Rainy days call for cake!
“Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.” But a piece of the ginger brandy tea cake I baked yesterday made this morning a bit brighter. A cup of my favorite Imperial Velvet oolong didn’t hurt, either–both specialties of Sundial Gardens.
http://www.sundialgardens.com/recipes.htm#Anchor16
I wasn’t sure I wanted to highlight my second “baking with a goose egg” foray. As mentioned previously, goose eggs are tough to crack. Armed with this information, I gave ol’ goosey a nice, vigorous whack–and along came a sprinkling of shell dust. That wasn’t going to work, so I lost part of the egg there and on the stove. Very attractive–talk about not knowing your own strength! OOPS. I probably should’ve thrown another egg in, but at the time, didn’t think it was such a major loss of volume.
Long story short, it is a delicious cake, but didn’t rise like Mr. Goddard’s because he used the right amount of egg. It really is quite the treat, regardless: boozy, gingery and wonderful. Especially so because of the quality of the ginger coins they sell at Sundial. Their ginger is exceptionally perfect.
Ginger Brandy Tea Cake in all its glory
It should say something about the recipe, that even not quite right, it’s a cake I’d be proud to serve–except for the fact I keep nibbling away at it. So if you’re within driving distance and want a sample, better hurry up and get here.
March 29, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Yum!
March 29, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Looks good! You seem to know all the best places to go for high quality ingredients. Too bad we’re not shopping in the same states (er, countries!). Anyway, I’ll have to try this sometime.
Is the tea you mentioned a type of white oolong? I had something called “milk oolong” recently, and it had a pleasant slightly sweet taste to it. You might like to seek it out.
March 29, 2010 at 7:07 pm
I know–we would be a dangerous shopping and baking team, I suspect!
I don’t know Imperial Velvet to be a white oolong, but I googled and found this thread that happens to be discussing this very tea and the Sundial! http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6970
Please don’t ask me how Ragna finds these teas that don’t appear to be available elsewhere (she is truly a walking encyclopedia of tea knowledge), but I wholeheartedly concur, it is a buttery delicious tea and I get several infusions out of each teaspoon. Now I want to look for milk oolong, too. Let me know if you have a favorite source for that.