breakfast milk tea & honey pound cake

breakfast milk tea & honey pound cake

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I’m going to push my opinion-quota by saying that the US is the least tea-cultured among the other places I’ve lived in (Taiwan, Vancouver, Hong Kong… Beijing).  Americans aren’t particularly keen on tea, evidently as some may now defensively refer to Snapple’s along this line as a clownish counter-argument, and now… they shall stand to be mocked by public (no, it’s too late to take it back).

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It’s their loss because just like coffee or chocolate, tea is a great agent that brings aroma and flavor to any pastries (or even savory dishes).  An ordinary pound/loaf cake can be brought to a unique territory fused with a slightly bitter refreshment by a heavy dosage of say… black tea leaves (aka Irish breakfast tea/Assam black tea/etc), a common Indian variety that…  ….Al’right, you know what.  I don’t wanna talk today really…  The afternoon I baked this cake was followed by a night of nightmares-realized.  My oldest 13-years-old dog, Dumpling was practically diagnosed with something incurable-by-China-standard.  So no.  I can’t talk right now.  I’m going to leave you the recipe of this wonderful cake with a best pitch saying “double shot of caffeine for breakfast YAY!!”.  …Yah, that’s the most cheer I can pull off right now, at least not without a couple days of coping.  Sorry guys.  But this cake is really good.  Make it.

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UPDATES:  09/26/2013.  Due to some reader’s comment on the batter being too runny, and request for the recipe in metric, I’ve finally tested the recipe again myself and weighted everything (well… almost).  In terms of the runny batter-issue, thanks Elaine for pointing out that it might have been the black tea-milk being too warm and therefore melting the butter, resulting in a very runny batter.  My recipe said to wait for the milk to “cool down to room-temperature”, but when in doubt, chill it in the fridge until it’s COLD.  It’s much faster than leaving it on the counter to cool, PLUS… better safe than sorry.

Ingredients: derived from Martha stewart’s coconut-buttermilk pound cake

  • 3 heaping tbsp (12 g) of black tea/Irish breakfast tea/Assam tea leaves
  • 1 cup (207 grams) of whole milk
  • 1 1/2 stick (170 grams) of unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (106 grams) of granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs (not extra large), room temperature
  • 1/3 cup (96 grams) of honey + 3 tbsp
  • 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (270 grams) of cake flour, or all-purpose
  • 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp of fine salt
  • Honey whipped cream:
    • 1/2 cup of heavy cream, cold
    • 2 tbsp of sweetened condensed milk
    • 2 tbsp of honey

Preheat the oven on 350ºF/175ºC.

Grind black tea-leaves in a spice-grinder until coarsely ground (like the consistency of ground coffee for French-press), then add to the milk in a small sauce pot.  If you don’t have a spice-grinder, combine tea-leaves with milk in a blender, and blend to the same consistency.  Bring to a simmer on medium-heat then turn the heat off.  Leave the ground tea-leaves in the milk and let steep while cooling down to room-temperature (NOTE: see update!).

Cream the butter and sugar together with a stand-mixer/hand-held mixer until light and fluffy, approx 3 min.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat it into the creamed butter until the mixture is light and fluffy again, 2 min for each egg.  Then add 1/3 cup of honey and vanilla extract, beat until smoothly combined.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  Beat the flour-mixture and the black tea-milk (that’s cooled down to room-temp) alternatively into the creamed butter-mixture, starting and ending with the flour-mixture.  Basically: 1/3 of flour-mixture + 1/2 of black tea-milk + 1/3 of flour-mix + 1/2 of black tea-milk + the last 1/3 of flour-mix.  Mix each step until just smooth and don’t over-work the batter.

Butter the inside of a loaf-pan and dust with flour.  Make sure to tap the pan to release excess flour.  Pour the batter into the pan, and swirl 3 tbsp of honey into the batter with a spoon.  Bake in the oven until golden-brown on top and a wooden skewer comes out clean from the center of the loaf, 50~60 min.

