Earl Grey Tea Loaf

This is a great afternoon tea treat to sit down and enjoy with a cuppa. The zingy lemon glaze sets it off perfectly. If your Dad is an Earl Grey tea drinker like mine this might even be a great gift to whip up for Father’s Day this coming Sunday.

Ingredients:
150ml milk
10g Earl Grey tea, finely ground
225g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
4 eggs
zest of one lemon
1 1/4 flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Glaze
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons hot water
1 – 1½ cups icing sugar
3 – 4 tablespoons lemon juice

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line the bottom of a loaf pan and set aside.
Heat the milk in a heatproof bowl in the microwave. Do not boil. Add in tea grounds. Stir and set aside to infuse for about 10 minutes.
Beat the butter and sugar on a medium to high speed until light and fluffy.
Add in the eggs one by one, beat well after each addition.
With your last egg add the lemon zest.
Turn your mixer to a low speed, add the tea-infused milk and mix until just combined (as I only had loose tea leaves I only added about one third of my leaves, if I’d used the finer grounds from inside a tea bag I would have added all of them) .
In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients and mix well.
Still on a low speed, add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and beat until all ingredients are combined.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the top of your loaf is golden brown and you can insert a skewer and remove cleanly.
To make the glaze place butter, 2 tablespoons of hot water, 1 cup of icing sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl and stir to combine. To thicken your glaze add more icing sugar or to thin use a little more hot water.