Spicy Tea Treat

SERVE 10 591 kcal per serving

PREP TIME 20 min

BAKING TIME 40 min

TOTAL TIME 1 hour

Difficulty: Advanced

Spicy Tea Treat

Share this fragrant treat with friends this summer.

Sugar adds more to cakes than a sweet taste. It also affects the texture,
colour and how well they keep.

• A light and airy cake texture usually results from tiny air bubbles becoming
  trapped around the rough edges of the sugar crystals, which expand as the cake cooks.
• The golden-brown colour of many cakes owes much to white and brown sugar
  caramelizing as it cooks. Other sugars, such as honey, brown faster and make
  much darker cakes. Artificial sweeteners often do not caramelize, which can
  result in a pallid-looking cake.
• Sugar helps cakes stay moist after baking. A completely sugar-free cake
  will dry out quickly.

Ingredients

For the cake

2 jumbo eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
250 ml sunflower oil
250 ml golden syrup
2 cups sifted cake flour
2.5 ml ground cardamom
10 ml ground ginger
5 ml ground cinnamon
2.5 ml ground nutmeg
1 ml ground cloves
2 ml ground coriander
25 ml salt
250 ml cooled strong rooibos tea
5 ml baking powder
10 ml bicarbonate of soda

Cream cheese topping

400 ml cream cheese
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons chopped preserved ginger

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
2. Spray a 22cm Springform baking tin with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Beat the eggs and sugar together till light and creamy.
4. Add the oil and syrup.
5. Stir the flour and spices together and add to the egg mixture,
   followed by the tea. Stir together well and then add the baking powder
   and bicarbonate of soda.
6. Spoon into the baking tin and bake in the centre of the oven for
   35 to 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake
   comes out clean and dry.
7. Rest the cake before unmoulding. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.
8. Whip the cream cheese with the icing sugar and orange zest.
9. Top the cooled cake and sprinkle over with the preserved ginger.

Watch Chef Jenny Morris whip up this easy-to-make and effortless recipe.