Let the cake cool off slightly.  Meanwhile, whisk heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk and honey together vigorously until soft peaks form.  Chill in the fridge until needed.

Serve the sliced cake with honey whipped cream.  And you know what goes well with this?  A cup of strong black milk tea.

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85 Comments
  • Belinda @themoonblushbaker

    06.13.2013at11:39 PM Reply

    really does the USA not like teas? In Australia we have a shop called T2 which has so many kinds of tea and flavoured sugars. I love this shop.
    Assam bold is my favourite black tea. I find it works well with dried dates and dark chocolate. This is a beautiful loaf, I can not wait to try this on the weekend.

    • Mandy L.

      06.14.2013at1:03 AM Reply

      Belinda, in the us tea is more like a sweetened beverage I think. Not as commonly enjoyed un-flavored compared to say, uk or Asia. And mostly ppl there buy tea bags instead of actual tea leaves, which is generally of lesser quality.

      • Lia

        06.17.2013at6:09 PM Reply

        That’s probably true in many places – but on the West Coast and New England, at least, there’s just as many proper tea drinkers as anywhere else I’ve visited (and much more so than some Southern European countries). I worked in a cafe where we scooped tea leaves and tied our own tea bags; there’s boutique-y tea stores where you can smell different blends and vintages and so on. That being said, the “black milk tea” bubble tea I’ve been drinking now that I live in England does contain WAY more tea than American bubble tea!

      • Mariah

        07.06.2013at7:39 AM Reply

        I think your assessment of Americans and tea is fairly generalized. You have to remember that tea is largely part of the culture in places England and Asia, and coffee is more common in the States. It doesn’t mean one culture is more superior than the other, it’s just a difference in taste and culture. In my experience plenty of Americans enjoy regular teas (tea leaves included). It just depends on a person’s personal preferences. Most Americans aren’t brought up on tea so they wouldn’t necessarily have the refined palette of a culture that was. It’s not a shortcoming, it’s just a different culture. As far as Snapple is concerned… The actual Snapple company may market themselves as “tea”, but Snapple is a pretty dated product. I don’t really know many people who drink it!

        Enough of that. Thanks for the recipe – Looking forward to making it with my black tea leaves. Yep – I’m an American and I have a full stash!

        • Mandy L.

          07.06.2013at1:15 PM Reply

          Mariah, again, I didn’t say tea is more superior. It’s just as ridiculous as saying mustard is more superior than ketchup. I like coffee MORE THAN I LIKE TEA.

    • Hanah F.

      02.07.2018at3:43 AM Reply

      Yum! Wow did my boyfriend and I enjoy this. It was so simple too. We just moved into a place and didn’t have an electric or hand mixer so I tried my best to cream and beat by hand (and let me tell ya the last time i picked up a spatula was probably two years ago, and before that I only used it to to clean the brownie bowl after my mom was finished). Next time I make this I will definitely have a hand mixer in the apartment. Thank you for the recipe, I’ve been loving exploring the blog.

  • Li @ Words and Cake

    06.14.2013at5:54 AM Reply

    I pretty much live on tea and coffee, so this cake is perfect for me! I love that the milk is steeped in the tea leaves first like a real milk tea, so many (literal) tea cakes just stir the tea leaves in with the dry ingredients. That whipped cream with condensed milk sounds so interesting as well – reminds me of Thai milk tea where condensed milk is used as the sweetener.

    Lovely blog and gorgeous photos, by the way!

  • Rachel

    06.14.2013at10:15 AM Reply

    In the southeastern part of the US where I am from tea is served sweet and over ice. It is usually enjoyed at say lunch, dinner or just on hot days. However if you leave the south you will be hard pressed to find sweetened iced tea, it may only come iced or hot. But it is true we don’t usually find whole leaves without paying a lot of money for it but we do have shops even in the south, lol.

    • Mandy L.

