Chocolate raspberry cake with Earl Grey gold dust

This is the final test for Ellie and Ruadhan’s wedding cake. I made it for a barbecue at our friend’s Emma and Geraint’s house – I had been waiting for a party to test it, as it is 12 inches in diameter and so I needed lots of willing testers!  8 eggs was the right amount to get a lovely tall cake which I can split in half.  For the wedding, I’ll double this and make two cakes, to slice to become either three or four layers (depending on how tall the tiered cake stand will allow it to be!) 

Originally, I tried an Earl Grey sugar syrup to glaze the cakes, but not everyone liked it, so for the final recipe, I’ve decided to use Chambord, an amazing black raspberry liqueur.  I’m not going to turn it into a syrup but use it neat, to keep the cake as moist as possible given that I’ll be making it a day or two before the wedding.

The idea of the Earl Grey dust was to make my own edible gold dust that tasted good rather than was just pretty, and it worked really well.  Despite deciding not to do an Earl Grey glaze, I still think that the Earl Grey taste of bergamot goes beautifully with dark chocolate, and everyone loved this, so it is staying in the final wedding cake!  I’ll definitely do this tea gold dust again for other cakes, but you could try all sorts of flavours – Camomile tea would be lovely I think, and work well with lemon cake.   

Ingredients

1 lb butter

1 lb caster sugar

8 eggs

1 lb self-raising flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

4 oz cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla essence

For the glaze

300ml Chambord (black raspberry liqueur)

For the Chambord chocolate ganache

200g good quality dark chocolate, chopped

200ml double cream

4 tbsp Chambord

For the rasberry cream filling

300ml double cream

6 tbsp icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla essence

4 oz raspberries

For the Earl Grey gold dust

2 tbsp golden caster sugar

1 Earl Grey teabag

To decorate

6 oz raspberries

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and grease and line a 12 inch springform cake tin.  
2. To make the cake batter, in a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
3. Measure out the flour and set aside.
4. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, followed by a large spoonful of flour between each egg.  Beat well after each addition.
5. Beat in the vanilla essence.
6. Sift in the remaining flour, baking powder and cocoa and beat until well combined.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 40 mins until a cake tester comes out clean.
8. While the cake is still in the tin use a skewer to poke holes all over the top of the cake, then use a pastry brush to coat the top of the cake with half of the Chambord.  Set aside for 10 mins before removing from the tin and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.
9. To make the chocolate ganache, place the chocolate into a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to the boil, then pour over the chopped chocolate, leave to sit for 2 minutes, then gently beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in the Chambord and set aside to cool.
10. To make the filling, whip the cream, icing sugar and vanilla essence until nice and thick.  Add the raspberries and fold through the whipped cream, crushing them to release their juice and colour.
11. To make the gold Earl Grey dust, melt the sugar in a small dry frying pan. Once starting to caramelise, empty out the tea bag into the caramel and stir the loose tea leaves through. Take off the heat immediately and pour on to a sheet of greaseproof paper. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then grind up in a pestle and mortar until it becomes golden and dusty.
12. One the cake has cooled completely, carefully slice it in half horizontally and brush each cut side with the remaining Chambord.
13. Turn the top of the cake upside down and place on your cake stand (this hides any bumpy surfaces), and spread with the whipped cream. 
14. Arrange raspberries neatly around the edge of the cream (this is the visible bit), and sprinkle the centre with raspberries.
15. Place the bottom, flattest part of the cake on top (this will provide a smooth surface for the ganache) and use a palette knife to spread the top of the cake with the Chambord chocolate ganache, starting at the centre and working outwards.  It is best to do several thin layers and allow them to cool slightly before adding more ganache.
16. Dip the tops of each raspberry in the Earl Grey gold dust and arrange on top of the ganache.