Chocolate Earl Grey Cupcakes are dense and deliciously moist mini chocolate cakes infused with earl grey tea, sweetened with dates and a rich chocolate ganache on top. Refined sugar free, and made with Spelt flour, this is a filling chocolate cake so it will be easy to stop at just one and be satisfied.
Essential ingredients for Earl Grey Cupcakes
- Earl Grey teabags
- Medjool Dates at room temperature
- Spelt Flour (available from the baking aisle in supermarkets)
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- Unsalted Butter
- Eggs
- Baking Powder
- Ground Cloves
- Sea salt
- Coconut Oil spray
- No Added Sugar Chocolate
Love date sweetened desserts? Then this is for you: Not Too Sweet No Bake Chocolate Tart (Dairy Free and Refined Sugar Free) or if you're in need of a quick chocolate fix that's free from refined sugars, try this Chocolate Pudding Mug Cake made in the microwave.
I loved making these earl grey cupcakes and my husband loved them too. Aside from being a fan of an earl grey cuppa in the afternoons, I also love chocolate cake and dates, and the three together are a great combination of subtle earl grey tea flavour, rich chocolate and sweet juicy dates.
These earl grey cupcakes are super moist and very filling thanks to the dates and spelt flour which are packed with fibre.
There are also some additional spices to bring out the earl grey flavour even more. I used a small amount of ground cloves that makes the cakes warm and comforting and slightly reminiscent of Christmas. Similar to this Low Carb Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.
How Do You Make Earl Grey Flavour
I recommend starting on your earl grey flavor the day before you need these cakes as overnight soaking is recommended.
Earl grey tea is such a beautiful tea. It’s origin is English and I would describe it as having an earthy citrus flavour that is quite delicate. It’s not a big bold tea flavour by any means, so taking the time to make sure the earl grey flavour comes through in the cake is important.
How to Get Earl Grey Flavour Into Your Cupcakes
To get the most earl grey flavour for these cupcakes, first of all, I soak a couple of earl grey teabags in hot water for 5 minutes to let all those flavours infuse into the water. I then remove the teabags and discard.
Next, I remove 2 tablespoons of tea and set it aside. This will be used later in the chocolate ganache.
For the rest of the leftover tea, place it into a heat proof bowl, along with the deseeded medjool dates. This then soaks overnight so that the liquid can be absorbed into the dates. I usually just cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a towel and pop it into the fridge along with the 2 tablespoons you put into a cup (to be used in the ganache).
Related: The Ultimate Chocolate Avocado Cake with Lush Chocolate Frosting
Why the overnight soaking?
To infuse maximum flavour into those dates so that they plump up as much as possible. If you don’t have overnight to leave the tea and dates, the minimum I’d go with would be 4 hours.
Serving Ideas
- With earl grey tea in the evening, or at a Sunday brunch, or with a cup of coffee on your morning work break
- As a dinner party dessert shared with friends, with a little double cream or ice cream on the side, with fresh raspberries.
- For a grown up birthday party where the birthday guy or gal loves chocolate and cupcakes
Related: Black Bean Chocolate Cake (This is the cake to eat if you're on a diet!)
How To Make Chocolate Ganache
Basically a ganache is a type of frosting that doesn’t use icing sugar, powdered sugar, cream cheese . Instead its main ingredient is chocolate and cream. However in this recipe, I’m using chocolate and the leftover ear grey tea.
To make it, melt the chocolate and leftover tea in a pot on very low heat until all the chocolate is all melted. Then pour it into a bowl and let it firm up int the fridge for 30 minutes.
Once it’s firmed up a little in the fridge, then its time to spoon it onto the cupcakes. The consistency should be such that when you put it onto the cakes, it doesn’t all just slide off.
Related: Perfect for Lunchboxes - Healthy Chocolate Sweet Potato Muffins
Recipe Tips
- If you can, start this recipe the day before you need to so that you can give the earl grey flavours enough time to infuse. If you don’t have overnight to wait, the minimum time for allowing the tea to infuse into the dates if 4 hours.
- Any brand of Earl Grey teabags are fine to use
- If you can’t find no added sugar chocolate, use 80% (or higher) dark chocolate.
More Sugar Free Cupcakes
- Sugar Free Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
- Sugar Free Vanilla Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Chocolate Earl Grey Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 2 Earl Grey teabags
- 9 large Medjool Dates - seeds removed
- ⅔ cup Spelt Flour
- 2 tablespoons Cocoa Powder
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter - softened
- 2 Large Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Ground Cloves
- Tiny pinch of salt
- Coconut Oil spray
- ½ cup No Added Sugar Chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160 Degrees C (Fan ove(180 degrees C regular oveor 350 Degrees F.
- Add the two earl grey tea bags to ⅔ cup boiling water. Let it infuse for 5 minutes, then remove the teabags. Take 2 tablespoons of tea out and put into a separate cup. Add the rest of the tea to a bowl, along with the deseeded dates. Cover the dates and let them soak overnight, or for 8 hrs. Cover the remaining tea and place both into the fridge for 8 hrs.
- Add the dates and any leftover tea into a food processor and blitz until a smooth paste has formed.
- Add the spelt flour, cocoa powder, softened butter, baking powder, eggs, cloves and pinch of salt. Blitz to combine everything together. Scrape down the sides of the food processor to mix it all in.
- Spray a silicone muffin tray with coconut oil, and spoon out the mixture evenly into the six muffin cases, filling each one to about ⅔ of the way up.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 160 degrees C (Fan oven)/180 degrees (regular oven), or 350 degrees F.
- Insert skewer into cakes to make sure they are cooked. They are cooked when thee skewer comes out clean.
- Let them rest for 5 minutes before removing from muffin cases. Cakes should come to room temperature before applying the ganache.
- Ganache: Melt the chocolate and 2 tablespoon of leftover tea in a pot on very low heat until all the chocolate is all melted. Pour into a bowl and let it firm up int the fridge for 30 minutes.
- 1Use a spoon or back of a blunt knife to spread the ganache over each cupcake. Grate some chocolate on top to finish.
- 1Store cakes in fridge and within 3 days, or you can freeze them for upto 4 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
Note: Sugars contained in this recipe are from naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables or other natural sweeteners.
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