      06.14.2013at1:48 PM Reply

      Rachel, haha yeah I know about sweetened iced tea which I consider more of a “beverage”. In Aisa there are SO many different types of teas it’s dizzying and most of them cannot be found in tea-bag form. I find whole-leaf tea carries more flavor and depth. But I will say that a sweetened ice tea (instead of hot brewed tea) definitely sound PERFECT in a hot summer day like this one :)

      • Bea

        07.04.2013at3:53 AM Reply

        You mean Asia? Please don’t sound so snoby when speaking about the people in the USA being so “low class” when it comes to good things! I have lived in 8 different states of the Union, and I am glad to say wether I have lived in the heart of Dixie or lived in Great Lakes tea is very much appreciated in its true form.

        • Mandy L.

          07.04.2013at1:10 PM Reply

          Bea, I try not to argue/jam space on the comment area but I’m lost at where the snobbish-ness come from? I like COFFEE more than tea, and simply said (a fact by the way) that COMPARATIVELY America has LESS tea culture. Have you lived in Asia? It’s a fact.

  • leaf (the indolent cook)

    06.14.2013at11:06 AM Reply

    The batter looks amazing. As does the resulting cake itself.

  • Lisa

    06.14.2013at2:35 PM Reply

    Oh my this looks so pretty. I will try to bake this yummy after my wedding!

  • Michele

    06.19.2013at12:11 PM Reply

    I love going to tea shops here in the north west (Oregon) this pound cake looks amazing! Looking forward to trying it

  • Jeannie

    06.19.2013at1:40 PM Reply

    What a beautiful loaf of cake, i love drinking tea and do have a variety of tea at home…would love to try this cake soon! Thanks for sharing.

  • Ginger

    06.22.2013at11:02 PM Reply

    I tried this today! I had a problem with it though, if you see this, Mandy, I’m hoping you can help–I followed your instructions pretty much exactly other than baking it in a small convection oven as my regular oven was broken, and using a square pan instead because I couldn’t find a rectangular one.
    It came out looking nice, but after letting it cool I noticed that most of it has sunk quite a bit and after cutting it open, most of the cake’s texture is kind of…gummy…I guess? Gummy and soggy with a really dark color. I put it in for like 60 minutes, and added almost 20 minutes after a toothpick test, so I don’t know how it can still be undercooked, and undercooked so evenly, too. Only the very extreme edges are harder. Would you by any chance know why this is?

    • Ginger

      06.22.2013at11:03 PM Reply

      Also, although it came out like that it actually tastes pretty good. I can only imagine how it’d taste if it actually came out properly :(

      • Mandy L.

        06.23.2013at3:07 AM Reply

        Ginger, oh boy I’m sorry to hear that! The only thing I would suspect is that the small convection oven created uneven baking since it’s such a small space, where the surface of the batter is so close to the heat source. The gummy/soggy texture, I’m assuming, is due to the fact that the center of the batter wasn’t even cooked yet.

        If you are interested in trying again, I would think that you be having a much bigger success rate reducing the size of the cake. Say, making it into a muffin-size to accomodate the small space (so the ratio of the cake VS the space it’s baked in is more similar to what I did). Good luck! and please let me know if you try it again!

        • Ginger

          06.29.2013at6:32 PM Reply

          Thank you Mandy! Will definitely try again!

  • Kasey

    06.23.2013at4:39 AM Reply

    I happen to be a frequent tea drinker, and live in the United States. I drik tea morning, noon, and night. But I have to agree with you, that the majority of American people don’t give tea it’s due credit. I like both southern-style sweet tea, classic blends of breakfast teas, and almost anything I drink hot, I do not put sugar in.
    I have been a fan of tea since I was a little girl. I just wish people gave tea the adulation it deserves! It is a wonderful drink to both get you out of bed in the morning, and put you to bed at night.

    I am really excited to try this recipe!

  • Gina

    06.23.2013at11:19 PM Reply

    I made this loaf and it was delicious! When I was busy making this loaf, I thought you probably wouldn’t be able to taste the honey that much, but you can and it is so good! Brought a loaf to my office and seriously the cake was devoured within 10 minutes!

