular drink in the USA and worldwide, a staple in every bar, and a key ingredient in many cocktails, as Hooper tells us regularly. This Butter Rum Cake is a traditional Jamaican recipe, with a delicious, coconutty twist. I won’t dwell too much on the USA’s history with tea, except to say that this traditional Indian Chai Cake is way too good to throw into the harbour.

I’m just hoping that a double hit of tea and rum is just the right medicine to clear up the bacterial infection that is Donald J. Trump.

For my fellow diabetics, your carbohydrates for these cakes are as follows:

Masala Chai Cake – 12 servings at 79.9g of carbs each, or 958.8g for the entire cake.

Jamaican Butter Rum Cake – 10 servings at 87.6g of carbs each, or 876g for the entire cake.

Your Equipment

Stand mixer and/or hand mixer — you really do need at least one of these things for these recipes, there is a lot of mixing involved.

Bundt cake tin — medium sized (for the butter rum cake)

8 inch cake tin (for the chai cake)

Digital kitchen scales

Fine sieve

Measuring bowls/jars

Rubber spatula

Piping bag

Star shaped piping tip

Palette knife

Saucepan

Frying pan

The Masala Chai Cake

Ingredients

Syrup (make in advance):

100 g brown sugar

100 ml water

Masala Chai (make in advance):

10 masala chai tea bags, or 10 regular tea bags and 8 tsp chai masala

425 ml whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Masala chai cake:

285 g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

170g white sugar

150 ml vegetable or sunflower oil

250 ml brewed masala chai

1 tbsp ground flaxseeds

2 tbsp water

Vanilla Buttercream:

280g confectioner’s sugar

140 g butter

¼ tsp vanilla extract

1-2 tbsp whole milk

Salted caramel:

175 g brown sugar

300 ml heavy cream

50 g butter

Salt (to taste)

Dried rose petals to decorate (optional)

The Important Bit:

First, make your syrup by combining  your brown sugar and water in a saucepan and simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved. Place on a high heat and boil for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. The syrup should darken slightly and reduce. Set aside to cool and transfer to a measuring jug, jar, or other storage vessel.

Give your saucepan a clean and then brew your masala chai. Place the milk, vanilla, and tea bags into the pan and simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes. This allows the chai to concentrate and reduce. Strain the chai through a sieve and allow to cool, there should be roughly 250 ml of chai once strained.

Preheat your oven to 320F / 160C.

Mix your ground flaxseeds with 2 tbsp water and set aside for 5 minutes to allow it to hydrate.

Whisk the oil, flaxseed mixture, and sugar together using a stand mixer or hand mixer until the resulting mixture thickens. Add the cooled chai mixture and whisk again.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Sieve the dry mix into the wet and fold in using your rubber spatula.

Grease and line a 7” cake tin, pour in your cake batter and bake for 50 minutes. You can check that the cake is cooked through by inserting a wooden skewer into the centre, if it comes out clean that means the cake is cooked, if not then simply return to the oven for another 10 minutes and test again.

Allow the cake to cool, for 10 minutes. Use a wooden skewer to poke holes in the cake and pour over the cooled syrup. Leave for another 10 minutes to allow the syrup to soak into the cake before loosening the edges with a knife and removing it from the tin and placing it on a wire rack to cool completely.

Make your buttercream by whisking the butter until it is pale and creamy. Gradually add the confectioner’s sugar a spoonful at a time, whisking between each spoonful. Now add your milk and vanilla extract, and whisk for another minute or two.

Spread the buttercream over the outside of your cooled cake, using a spatula to smooth it. Place any remaining buttercream into a piping bag with a star piping tip and set aside for later.

Chill the cake in the refrigerator whilst you make your salted caramel.

Add the cream, brown sugar, and butter to a saucepan and simmer on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Keep stirring the entire time to avoid the caramel burning.  Turn up the heat and allow the caramel to boil for 3-5 minutes. This should allow the caramel to thicken. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.

Spread your salted caramel over the top of the cake.

Carefully drizzle the caramel around the rim of your cake, allowing it to drip down the side in places. The chilled cake should ensure that the caramel sets quickly. Now take your piping bag of buttercream and pipe 12 buttercream stars around the outside of the cake. Scatter dried rose petals across the middle of the cake if you wish.

Serve and enjoy.

Jamaican Coconut Butter Rum Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:

125 g unsalted butter (softened)

250 g self-raising flour

30 g cornflour / cornstarch

3 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

4 eggs

200 ml whole milk

200 ml coconut rum (NOT Malibu! Seriously, Hooper will get you!)

1 tbsp vanilla extract

6 tbsp vegetable oil

300 g white sugar

75 g (1 packet) instant vanilla pudding mix / custard powder

For the rum caramel icing:

300 ml heavy cream

175 g light brown sugar

50g butter

50ml coconut rum (remember what I said about NOT MALIBU!)

100g confectioner’s sugar

60 g crushed walnuts (toasted) to decorate

The Important Bit:

Preheat your oven to 320F/160C. Grease and lightly flour your bundt pan (those are the ring-shaped pans, or you can place a tin can filled with water in the centre of a large cake tin to make an improvised bundt pan).

In a large measuring bowl, combine your self-raising flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Using your stand mixer and a balloon whisk, whisk together your eggs, milk, rum, vanilla extract, and 3 tbsp of the vegetable oil. Transfer to a separate bowl and quickly clean the stand mixer.

Now use the stand mixer and balloon whisk to cream the sugar and butter until they are pale and fluffy. Slowly add the flour mixture, followed by the remaining 3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Continue to mix on a medium setting for a few minutes until the mixture has a sandy texture. Now add the instant pudding/custard mix and the egg mixture and mix on a medium setting until the batter is smooth and well combined.

Pour the cake batter into the bundt tin and bake for 50-60 minutes, use a wooden skewer to check it is fully cooked.

Pour your cake batter into your bundt tin.

Allow to cool for around 10 minutes before loosening the edges with a knife and removing the cake from the tin. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Make a caramel (see previous recipe). Add 100g of confectioner’s sugar to your caramel and whisk until smooth (use a hand whisk or stand mixer for this).

Toast the walnuts in a frying pan on a medium-low heat for around 5 minutes.

Drizzle the caramel icing over the cooled cake, and top with the toasted walnuts.

All ready for the walnuts.

Serve and enjoy with one of Hooper’s delicious, rum-based cocktails.

I hope to see you all on the other side of this election, hopefully we will all be celebrating together soon.

Join me in December, when I plan to share a recipe for Profiteroles, possibly with a nice, boozy twist for the Festive Season.

As always, don’t forget to Tip Your Wonkette if you are able to.

Or, if I’m making you hungry, but you really don’t feel like baking, check out Martie — keeping good food out of landfill and saving you money at the same time.