Rooibos Tea Cake

This Rooibos Tea Cake was inspired by Earl Grey Tea Cakes I had seen on my Pinterest Feed. After looking at these beautiful cakes, I read a fair amount of these recipes and since they were all variations of vanilla cakes, I decided to push ahead with my all-time favourite Easy Vanilla Cake.

What is rooibos?

Rooibos is a herbal tea that comes from South Africa. The word rooibos translates directly into “red bush”.

This herbal tea is made from the leave of a fynbos (fine bush) plant with the scientific name of Aspalathus linearis. The leaves of the plant undergo a similar fermentation process as black tea which results in the distinctive red-brown colour of the tea. This process also enhances and deepens the flavour.

Making the Rooibos Tea Cake

I wanted to create a cake that resembled the way I like to drink my Rooibos. I like my Rooibos black (well, red) with a hint of sweetness, usually from honey.

I started with my  Vanilla Cake recipe which calls for a cup of milk (or 250 grams). I decided to steep 3 bags of rooibos tea in a 50-50 mix of boiling water to milk for 5 to 10 minutes. This really allowed me to extract as much of the Rooibos flavour as possible.

Because I don’t like my Rooibos overly sweet I decided to cut ½ cup of sugar from the recipe overall.  In my first attempt at making this, I added 2 tablespoons of honey into the batter which resulted in Honey and Rooibos Tea Cake. But, for me, the honey really overpowered the rooibos flavour. It was still a great cake though, so if honey with a hint of rooibos is your thing, give it a go!

I knew the cake needed a hint of honey. Just not in the batter itself, which lead to the final iteration of the cake having a delightful rooibos sponge with a simple honey glaze icing poured over the top of the cake.

To me, having a bite of this cake reminded me of a sip of my perfect cup of rooibos tea.

Tips for making the Rooibos Tea Cake

Oven temperature is never consistent across various varieties of ovens. The best way to ensure an accurate temperature is to use an oven thermometer. Keep this in mind and check the cakes about 5-10 minutes before the time is up. Especially if your oven runs hot as my current one does.

Honey and Rooibos Cake – if you want the honey flavour within the cake, I recommend adding in about 2 tablespoons of honey just before you cream together the butter and sugar.

Cake Tins – I used a bundt cake tin for this cake because I like the look. You can use two 8-inch/20-centimetre cakes, 18 regular sized cupcakes, or a single 9-inch springform tin (or a tin with higher sides).

Sugar – I used white sugar for this recipe because Rooibos is a rather delicate flavour and didn’t want to hinder the flavour with brown sugar.

Cold cakes for icing are a must! By this I mean let the cakes sit until they are completely cool before slathering them with your choice of topping. A warm cake will melt your icing, and unless that’s the look you are going for, wait that extra 30 minutes.

Baking ahead of time? Cakes can be baked, allowed to cool completely and then wrapped in cling-film/plastic wrap before placing in the fridge or freezer for use later.

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