  • christie f

    06.24.2013at4:28 AM Reply

    One of my favorite memories of my youth is having lived in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England for a year whenever I was 12-13 yrs. old. One day, my mother made iced tea, and one of our neighbor’s young sons- a teenager- had a glass for the very first time. He was so pleased with the glass of iced tea, he ran home and told his parents about it, and we took some over to them. They liked it, as far as we could tell. I always liked having hot, sweat tea in the winter time as a child, with sugar added for sweetness. Although I enjoy coffee more than tea, usually, I do still like to have a cup of hot tea sometimes, especially during the colder months. And, I do agree with those saying that tea leaves make a much more flavorful tea. Whenever I was the babysitter for a family from England in Texas, whenever the mom of the family would come home after a workday, she’d visit with me, making us some hot tea. I loved watching her going through the ritual, and really liked her Earl Grey tea. Somehow, it just isn’t the same with tea bags. And, somehow, even when making my own with leaves, it just doesn’t taste as good as her tea did to me. Good memories, those…

  • Georgia | Notes on Tea

    07.01.2013at8:32 AM Reply

    There’s a strong (and growing)tea culture in NYC and elsewhere in the US like Portland and the SF Bay Area. But I wish good tea was as commonly found as good coffee!

    This cake looks amazing; your photography is brilliant.

  • Jessica

    07.01.2013at10:45 AM Reply

    This recipe looks amazing and I cannot wait to try it. On another note, I am from the American South. Most people here do enjoy sweetened ice tea, but there are also many who enjoy tea in the traditional manner. We have tea shops throughout the South that sell many varieties of teas. Snapple is definitely not the preferred tea of most Americans.

  • caron

    07.05.2013at7:00 AM Reply

    can’t wait to make this! My parents are from Zimbabwe so we always drank tea. In fact I’m enjoying a hot cup right now. It always makes me laugh when people at work comment on how light my “coffee” is and I have to explain it’s my tea with milk. The looks I get are too funny. Thanks for sharing a yummy recipe

  • Raeann

    07.05.2013at7:39 AM Reply

    All these comments raging about tea in the US and none saying that I’m sorry about your dog, and that I hope you can enjoy the time you have left. Take care.

    • Mandy L.

      07.05.2013at1:38 PM Reply

      Raeann, thank you sooo much. I love you… really…

  • Riz

    07.08.2013at3:46 AM Reply

    I work for an herb and tea store. I baked two versions this morning–one with Soluna Breakfast Blend, the other with cream Earl Grey–left samples out for the customers and everyone has been raving about this (including the kids, who kept sneaking back for seconds). The scent of the freshly baked loaves on the way in drove me nuts, smelled so good. Only had one issue, and that’s with the baking temperature/time. Setting for 350 left the first cake not baked enough in the center and the top too browned; I increased the temp to 375 for the second one, which cut the time a little and gave an evenly cooked loaf. The high humidity here in Boston right now could be a part of the problem. *shrugs* Whatever–it worked. :-)

    Thanks for an awesome recipe!

    (Also, this was put out ONLY for samples, not for sale, and your website was included on the sign to be sure that proper credit was given.)

    • Mandy L.

      07.08.2013at10:33 PM Reply

      Riz, thank you so much for sharing my recipe!

      • Riz

        07.09.2013at10:08 AM Reply

        Thank you for such an amazing recipe. It made a lot of people happy! (And isn’t that the best reason to bake?)

  • Teresa

    07.11.2013at2:44 AM Reply

    This is the first recipe I read in your blog. I’m delighted. Even though brazilians are big coffee drinkers, I always enjoyed tea. Can’y wait to see if I can find the proper teas to bake this…

    On another note: I failed to see anything snobbish or prejudiced in your post. I guess people read what they want to read… That’s a shame. I loved your writing style, very to the point. And I do wish all the best to your dog, let’s hope he enjoys more happy years!

