A London Fog, with its Earl Grey and vanilla latte style frothiness, translates beautifully to a cupcake. These floral-inspired beauties also hide a creamy London Fog milk chocolate truffle centre to them, making them a treat for any celebration.
ingredients
Cupcakes
Filling & Assembly
directions
The cupcakes will keep for up to 2 day, if refrigerated.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
Bring the milk to just below a simmer over medium-low heat with the tea bags and lemon zest. Let this steep while stirring gently to draw out the tea colour and flavor. Remove the tea bags and pour the hot milk over the chocolate, whisking until the chocolate has melted. Set aside.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl or into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the butter and using electric beaters or the paddle attachment for the mixer, work in the butter on medium-low speed until the mixture becomes an even crumbly texture and no bits of butter are visible, about 2 minutes.
Add the milk mixture (still warm is OK), the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Beat this on low speed until combined and then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is fluffy and the colour of a London Fog tea, about 1 minute. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them ¾ full. Bake for about 25 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes in the tin on a cooling rack for about 20 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the tin to cool completely before frosting.
While the cupcakes cool, prepare the filling. Heat the cream with the tea bag and lemon zest over medium heat, stirring to draw out the colour and flavor. Remove the tea bag and add the cream cheese, whisking until it is melted and smooth. Add the chocolate and whisk again until melted and smooth. Transfer this to a bowl, let cool to room temperature and then chill for at least 30 minutes (this can also be made a day ahead and chilled).
To assemble the cupcakes, use a melon baller to scoop out some of the centre of the cupcakes (2 scoopfuls is best). If the filling is soft enough (chilled for 30-60 minutes), it can be piped into the centre of each cupcake, and if firm, use a small mechanical scoop to fill each cupcake.
Scoop the Philadelphia Cream Cheese Whipped Frosting into a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe a generous amount of frosting onto each cupcake, having fun with the design – many tips create a ruffled, floral look, even if not designed as a “flower” tip. Top each cupcake with a sprinkle of a little decorator’s sugar. Place the cupcakes on a platter and chill until ready to serve.