Chapter Fourteen

Tea Time

This classy event pairing hot tea and delicious desserts is particularly special. Gorgeous serve-ware and wonderful company grace the table and create the sweetest memories. And this vanilla bean blueberry tea cake in all if its fluffy, mouthwatering decadence, bursting with tart berries and sweet crackly icing will be the most memorable of them all.

This tea cake whips up in under an hour so it’s perfect for a last minute tea get together! It includes a dense cake with tart blueberries that go perfectly with any hot or cold drink. Set into a floral cake pan, a gorgeous pattern adorns these little cakes making it fit right in with your pretty set up. This cake includes eggs and oil to create a soft interior, and butter and sugar creamed for the fluffy crumbliness.

Creaming- Cream together your butter and sugar, making sure that the butter is cool to the touch but not too cold. I usually microwave the butter for about 5 seconds to bring it to the right temperature. Cut up your pieces of butter and pour in your sugar, alternating between high and low setting on your stand mixer until the color becomes lighter and the texture changes from gritty to smooth.

Oil- Oil is an important part of this recipe, not only does it help create the soft texture within the cake but it's vital to get the cake out of the pans without ruining the design. Adding oil to your cake will help create a soft inside reminiscent of a dessert out of your favorite bakery. It helps keep things unbelievably moist! As for oiling the pans make sure to remember to lightly oil before coating with a dusting of flour this will insure the cakes come out smoothly!

Blueberries- The blueberries in these tea cakes are the stars of the show. You want to have big blueberries to help create those beautiful splotches of blue once you cut into your cake! The subtle sweet sour flavor of these blueberries in comparison with the dense, sweet cake is a match made in heaven and creates wonderful flavor and color for you tea time dessert.

Pan- I used the floral mini cakes pan by nordic collection but any floral cake pan with multiple cake molds is going to be perfect for this recipe! It’ll help create a gorgeous dessert in half the time!

Vanilla Bean Icing- One of my favorite combinations is vanilla bean and blueberry which is why adding a tablespoon of vanilla bean paste in your powdered sugar and milk mixture will bring amazing flavor that compliments your blueberries perfectly!