  • Anna

    07.12.2013at12:55 AM Reply

    I am from Virginia on the border of North Carolina. My grandfather was born (1919) and lived in a secluded, rural county. I still cannot find any of his ancestors that were born outside of the U.S…so far I’ve gone back to 1700s. So no recent tea culture brought by recently immigrated ancestors. Though his maternal grandmother’s family was Native American on most records.

    Anyways, he made typical Southern food while I was growing up (collards with fatback or side meat, flat cornbread, succotash). It’s interesting because I don’t think I can recall a day that man did not have at least one to two cups of unsweetened hot tea. I agree, that he may have been more of an exception to the norm. He did live into his nineties.

    I don’t find your post offensive. :}

  • Vashti

    08.05.2013at3:40 PM Reply

    this has become my ‘go to’ cake recipe! it is my favorite. Thank you for sharing.

  • Nik

    08.24.2013at7:17 AM Reply

    Hi, I tried your recipe today and can’t figure out where I went wrong. For some reason the batter is really loose, like there’s too much liquid in the recipe except I followed the instructions exactly. It’s in the oven at the moment so I’m just going to cross my fingers and see how it comes out.

    • Mandy L.

      08.24.2013at4:54 PM Reply

      Nik, that’s bizarre… I haven’t tried this recipe again since this post but some commenters seemed to have success out of it. Let me know how it went. PS, I’m sure you are aware of this but just to make sure, the heavy cream doesn’t go into the cake batter.

      • Riz

        08.24.2013at8:20 PM Reply

        Nik, it could be a couple of things (I’ve made this recipes about a dozen or so times). The first time I made it, I realized I needed to set my oven at a higher temperature–I bake this at 375. Also, it could be the size of your loaf pan. If you’re baking in an 8″ loaf pan, you may have a bubble over–I usually bake this in either a 9″ or 10″ pan and put about a cup of the batter in a mini-loaf pan.

        Good luck!

        (BTW, you can also substitute maple syrup for the honey in a pinch.)

  • Elaine

    09.26.2013at1:52 AM Reply

    Just put the batter in the oven. Doesn’t bode well. The barrería isn’t like the usual thick butter cake texture but very very runny. Am sure I followed the instructions closely and I am beginning to suspect it is the measuring cup used. Would probably need to try this again sometime soon. Would you be able to give the measurements in metrics instead so that it can be as accurate as possible? Thanks in advance. I really wanted this to work…-_-!

    • Elaine

      09.26.2013at1:54 AM Reply

      Oh and suffice to say, there was no swirling of the honey in the end…*heartbroken*

      • Mandy L.

        09.26.2013at2:48 AM Reply

        Elaine, sorry to hear that! I will test this recipe again this week and update the metric-ingredients list!

        • Elaine

          09.26.2013at11:07 AM Reply

          Thanks, Mandy! Anyhow, the taste still came out good, though slightly rubbery. I believe I have isolated the problem. The moment it started becoming really runny was when I added the milk tea mixture. So I suspect it could be that the milk did not cool for long enough and in the hot and humid climate I am in, it just wasn’t helping. Basically, the temperature of the batter was just too warm by the end of the mixing.

          • Mandy L.

            09.26.2013at4:01 PM

            Elaine, the metric is up ;) I tested the cake again and the batter wasn’t runny. I think you were right about the milk being too warm, because I chill the tea-milk in the fridge to help it cool down faster, and it was more “cold” than “room-temperature” when it went into the batter. Hope you have success again with the recipe!

          • Elaine

            09.26.2013at7:35 PM

            Ooooh…thanks a big bunch!!!

  • Vicki

    02.12.2014at9:44 AM Reply

    I loved this recipe! Thanks so much for sharing :). It’s such a cozy reminder of nice, hot milk tea. And the whipped topping is great!
    Also, it gives quite a caffeine buzz… I made the mistake of making it at night and trying it…

    Note for other bakers: When I tasted the dough before cooking it, I was shocked by how sweet it tasted and thought I had over done it. However it comes out much less sweet once baked, which is good.

