Earl Grey Chiffon Cake with Lavender Meringue Icing – a light and airy delight of a cake! Earl grey and lavender are a beautiful pairing that is perfect for the tea lover! This makes a lovely cake for spring celebrations such as Easter, Mother’s Day, bridal showers, or birthdays.
Two years ago I did a thing. That thing being I published my first ever blog post introducing myself to the foodie world and published my first ever recipe. It’s absolutely wild that two years have passed since then! The time has flown by, and it has been a great couple of years putting my creativity, cooking and baking skills to the test.
It was many years ago that I first dreamed up about starting a blog. I believe I was in my mid teenage years and was starting to have more of an interest in food and trying different things. I read a variety of different blogs on the internet, often checking every day to see what had been newly posted.
It took me around 9 or 10 years until I actually started my own. Why the delay? I’m not too sure. Life happened. I made excuses. Didn’t think I would have what it takes, didn’t think anyone would care. Eventually I figured, who cares? Blogging was still on my mind after all those years and I knew it was something I had to give a try.
I kicked things off with these Earl Grey and Lemon Muffins, a flavour combo I had come to love from those early days when I would look at recipe after recipe online. Last year for my first blogiversary I kept with the earl grey theme and made these cute little Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream. I wanted to keep with the tradition for at least one more year. It took me a while to decide what to make, there are just so many options! However, I am really happy with what we ended up with here…
Earl Grey Chiffon Cake with Lavender Meringue Icing
This earl grey chiffon cake recipe is pretty much everything you can dream for in a cake. It’s light and fluffy. Decadent, without being heavy. Sweet but not make-your-teeth-hurt sweet. And the icing. Oohh, the icing. It’s dreamy, fluffy, creamy icing.
This is the best earl grey cake recipe I’ve ever made, if I do say so myself.
I wanted to switch up from the earl grey and lemon pairing and try something a little different. Earl grey has some floral flavours to it, which lavender happens to pair very well with it. I had some dried lavender buds that I had picked up while wandering around downtown Calgary this past fall that I figured would be perfect for this. I had happened upon a store called The Cookbook Co. which is where I got mine, but I know you can also find lavender online.
What is Chiffon Cake?
Lets talk a little about what a chiffon cake is. I know not everyone who visits my little blog is an experienced baker – neither am I to be honest, I just like to experiment!
A chiffon cake is a very light type of cake made with oil, plenty of eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and flavourings. Rather than using a traditional fat such as butter or shortening, vegetable or canola oil is used. The fluffy texture is achieved by having the egg whites beaten separately until stiff and then folded into the cake batter.
It is similar in some ways to an angel food cake, but is bit sturdier and a little more moist. Chiffon cakes are also often cooked in tube pans as angel food cakes are (like a bundt cake pan for example). It may seem daunting at first to make this type of cake, but if you can whip egg whites until they are stiff then you can totally make this cake!
Italian Meringue Icing – my new favourite icing
Italian merginue is made by beating egg whites until they are soft, fluffy peaks and then slowly mixing in a boiling sugar syrup. It takes a little effort, but those soft pillowy clouds of icing are worth it. Italian meringue icing is the perfect type of icing to go with chiffon cake. It isn’t heavy or overly sweet. It is wonderfully light making it pair well with this type of cake.
I don’t know why I have never made this type of icing before, but I am now obsessed with it. I definitely was eating it by the spoonful all on its own. It’s taste and texture reminded me of marshmallow cream.
Thank you for celebrating with me!
I’d like to say a very heartfelt thank you to those of you who have supported my endeavors with this blog. I have made so many new friends, both online and in real life, as a result of this blog and I couldn’t be happier about that. Every time you view one of my recipes, leave a comment, hit that like or follow button on social media, it puts a smile on my face. So thank you, so very much, and I look forward to many more years of doing this!
Now lets go eat cake!
If you make this Earl Grey Chiffon cake with Lavender Meringue Icing please let me know! You can leave a comment below, rate it, post on the Zest & Simmer Facebook page or share photos on Instagram using the hashtag #zestandsimmer. I am always thrilled to hear from you!
Earl Grey Chiffon Cake with Lavender Meringue Icing
Ingredients
For the Earl Grey Chiffon Cake:
- 5 bags earl grey tea
- 3/4 cup water
- 7 large eggs , separated and at room temperature
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
For the Lavender Meringue Icing:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp dried lavender buds
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla
- purple food colouring , to desired colour
Instructions
For the Earl Grey Chiffon Cake:
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Boil the water and add two of the tea bags and allow tea to steep. Allow to cool while completing the next steps.
- In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and remaining 3 bags of tea (cut tea bags open and dump leaves into mixture).
- In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, brewed tea (cooled), canola/vegetable oil and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture and beat until fully combined.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, add the egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold 1/4 of the beaten egg whites into the batter. Then gently fold in the remainder of the beaten egg whites.
- Gently spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch bundt cake pan. Cut through the batter with a knife to remove air pockets.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes until the top springs back when lightly touched. Immediately invert pan after removing from the oven, and allow to cool for at least 1 hour.
- Gently run a knife around the sides and center tube of the pan, and removed the cake to a serving plate.
For the Lavender Meringue Icing:
- While the cake is baking stir together the sugar and lavender buds together in a tupperware container. Close lid. This will help infuse the sugar with the lavender flavour.
- While cake cools, in a sauced pan stir together the sugar with lavender buds, water and cream of tartar. Cook over medium high heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbling. Remove from heat.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer whisk together the egg whites and vanilla until soft peaks form. Gradually pour the sugar mixture through a sieve (to strain out lavender) into the mixing bowl.
- Continue whisking on high speed untill stiff peaks form, about 7-10 minutes. Gently stir in food colouring until the icing has reached your desired colour.
- Once cake has fully cooled, ice entirely around the sides and centre. Serve and enjoy. Cake should be stored in an air-tight container and kept in the fridge.
Silly me I followed the recipe a little too closely and didn’t add the sugar to the cake because it doesn’t day when to add it in the directions. I guess it is a good thing I made it the day before, and I’ll try again tomorrow.
Hi Poppy, I am so sorry about that! Thanks for catching that error, I have amended the recipe. The sugar should be added in with the flour, baking powder and salt.
I made this cake today for my boyfriend’s birthday, and he LOVED it! My favorite part about the cake was the icing. The flavor was so subtle and the texture was so delicate. Additionally, given that we are both lactose intolerant, this cake was a winner in our books. Thank you for sharing this recipe and making my boyfriend’s day extra special.
Hi there, thank you so much for your kind words!!! I am so happy that the two of you enjoyed this cake and it helped make your boyfriend’s birthday special. ❤️