Chocolate Earl Grey Bundt Cake

As with every IMAX Thanksgiving potluck, I test out my annual holiday dessert that I make a number of times across the various social gatherings.  This year, I picked a not-so-seasonal dessert and went with the chocolate and earl grey combination.  I had seen a number of different recipes pairing those two flavors together, but the Real Simple one caught my eye.

The texture of the bundt cake is great.  You get a nice crust that’s reminiscent of a brownie, though no where near as thick, and the inside is moist.  I’ve made this with full-fat sour cream subbed for the yogurt, used nonfat greek yogurt, and whole fat regular. There wasn’t a big difference in flavor with any of those versions.

Here’s the recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 Earl Grey tea bags or 2 tablespoons loose Earl Grey tea leaves
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• Powdered sugar (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8-cup fluted tube pan with cooking spray.
2. Brew the tea in the water 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags or strain the leaves and set the brewed tea aside.
3. Using a mixer, beat the butter, eggs, and granulated sugar until fluffy. Blend in the chocolate.
4. Beat in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, yogurt, and brewed tea. [NOTE: If you use a stand mixer to blend the ingredients in this step, it will make a huge mess even if you start it on low.  I’ve made this four times to date, and it’s happened every single time. I would recommend whisking everything in until everything is just combined.]
5. Pour into pan. The batter will be a little runny.

   

6. Bake 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out with only a few crumbs attached. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Turn out of pan and cool.
7. Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

   

I ended up making 5 of these between Thanksgiving and Christmas between all of the family dinners and potlucks.  I would say the only pain is cleaning the crevices of the bundt pan that ALWAYS have crumbs stuck to them!