  • enas

    03.05.2014at2:57 PM Reply

    i have tried the cake twice exactly as per the receipe instructios and i get the same texture in your picture and i put it in 9*5 inch loaf cake but in each time the cake come out uncooked i use 175 degree oven tempreture i was dissapointed i realy want this receipe to sucsses what is the problem i don’t know?

    • mandy@ladyandpups.com

      03.05.2014at3:02 PM Reply

      ENAS: The only suggestion I can give is bake longer in your oven. I don’t know if our oven’s temperature is exactly the same so if your cake isn’t cooked in 50 min, then bake 10 to 15 min more and see how it works. If the outer surface gets too dark in the prolonged baking time, lower the temperature to 160 and see if that works. I’m so sorry to hear that your cake didn’t turn out expected. I’ve made this a few times and didn’t have a problem with it. Try what I suggested and see.

  • Jasmine

    03.10.2014at9:19 AM Reply

    I am American (NY) and I am NOT keen on tea, so you have me pegged perfectly. I’ve tried it sweet, plain, bagged, and loose leaf. None of it floats my boat and it tastes like swill to me. I suppose the only time I have truly enjoyed tea it’s been a green minty type with lots of ice, no sugar, on a sweltering hot day. And that’s about it.

    And that’s what I love about this blog. You share, we share (through commenting) and it should all be okay. I appreciate your opinionated self.

    I have been pinning your posts a ton the last few weeks. Your cooking speaks to me. Thank you so much for sharing. I am going to make an effort to comment more often (I rarely do on anyone’s sites), even if it is at times snarky.

  • David

    04.11.2014at1:20 PM Reply

    I couldn’t help, but facepalm at some of the comments on this post. Did these readers not realize the general conceit of your blog (“Home cooking with extreme prejudice”)? They are simply failing to understand that personal experience does not extrapolate to the general population. // I was fortunate enough to spend siginificant time in Haikou City, Hainan Province, China, and learned a great deal about Chinese tea procedures and tea varietals. Needless to say, I was blind, but now I see. // Thank you.

  • Bariza

    06.12.2014at3:07 PM Reply

    I made this cake today and the aroma whilst baking was AMAZEBALLS!
    I cooked it at 175ºC. for about 50 minutes and the middle was still not baked.
    Not sure if it was due to the size of my loaf tin OR the batter was too moist.
    But, i definitely chilled the milk tea and left it overnight just to let the flavours stew.
    Will try it again till i get it right!!

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      06.12.2014at3:31 PM Reply

      BARIZA: If your loaf is browning too quickly on the top and not cooked through in the middle, try a lower temperature for a longer baking time. Try it again! This cake is worth it!

  • Amy

    06.22.2014at5:08 AM Reply

    I’ve made this once before and it turned out wonderfully, but has anyone ever tried it with Earl Grey tea?

    • Riz

      06.22.2014at9:35 PM Reply

      Yes, I’ve made this recipe several times (and have made a few changes for my own tastes).

      I’ve made it with Soluna Breakfast Blend, Earl Grey, Cream Earl Grey, Scottish Caramel Pu-erh, Maple Magic (black tea with maple & did a maple swirl instead of honey), and Monk’s Blend. The verdict: pretty much ANY black tea works really well.
      One caution: if the cake is not consumed within a day or two, the tea can get slightly bitter.

      Just an observation.

      Otherwise, it’s a huge hit.

      • Amy

        06.24.2014at1:03 AM Reply

        Thank you so much! I can’t wait to try it out with a variety of teas

  • Riz

    06.22.2014at9:39 PM Reply

    One other comment, re: unbaked middles. The kind of pan (light vs. dark) and the size of the loaf pan also have a huge impact on how the cake bakes (and, of course, your oven).

    I have found baking it at 375 in a light-colored 9″ loaf pan works best; also, turning the cake 180 degrees half-way through is also helpful. LISTEN TO MANDY about chilling the tea–I put the hot milk tea in the fridge for at least half an hour before incorporating.

    This recipe is excellent–it’s been a huge jumping off point for my experiments with baking with tea.

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      06.22.2014at10:52 PM Reply

      RITZ, THANK YOU THANK YOU for these fabulous and useful information!!!

