By Eric Kim
- Total Time
- 2¼ hours, plus cooling
- Rating
- 4(1,180)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This buttery, chamomile tea-scented loaf is a sweet pop symphony, the Abba of cakes. A pot of flowery, just-brewed chamomile isn’t required for drinking with slices of this tender loaf but is strongly recommended. In life and in food, you always need balance: A sip or two of the grassy, herbal tea between bites of this cake counters the sweetness, as do freeze-dried strawberries, which lend tartness and a naturally pink hue to the lemony glaze. This everyday loaf will keep on the counter for 3 to 4 days; be sure the cut side is always well wrapped.
Featured in: This Cake Gives You a Moment of Warmth in the Middle of the Day
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Ingredients
Yield:One 9-inch loaf
- ½cup/115 grams unsalted butter
- 2tablespoons/6 grams chamomile tea (from 4 to 6 tea bags), crushed fine if coarse
- 1cup/240 milliliters whole milk
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
- ½teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 2large eggs
- 1large lemon
- 2teaspoons baking powder
- 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1½cups/192 grams all-purpose flour
- 1cup/124 grams confectioners’ sugar
- ½cup/8 grams freeze-dried strawberries
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon chamomile to a large mixing bowl. Pour the hot melted butter over the chamomile and stir. Set aside to steep and cool completely, about 1 hour.
Step
2
Use the same saucepan (without washing it out) to bring the milk to a simmer over medium-high heat, keeping watch so it doesn’t boil over. Remove from the heat, and stir the remaining 1 tablespoon chamomile into the hot milk. Set aside to steep and cool completely, about 1 hour.
Step
3
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with the nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper so the long sides of the pan have a couple of inches of overhang to make lifting the finished cake out easier.
Add the sugar and salt to the bowl with the butter, and whisk until smooth and thick, about 1 minute. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, vigorously whisking to combine after each addition. Zest the lemon into the bowl; add the baking powder and vanilla, and whisk until incorporated. Add the flour and stream in the milk mixture while whisking continuously until no streaks of flour remain.
Step
5
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake until a skewer or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are OK, but you should see no wet batter), 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 30 minutes.
Step
6
While the cake cools, make the icing: Into a medium bowl, squeeze 2 tablespoons juice from the zested lemon, then add the confectioners’ sugar. Place the dehydrated strawberries in a fine-mesh sieve set over the bowl and, using your fingers, crush the brittle berries and press the red-pink powder through the sieve and into the sugar. (The more you do this, the redder your icing will be.) Whisk until smooth.
Step
7
If needed, run a knife along the edges of the cake to release it from the pan. Holding the 2 sides of overhanging parchment, lift the cake out and place it on a plate, cake stand or cutting board. Discard the parchment. Pour the icing over the cake, using a spoon to push the icing to the edges of the cake to encourage the icing to drip down the sides dramatically. Cool the cake completely and let the icing set.
Ratings
4
out of 5
1,180
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Cooking Notes
LTee
The cooking spray helps hold the parchment in the pan. Otherwise it can be difficult to get it to lie flat… it just wants to spring out of the pan. Instead, you can crumple the parchment before using, then reflatten it. The crumpling helps it behave itself.
Holly
This was such an easy, DELIGHTFUL recipe. The strawberry frosting is not to be skipped, and the crumb is perfect with just a hint of lemon. I ended up having to bake mine for about 50 minutes to cook through.
Joanna
Dumb question, maybe, but will mixing this in a mixer work OK? Recovering from shoulder issues- can't wisk.....
Judy
Where does one obtain freeze-dried strawberries? Would my local Japanese market have them?
Reader
Or you can drizzle a few drops of water in the pan before laying the parchment paper. The water sticks the paper to the pan.
alyssa
another fantastic and special recipe by eric kim. i’ve been in a baking funk and this recipe single handedly perked me up and brought me back to life. the directions are straightforward and super easy to follow. i did cut the sugar back a little but kept everything else the same. this will be going into my regular rotation for sure. it’s really easy and the payoff is absolute pure divine deliciousness.
Andrea
In case anyone finds it helpful - I tried crushing the strawberries by hand & pressing through the sieve, but it was taking forever. I used my mortar & pestle instead. You could also keep them in the bag they came in (if like mine, you'd have to let the air out) and crush them with a rolling pin or heavy jar, etc. to turn them into powder. To those asking, no need to strain the tea out. I grabbed "chamomile+" by mistake hat had rose hips & herbs. Still was delicious.
