Earl Grey Cupcakes with Salted Caramel

Loving these fragrant Earl Grey chiffon cupcakes with a light Swiss meringue buttercream and buttery salted caramel drip! Earl Grey and salted caramel are a match made in heaven and come together perfectly in this bite-sized dessert.

Imagine a cloud-like, Earl-grey scented chiffon cupcake. Now sweep on a pile of rich, yet light, vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream. And finally, top it all off with a drizzle of decadent salted caramel. Got it? That’s your next baking project, i.e. these salted caramel Earl Grey cupcakes.

I am a HUGE fan of Earl Grey desserts. There’s something comforting about a cup of tea infused into a cake, ice cream, or any other dessert. One of my favorite Earl Grey concoctions is actually an infused Swiss meringue buttercream!

The whole dessert itself is inspired by this London Fog cake recipe that includes both Earl Grey and salted caramel. I think I unlocked another dimension with those flavors paired with the textures of chiffon cake, buttercream, and caramel. I’m still dreaming about these cupcakes so let me know if you try them!!

For more mini dessert ideas, check out these Pumpkin Cupcakes with Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting and these Mini Bananas Foster Cheesecakes!

What’s a Chiffon Cake?

I grew up eating chiffon cake before I even knew what it was. It was one of the only cakes that my mother would make, and it was usually for potlucks or dinner parties. A chiffon cake is an incredibly light cake that gains most of its mass from whipped egg whites. It also uses oil as its fat, making it a stark contrast from the traditional buttery and decadent layer cake.

Because the cake is so aerated and delicate, a full-size chiffon cake needs to be stood upside down after baking. This ensures that the air bubbles are stable and the cake does not deflate. I remember smelling the comforting aroma of a chiffon cake baking but then, much to my dismay, being told to wait until it finished cooling upside down. It definitely makes a lot of sense to me now but at the time I was so confused why this cake needed such a strange procedure.

For these cupcakes, I didn’t have the means to flip them after baking. They shrank a little but were still the perfect vessel for a healthy dollop of frosting.

Let’s Make Earl Grey Chiffon Cupcakes

I adapted Just One Cookbook’s Earl Grey chiffon cake recipe and ochikeron’s chiffon cupcake recipe. These chiffon cupcakes are light and infused with both Earl Grey milk and powdered tea leaves. I would recommend using loose leaf for best results.

For the Earl Grey infusion elements, heat up milk until warmed and steep 1 tbsp loose leaf tea leaves for about 5 minutes. Strain out tea leaves and set milk aside. Meanwhile, grind ½ tbsp loose leaf Earl Grey in a food processor or using a mortar and pestle.

For the egg yolk batter, combine egg yolks and 20g sugar in a bowl. Beat them with an electric mixer until white and slightly increased in size. Add cooking oil and tea-infused milk, then mix well. Sift in cake flour and mix well with a whisk.

For the meringue, combine egg whites and half of the granulated sugar for meringue. With an electric mixer fixed with whisk attachment, whip until soft peaks form. Then add the rest of the granulated sugar and whip them until firm peaks form.

Add 1/3 meringue into the egg yolk batter and mix well with a whisk. Then add the rest of the meringue 1/2 at a time and fold well with a spatula. Try not to deflate the batter but make sure it is well mixed. Fold in ground tea leaves.

Preheat the oven to 170C (338F). Line a cupcake tin with 12 muffin cups. Spoon the mixture into the cups up to 70% full. Bake muffin cups for 20-25 minutes. When they are done, place them on a wire rack and leave to cool.

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This is my favorite Swiss meringue buttercream from Sally’s Baking Addiction. It took me a while to master but I will never go back to traditional buttercream. Check out my post for tips and tricks, including why I never try making SMB without a hair dryer nearby.

In a dry, grease-free, heatproof mixing bowl, whisk together egg whites and sugar. Set bowl over a double boiler (saucepan filled with a few inches of simmering water) over medium heat. Make sure that the bowl does not touch the water. Whisk the whites and sugar constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture has thinned out, or until mixture reaches 160°F, about 4 minutes.

When the mixture is still warm, transfer to the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. On high speed, beat the mixture until stiff glossy peaks form and the meringue is no longer warm to the touch, at least 10-15 minutes. If it still feels warm, wait until room temperature before adding butter.

On medium-high speed, add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Wait for the butter to fully mix in before adding the next tablespoon. After all the butter has been added, turn the mixer down to medium speed and fully beat in the vanilla and optional pinch of salt, about 30 seconds, until thick and creamy.

Assembly

I had leftover salted caramel sauce from a previous cake I made. Feel free to use homemade or store-bought – just make sure it’s warmed up enough to drizzle.

Remove chiffon cupcakes from muffin cup. With a piping bag fitted with a star tip, pipe on frosting in a tall swirl. Drizzle salted caramel using a plastic bag with corner snipped off or with a squeeze bottle. Enjoy!!

Try your hand at Swiss Meringue buttercream with my Black Sesame Layer Cake or my Coffee Oreo Watercolor Cake!