Earl Grey Tea Chestnut Cream Cake

Add 3 Twinings tea bags to 150g of milk, simmer in a saucepan until the milk slightly bubbles, turn off the heat and let steep for 20 minutes. Use 60g of the prepared milk tea for the cake base; the rest will be used for the chestnut paste.

Mix corn oil with 60g of milk tea liquid and stir well until no oil spots are visible. Fully emulsify. Sift in the low-gluten flour and fold with a zigzag motion until no dry powder remains. Add the egg yolks and mix into a smooth yolk batter using a zigzag motion.

Add a few drops of lemon juice to the egg whites. Gradually add caster sugar at the stages of big bubbles, fine texture, and when visible lines appear. Whip until soft peaks form and the peaks curl slightly.

Fold half of the whipped egg whites into the yolk batter. Pour the mixture back into the remaining egg whites and fold to combine.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Pour the batter from a height into the tray. Smooth the surface and tap the tray to release air bubbles. Bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for about 30 minutes. Cool completely and cut the baked cake evenly into three layers.

Chop 100g of candied chestnuts into pieces to use as the cake filling.

Blend 300g of candied chestnuts, 40g of caster sugar, 35g of butter, 150g of heavy cream, and the remaining milk tea liquid until smooth using a blender.

Sift 200g of chestnut puree to use for cake decoration. The remaining chestnut puree will be used to make chestnut cream; having some texture is fine.

Whip 150g of heavy cream with 15g of caster sugar until lines appear. Add the remaining chestnut puree and whip until combined.

Assemble the cake by layering a cake slice, chestnut cream, and chopped chestnuts.

Pipe the sifted chestnut puree on the cake surface for decoration.

Rich in texture, sweet but not greasy, it tastes absolutely amazing.