Tender white cupcakes are topped with an earl gray infused buttercream for the perfect tea time dessert! The cupcakes are light and fluffy, not dense.
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
3extra large egg whitesat room temperature
2/3cupmilk
1.5tspvanilla extract
7ozcake flour, by weightsifted (if you don't have a scale, sift your flour in 2 cups, and level it off)
1cupsugar
2.25tspbaking powder
1/2tspsalt
1/2cupunsalted butter between 65 and 75 degrees F
For the buttercream:
1cupsugar
1/3cupwater
4egg yolksat room temperature
.75 cups butterdiced into small cubes
3/4tspvanilla
1bag earl grey teacut it open and dump the tea in the buttercream
Instructions
To make the cupcakes: Place an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
In a small bowl, whisk the egg whites, 3 tbsp of the milk, and the vanilla until combined.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low for 30 seconds. Add the butter and the rest of the milk (about 7 tbsp) and mix on low until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 90 seconds, until nice and smooth. Scrape down the bowl, make sure to scrape down below where sticky batter may settle.
With the mixer on medium-low speed, slowly add half the egg mixture, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides and bottom wells of the bowl. Repeat with the other half of the egg mixture. Scrape the bowl again to make sure all the batter is homogenous. Fill a cupcake pan with your liners, and fill them up 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out cleanly. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan set on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes and let them cool on the rack completely.
For the buttercream: In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks on high speed for 8 minutes until they are very pale. In the meantime, combine the sugar and water in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, and let the sugar syrup simmer toward the soft ball stage (238 degrees on an instant read thermometer). When both the egg yolks and the sugar syrup are ready, pour the sugar syrup into the mixing bowl (the mixer should still be on high speed), aiming as best as you can to pour between the wire whisk and the side of the bowl. Now, touch the bottom of the bowl. Very hot, right? Beat the egg yolk sugar mixture until the bowl feels neither hot nor cold (about 5 minutes).
Turn the mixer down to medium and add the earl grey tea. If you taste the buttercream and it doesn’t taste Early Grey-y enough, don’t worry, the earl grey needs time to infuse into the buttercream. Add the butter, a couple cubes at a time to the bowl, over the course of 10 minutes. Wait until each installment of butter is absorbed until you add the next batch. Pipe or spread your buttercream on your cupcakes, and enjoy!