  • Rebecca

    11.16.2014at12:33 PM Reply

    Has anyone tried making this with green tea? I don’t keep black tea around the house as I much prefer green tea, but this recipe sounds so good that I’d really like to try it.

  • Riz

    11.17.2014at1:35 AM Reply

    I don’t see why you couldn’t–I’ve used matcha in pound cake (for delicious results, but haven’t attempted with this particular recipe), and matcha (green tea powder) is a fairly common sweet flavoring in Asian markets (at least, here in the Boston area). Go for it–grind the green tea leaves (if you don’t have matcha on hand) and try the milk tea brewing style. (And definitely let us know if the experiment works–curious!)

  • victoria

    12.16.2014at2:13 AM Reply

    hey, i was wondering if this cake would taste alright if i used earl grey tea leaves?

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      12.16.2014at2:18 AM Reply

      Victoria, it would probably be milder but still delicious I think :)

      • Riz

        12.16.2014at3:57 AM Reply

        I’ve made it with Earl Grey (Maple Magic, Monk’s Blend, Peach Apricot…). It’s good. It’s damned good. :-)

  • Mun

    01.13.2015at11:29 AM Reply

    Made this in the morning! Yummy! And I’ve been tempting husband who’s at work with photos…… haha!

  • ali

    02.03.2015at11:27 AM Reply

    i love your blog! your recipes and writing are a killer combo. :)

    what do you think about making this in muffin tins and slicing the muffins in half to slather with the honey whipped cream? if not, i’ll just wait and and make it the next time i visit my mom, using her loaf pans.

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      02.03.2015at12:22 PM Reply

      Ali, yes for sure! The cooking time will be significantly shorter I imagine. I would check at around 25 min I think. But they would make love muffins :)

  • Katy Love

    04.13.2015at9:35 PM Reply

    My husband loves pound cake so I made this for him a few weeks ago. The flavor and scent were amazing but I didn’t’ have enough honey. So 1/4 C of honey apparently made it not sweet enough. Not Sure if it was the lack of honey but it did come out a bit dryer than I liked it to be. Must use precise measurements. That is one rule I should stick to when trying a new recipe. Try first then adjust later.

  • Jasmine

    05.04.2015at2:14 AM Reply

    Would Turkish black tea work with this as well??

  • Shirlie

    07.11.2015at5:44 PM Reply

    This question is maybe answered already, but there were so many comments!!! I was wondering if I could use the ground leaves inside a teabag for this recipe? I know the quality will not be as good as the actual loose leaves, but it would save me buy a whole box. Also, I don’t have a grinder and the blender is broken!!

    Thanks

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      07.11.2015at7:06 PM Reply

      Shirlie, my only concern is that the leaves would be too coarse. If you can find finely ground leaves inside teabags, that would be fine :)

  • Shirlie

    07.25.2015at4:42 AM Reply

    Thanks Mandy! I tried this today, smelt delicious and the batter was yummy! I did however encounter the gummy middle problem. We still did eat it though!! Definitely will make it again in smaller tins, I liked your muffin idea so will maybe do it! The tea leaves in the bags were grand, I ground them down a bit with a pestal and mortar. Ta again!

  • Chef Lamya

    12.24.2015at4:57 AM Reply

    You know what can go so perfect with this too? Some cardamom, carnation and cinnamon! Oh, can’t wait to try it.. Thank you for the recipe

  • Philip Chen

    01.24.2016at5:37 PM Reply

    just tried to make this receipt this weekend, but turned out the cake is bit dry compares to my usual make banana cake, should I increase the portion of liquid or the cut down the oven time

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      01.24.2016at10:04 PM Reply

      Philip, I would first try substiting 1/2 the butter with vegatable oil. I like the flavor of butter but vegetable oil produces a moister cake

  • Penny from Oxford

    01.26.2016at7:26 PM Reply

    Hi Mandy – Loving the recipes you post! I made this one at the weekend and, whilst it has an amazing depth of taste and texture, like many posters mine didn’t cook through either. I used a light tin, the batter wasn’t deep in it, and my oven is spot-on for temperature, so I know that was right. BUT despite keeping it in for about 70 minutes (I ended up covering the top with foil so it wouldn’t burn) it still didn’t cook through and the bottom half-inch or so is very soggy indeed. Although it did rise very nicely …

    (second BUT) it really does have a great taste and will be trying it again – I hate to be defeated by a darn’ recipe!!