Karla
I loved the article that accompanied this and I can't wait to make the cake. It seems like in the past few years, I've forgotten the joy and comfort of a nice cup of tea. It will be an even bigger treat with a slice of this cake. I first started using freeze dried strawberries in sweets after watching GBBO. They add wonderful flavor and color, without too much liquid. Not sure why the people are moaning about the amount of sugar. It's a cake, people. 1 cup of sugar is not extreme.
Giordana
this cake is exactly 1/2 of the usual 1,2,3,4 cake of our grandmother's day. It is not nearly as sweet or overly rich as some of the modern cake recipes. It is a fine little cake that will keep well and if eaten in judicious quantities won't hurt you!
Drew
I bought a box of cereal that had freeze-dried strawberries as an ingredient, and fished out 8 grams worth. You’d think that would be onerous but it actually only took a few minutes. Much easier than going to a specialty store for the ingredient!
Blue Jay
Target and many grocery stores sell small bags of freeze-dried fruit.
Julia
SO good exactly as written. I crushed the freeze-dried strawberries with a mortar and pestle and used the extra to dust the serving plate- beautiful and fun.
Richard
The recipe seems to want the crushed tea. If you steep in the teabag, you won't have that. Trust the recipe authors.
Merrick Dean
Sure but of course you would then have raspberry icing :)
Austro Girl
YUM. As usual, I subbed 1/2c+ yoghurt for 1/2 stick butter. Had no dried strawberries, but found some frozen from last summer. Used few in the icing (pretty pink!!), and lined some up down the top of the cake. Cake itself is pretty, and easy peasy to make. The chamomile looks like vanilla bean flecks. Some ask re: filtering it out -- much stayed behind on the edges of the milk pan... Will make again!
3/24/24
Took 50 min in Woodlawn Green CT oven. Put milk and butter in fridge to cool - wonder if more Chamomile taste if it cooled on its own? Very nice light flavor
Calla
Delicious- put a small splash of gin in the icing (a bit less than a standard shot). Gives a light juniper flavor.
MichelleP
Seems like this recipe would work in a bundt pan…anyone vehemently disagree?
laura maxwell
The texture is lovely, very light. The icing is also a wonderful addition. My chamomile tea was a bit old / poor quality so it didn’t have quite the fragrance I was hoping for - but that’s my fault. I’m going to try this with lady grey tea as well. Eric just writes the best recipes.
Nikki
Eric, your recipes never miss! Drinking with chamomile tea as you suggested made it even better. Thank you!
Lydia
This works REALLY well as regular or mini sized muffins. I just piped little dollops of the icing on. They were much easier to serve at an event than cake slices. Baked at 350 for 20 (reg) and 12 (mini) minutes. Also, I’ve tried the icing with freeze dried and with fresh strawberries. With fresh, make a little purée in a food processor and add powdered sugar until you get a consistency that works. Both are tasty.
Carol
Made as written:1) Chamomile flavor is light, barely perceptible to my palate, I would multiply quantity as suggested by some earlier reviewers for more pronounced flavor.2) Frosting was too thick, added additional splash of lemon juice and tiny splash cream as suggested by previous reviewer, and it improves the consistency.3) Icing comes out much pinker than published photo, but I didn't mind. It's a bright pink color, looks great.Beautiful, delicious, moist cake, I will do again.
Annie
I found freeze dried strawberries at my local health food store along with all sorts of other freeze dried fruit, for those wondering where to find them.
cakejunkie
Nice loaf, but the chamomile didn't come through for me. And yes, I used the amount indicated and followed the steeping directions. It just tasted like a lemon cake (which is not a bad thing).
anna
My husband looooves this cake! It’s delicious!!!
Cas
The chamomile flavor really comes through in this recipe! My oven needed 50 minutes to fully bake the loaf, and I only used a little bit of freeze dried strawberries since the icing turned hot pink after crushing a few berries with a mortar and pestle.
Always a Hit
I have made this tea cake many times and in bulk. I pulse the freeze dried strawberries in the blender instead of pushing through the sieve. Biggest time saver. I also buy the chamomile from the bulk section of our co-op or natural food store. I smash the flowers up in the bag with a rolling pin. I began placing the cake in the fridge after adding the glaze which keeps the icing hard and perfected the cake’s texture. My entire large family loves this cake, making it all the more special.
Jon H
Just made this a second time! A new staple in the rotation. Definitely use a pestle and mortar to crush the strawberries. Don't be afraid to add an extra gram or two of them.
Laura
Trader Joe's carries freeze dried strawberries year round.
Douglas McMillan
I used strawberry jam instead of freeze-dried strawberries, and it came out very thin. I guess there was too much liquid in the jam. I used some corn starch to thicken it, and it worked a little. Next time I'll use the frozen berries.
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