These earl grey cream cheese cupcakes with edible gold are the perfect balance of delicate and strong flavours. An earl grey cake with a fine crumb is paired with fool-proof cream cheese frosting and decorated with edible gold.
Earl Grey Cream Cheese Cupcakes
I never thought to put earl grey cream cheese cupcakes together before until one of my friends requested it for her son’s 100 day birthday cake. So I took her suggestion and ran with it. And it worked!
These earl grey cream cheese cupcakes with edible gold are the perfect balance of delicate and strong flavours. The floral notes of earl grey tea are delivered through finely ground tea leaves that are speckled throughout the dough and it’s infused in the milk as well. In beautiful contrast is the rich and tangy flavour of the cream cheese.
The cake has a fine crumb which melts with the cream cheese frosting as you take the first bite. To elevate the modest appearance of these earl grey cream cheese cupcakes, you can use a rosette swirl with multiple colours and touches of edible gold flakes.
How to Decorate Cupcakes
You can decorate these earl grey cream cheese cupcakes however you choose. The multi-coloured frosting and gold flakes are not necessary but they do add a nice glam factor. A simple vanilla or milk chocolate frosting would work well too with the earl grey!
If you want something simpler, you can leave them unfrosted because the flavour of the cake itself really speaks for itself and would make a great snack cake.
You can also make this into a layered cake! This recipe is flexible enough to be made into cupcakes (mini or regular) or cakes, you just need to adjust the quantity. If you going to make a tall layer cake though, I would warn that cream cheese isn’t the most stable frosting and is more prone to melting.
A few notes about this recipe:
- For a layered cake, you will need to double the recipe.
- Edible Gold Leaf. There are two categories: loose leaf vs. transfer leaf. Transfer leaf is where the gold is actually adhered to the paper that it comes on. It’s easier to work with as you don’t have to worry about your gold flying away. To apply, hold the transfer leaf against the surface and gently apply some pressure to release the gold from the paper. Loose leaf is where the gold is just laying on top of the paper that it comes on. It’s highly delicate and crumples up with any amount of air/wind because it’s not adhered to the paper. Therefore, this type is best used for purposes that don’t require flat and smooth gold leaf. To apply, scrunch and pick up some gold with tweezers and place it on the surface. I used transfer leaf for these cupcakes and bought them off Amazon.
Fool-proof Cream Cheese Frosting
Runny cream cheese frosting is the bane of my frickin existence!!! I’ve had many failed attempts at making this frosting and boy have they cost me. Imagine catering a huge dinner and making 100 cupcakes where the cream cheese frosting separated and melted off. Yeah, that’s what happened to me.
So through lots of trial and error, I came across some new tactics and proportions which I shared with you down in the recipe box below! Hope this helps solves your cream cheese frosting woes too.
More cupcake recipes:
Gianduja and Nutella Vanilla Cupcakes
Bacon Weave Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes
Hazelnut Praline Ganache Cupcakes
Recipe for Earl Grey Cream Cheese Cupcakes
Earl Grey Cream Cheese Cupcakes
Ingredients
Earl Grey Cupcakes
- 3 large egg whites or 6 tbsp pasteurized egg whites
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1 strong earl grey tea bag
- 1.5 cups cake flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 tbsp strong earl grey tea leaves finely ground
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup cream cheese cold (I use Philadelphia)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 11/2 cup icing sugar sifted
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract I use Nielsen Massey in either Madagascar Bourbon or Tahitian
- Americolor's Electric Pink and Violet gel food colour or any colour you want
- Edible gold leaf transfer sheets loose leaf would work too!
- Pastry Bag
- Open star piping tip I used WIlton 1M - my go to!
Instructions
Earl Grey Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Prepare mini cupcake pan with paper cupcake liners
- Bring milk to a simmer, pour into a medium sized bowl.
- Add tea bag and steep for 5-10 minutes until a strong earl grey flavour can be detected, then remove tea bag.
- Add egg whites to the milk mixture, stir together.
- In a large bowl, sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. Whisk until combined.
- With the whisk attachment still on, add butter and whisk until the flour mixture looks sandy
- Pour 1/3 of the milk mixture into the flour and whisk on medium speed until light and fluffy
- Add the rest of the milk in two more additions, mixing gently until combined
- Pour batter into the mini cupcake pan, fill each cavity between 1/2 and 3/4 full
- Bake at 350 degrees F for ~8-10 mins or until slightly brown on top and cooked in the center
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a medium bowl, beat room temp butter until creamy and lighter in colour
- Add in COLD cream cheese and gently beat together until cream cheese is spreadable but still firm
- Add icing sugar and vanilla extract, beat together until combined and smooth, do not over mix - it'll become runny!
Assembly
- Divide frosting into 2 bowls. Add colour to one bowl. Leave the other one plain white.
- Alternate scooping the two different coloured frostings into a pastry bag fitted with an open star tip.
- Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.
- If using transfer gold sheets, carefully hold the sheet and dab onto the surface of the frosting. The gold will adhere to the "stickiness" of the frosting.
- If using loose leaf gold sheets, carefully use a small knife to remove gold from the sheet and transfer to the frosting. Move slowly - any amount of wind can blow your gold away!
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a comment below and tag @chocolateandconnie on Instagram.
Omg these are just the cutest, I came for the photos but stayed for the recipe. YUM! I have been looking for ways to use Earl Grey in baking, so thank you!
aw thank YOU! im glad this was helpful in your search for earl grey recipes 🙂