bergamot

Cédric Grolet, the pastry chef of Le Meurice hotel in Paris, is famous for his Instagram feed, which has nearly a million and a half followers, his tattoos and his title: Best Pastry Chef in the World. Mostly, and most rightly, he’s famous for his elegant pastries, so I was surprised when he asked me if I’d tasted one of his simplest, his madeleines. Small sponge cakes baked in shell-shaped molds (metal pans give you the best color and crust), madeleines are known for the impressive bump that develop on their tops. These madeleines, adapted from a Grolet recipe, are made with brown butter and flavored with Earl Grey tea and honey. Like all madeleines, they benefit from a rest in the refrigerator before they’re baked. (Good for the mads, convenient for the baker.) If you can arrange it, serve the madeleines just minutes out of the oven — it’s when their fragrance and texture are at their peak.

Earl Grey Madeleines

cake flour,

baking powder

full-flavored honey

granulated sugar

eggs egg

Sift together the flour and baking powder. Put the honey in a medium heatproof bowl, and place a strainer over the bowl.

Bring the butter to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. As the butter cooks, gently swirl the pan. The butter will foam, then bubble, then turn golden. In 5 to 7 minutes, when the butter browns (it will be the color of hazelnuts, and have that aroma as well), pour it through the strainer onto the honey. Some dark bits will slip through the strainer, and that’s fine! Stir to blend.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, zest, tea, eggs and egg white, and milk until combined; whisk 1 or 2 minutes more after the ingredients are blended. Add the flour mixture in three to four additions, whisking the ingredients together gently. You’ll have a thick batter that will fall back on itself in a ribbon. Switch to a spatula, and gradually stir in the warm butter-honey mixture. The batter will have a beautiful sheen. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface, and refrigerate the batter for at least 8 hours or up to 2 days.

When you’re ready to bake, center a rack in the oven, and heat it to 425 degrees.

Butter and flour a regular-size madeleine pan (or coat it with nonstick baking spray); do this even if the pan is nonstick. Use a slightly rounded tablespoon of batter to fill each shell. Don’t worry about leveling the batter, as it will even out in the oven. Cover, and refrigerate any remaining batter.

Bake the madeleines until the cakes are golden and the bumps spring back when gently prodded, 11 to 13 minutes. Unmold immediately by rapping the pan against the counter. Serve now ... or don’t. The madeleines stale quickly, but that just makes them better for dunking. If you’re baking more madeleines, be certain to cool the pan between batches.

A recipe for a light and fragrant cake loaf infused with earl grey tea and bergamot oil.

Earl Grey Bergamot Loaf

80 ml whole milk, hot (or non-dairy alternative)

Earl grey tea

avocado oil (or neutral vegetable oil)

tsp culinary bergamot oil

lemon

tsp cream of tartar (or 1/4 tsp lemon juice

g all-purpose flour

g flour

tsp baking powder

sea salt

Preheat oven to 350°F/177°C.

Line an 8" by 4" loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

Pour the milk into a microwave-safe mug. Heat on high for 30-40 seconds until steaming hot.

Place Earl grey tea bags into the hot milk and let it steep for 5 minutes.

Separate egg whites from the egg yolks and place the egg whites into an clean stand mixer bowl with a whisk attachment. Be sure that the mixer bowl is free from any grease.

Place the egg yolks into a large glass bowl. Add in avocado oil, 55g sugar, bergamot oil, and lemon/orange zest. Use a whisk and beat together until combined.

While whisking, gradually add the steeped milk tea to the egg yolks.

Next, add the all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt to the egg yolk mixture and fold with a spatula until just combined. Set aside.

Beat the egg whites using the stand mixer whisk attachment on low speed.

Once bubbles form, add the cream of tartar (or lemon juice) and gradually increase the speed.

Gradually add the remaining 60g sugar and beat until the meringue becomes shiny and stiff.

Fold in about 1/3rd of the egg whites into the flour mixture. The batter will appear quite thick. Then fold in the rest of the egg whites in thirds until no white streaks remain.

Transfer the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

Give the pan a few taps to release any trapped air bubbles.

Bake at 350°F/177°C for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to completely cool.

Serve with tea and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Sound that this Earl Grey Bergamot Loaf is very fragrant and healthy.  Will try it soon.

What a delicious loaf cake!  I've always loved the smell of bergamot oil and it must be fantastic paired with earl grey.  Sounds like it would be perfect with a cup of afternoon coffee!

I've never played around with bergamot oil, but I do enjoy baking with tea.  This quick bread sounds quite tasty - perfect with a mid-morning cup of coffee or tea!

Can't wait to try this! Such an interesting flavour for a cake. Baking this for a family picnic. Thanks!

That loaf looks fabulous! In true Scottish style I'd want to slather it with butter.

Wow, I think this is very interesting for people coming from my region. I love Earl Grey but never thought about combining it with bergamot. I'm not sure if we have bergamot here in Thailand and wonder if you could replace it with kaffir lime!

I love loaf cake. At snacks time, I eat this with some warm ginger tea.

Bergamot is one of my favorite flavors, so this earl grey loaf sounds amazing!

I just made this yesterday and it tastes great! Mine looks nothing like yours though. The meringue kinda made a crust on top (not too mad about it though), so perhaps it wasn’t as well mixed as it should have been? The flour mixture was really doughy for me so I found it kinda tough to mix the meringue mixture into it. Any idea where I went wrong? Thanks for sharing this recipe! Such wonderful flavors!

This loaf sounds amazing! I have such a love for earl grey so I am definitely bookmarking this to try for later!!!

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