  • sunne

    02.22.2016at4:52 PM Reply

    Hi, we are an online tea shop and looking for some tea-inspired recipes on our blog. Chanced upon this lovely recipe and we decided to give it a try with our version of tea! Do take a look and give me some comments:)

  • Mariah

    02.25.2016at1:24 PM Reply

    Might want to watch the way you talk about a whole entire country. Very rude in my eyes and I’ll be looking for a new recipe else where.

  • Amanda

    04.10.2016at8:37 AM Reply

    Hi Mandy! Not sure if you’re still replying to comments on this post but hopefully you’ll see this!

    I’ve made this cake twice and it turned out lovely. However, I’m not a huge fan of the heaviness of pound cakes in general. I keep googling “how to make pound cake less dense” but can’t find any good answers! I could only think of whipping up the egg whites separately, but I remember the batter is already quite thick so I feel like separating out the egg whites would make the rest of the batter really difficult to mix.

    Do you have any suggestions on how I could make this cake lighter? Perhaps reduce the amount of flour? I’d really appreciate your help. :)

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      04.10.2016at12:01 PM Reply

      Amanda, perhaps try replacing all the butter with vegetable oil? Or using cake flour for less gluten? I’m not an expert baker so I’m only guessing here. Let me know if any of it works :)

  • Amanda

    04.11.2016at1:08 AM Reply

    Thanks so much for the reply! I’ll try it out soon and let you know. :)

  • Avery

    04.19.2016at1:28 AM Reply

    Hi Mandy, can’t wait to make this cake but I just wanted to make sure you don’t need to strain out the tea before using the tea milk? Also what size tin did you use to bake yours?

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      04.19.2016at1:36 AM Reply

      Avery, the tea is grounded so you don’t have to strain, and I don’t have my pan with me now but any loaf pan would do.

  • Ashley

    06.18.2016at1:38 AM Reply

    I’m making this for the second time around! It was a big hit at work when I made it the first time.
    I didn’t have enough of one kind of black tea so I used a mixture: Tazo Orange Chiffon, Constant Comment (bergamot-y!), and Harney and Sons Vanilla Comoro.
    I’m hoping the orange and vanilla will play well with the honey. Fingers crossed!

  • Cassandra

    06.30.2016at10:28 PM Reply

    Hey all! I’ve never posted on any food blog but I’ve wanted to bake this for a year now and I just did with Thai Tea and it is damn awesome. Also I didn’t really measure my ingredients LOL and it turned out okay so :) Thank you so much, what a keeper recipe.

  • Sarah Jane

    09.11.2016at3:10 AM Reply

    I made this with a custom blend I have of Irish Breakfast, Earl Grey Bravo, and Cream tea’s and it was amazing. It’s become my go to recipe for brunches and rainy days.

  • Nairi

    01.16.2018at10:41 AM Reply

    Just made this. Only had tea in bags on hand, so the leaves were already ground up pretty small! I used mostly Earl Gray but also put in some Chai. I used Greek Attiki honey, too, and made sure to cool the tea down. Before going in the oven, it smelled AMAZING. Coming out, WOW. I’m not very skilled in the kitchen and this is not only super easy but super easy. Tastes rich yet delicate and I love that you don’t need to strain the milk – it appeals to my laziness ;) I even re-read multiple times to make sure I didn’t miss the straining step. I also thought it would make the texture weird but it doesn’t, at all. I did have to bake mine for well over an hour, a bit too wet. I’ve been wanting to make this recipe for years and it has exceeded my expectations. Might become a staple.

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