Tealee Infused Birthday Cupcakes

Guess what? It’s my birthday! What better way to celebrate my birth than by baking some yummy Tealee tea-infused cupcakes?!

I should warn you, I am not your typical baker. I rarely, if ever, follow a recipe’s exact instructions. I know, I know, the cardinal rule of baking is that you must get the chemistry precisely right ... but I think I have issues following instructions and I always veer off the path a little. Although, you know what? It has never done me any harm, and this afternoon was no exception!

I found this great recipe for Jasmine Raspberry Tea-Infused Cupcakes on cupcakeproject.com and HAD to try it. The only problem was that I didn’t have any Jasmine Leaf Green Tea with me. Instead, I decided to try it with my favourite, Tink’s Fairy Dust. The combination of lavender, lime, honey, and raspberry made this substitute the BEST. DECISION. EVER.

I have never baked with tea before, so while reading through the recipe I anticipated that the hardest part would be infusing the butter with the tea. But, actually, it wasn’t all that bad! So if you are like me, and you’re not too fond of working for your cupcakes, don’t even worry! This recipe is easy as... well, cupcakes!

Here it is! In brackets I have included what I changed or did differently so that you can really know how easy it is :

Step 1: The Butter

Tink’s Fairy Dust Tea Infused Butter:

• Melt 1 cup of butter in a sauce pan (the recipe calls for ¾ cup, but you have to add a bit extra to account for the butter you’re going to lose when you separate it from the tea leaves. I added ¼ cup because I was super worried I wouldn't press it well enough)
• Stir in 1 ½ tablespoons of Tink’s Fairy Dust per tablespoon of butter (I hate math, so I just put 3 whopping spoon-fulls in because I was mostly concerned that this wasn’t going to work so I thought, heck, the more the merrier!)
• Continue to heat mixture on low heat for about 5 minutes
• Remove from heat and let sit for another 5 or so minutes, or until the butter is visibly tinted by the tea (because this tea is light, it really didn’t tint the butter much but BOY could I smell the deliciousness of lavender and lime!)
• Pour the mixture through a fine sieve (or stocking, because that works too) and press hard on the leaves before you discard them. Try to squeeze as much butter out of the leaves as you can. (I cut a pair of stockings, used an elastic band to secure it tight across a mug and just poured the leaves on top. Then, I took the stocking off and squeezed it as long as I could until I felt like all the butter was out. This was really messy, but actually pretty easy!)
• Let the butter come to room temperature before you use it (You want me to WAIT? Yaaaaa right. I just used it as it was)

Step 2: The Cupcakes

Jasmine (Tink’s Fairy Dust) Cupcakes with Raspberry and Honey:

What you need for the cupcakes:

• ¾ C tea-infused butter
• ¾ C sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ C raspberry Vinegar (or, because I was wayyyyy too lazy to change out of my birthday PJs to go to the grocery store, I just used good ol’ Apple Cider Vinegar)
• 1 ¼ C all-purpose flour
• ½ t baking powder (or, if you can’t find it in the cupboard, none!)
• ½ t baking soda

What you need for the Honey Cream Cheese Frosting:

• ¼ C unsalted butter at room temperature
• ½ C cream cheese (I am pretty sure you should add a teensy tiny bit more to your recipe, my frosting was a little too runny for my liking)
• 2 T honey (maybe mine were so runny because I used 2 whopping table spoons rather than just 2 regular table spoons?? #stilltastedamazing)

What you need to DO for the cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Mix butter and sugar
3. Beat in eggs one at a time
4. Mix in your vinegar
5. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder (if you have some...) and baking soda. (I was singing “Baking Soda, I got I got Baking Soda” the whole time)
6. Mix dry stuff with the wet stuff
7. Fill super cute cupcake liners with ¾ mix. (I just plop as much as possible in and then smooth it over with the back of my spoon to make it look pretty. My cupcake liners had puppy dogs on them, by the way)
8. Bake for 20 minutes

What you need to DO for the frosting:

1. Mix it up!
2. Spread it on!

Top with fresh raspberries for extra deliciousness/visual appeal.

Step 3: The Enjoyment

To be honest, I was SO surprised at how delicious these were! First of all, the smell of lavender and lime filled my house while they baked. Second, the honey in the icing really brought out the flavour in the cupcakes. I would definitely make these again! Next time you are looking for a quick, easy birthday cupcake recipe, try infusing the butter with your favourite Tealee tea!

Have you baked with tea before? Let me know in the comments how you did it, and which teas you’ve used!

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