Empress Earl Grey Chocolate Tea Cake

 ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

 1 cup spelt flour (*see note)

 ½ cup unbleached white flour

 1 tablespoon Earl Grey tea⁣ (*see note)

 1 teaspoon baking powder⁣

 ¼ teaspoon salt⁣

 1 cup granulated sugar⁣

 2 teaspoons grated orange zest 

 ¼ teaspoon vanilla

 2 large eggs, at room temperature⁣

 ½ cup oat milk, at room temperature⁣  

 ¼ cup chopped dark chocolate⁣

⁣⁣

Heat oven to 350 degrees (175c). Butter and flour a loaf pan or line with parchment paper. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, tea granules, chopped chocolate, baking powder and salt.⁣ Set aside.

⁣In a separate large bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer (or by hand) until light and fluffy. Add in the orange zest and vanilla, stir until incorporated. Next add the milk and eggs. Mix until combined. Combine the flour mixture with the wet ingredients. Gently fold the dry ingredients with the wet mixture until just combined.  Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 45-55 minutes until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs attached. This tea cake is lovely on its own, but a dollop of freshly whipped cream couldn’t hurt!

*Note: If you don’t have loose leaf Earl Grey, no worries. I cut open three tea packets (equates to 1 Tbls) and it worked great! If you don’t have oat milk, you can substitute for almond or whole milk. You can also substitute unbleached flour for spelt.  I use spelt because it’s better for digestion (uses less gluten) and has a wonderful nutty flavor.