Earl Grey Bundt Cake

For the cake:
Place oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a standard size bundt pan with butter. Dust the pan with flour; knock excess flour out. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, tea leaves and orange zest.

In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugar for three minutes, or until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with silicon spatula or spoon when needed. Add the vanilla to the butter mixture and beat for another minute. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue beating after each egg.

Add the flour and buttermilk into the egg and butter mixture alternating between each about three times (add some flour, mix, add some buttermilk, mix, add some more flour, mix, etc.). Mix until all of the flour and buttermilk has been used up and everything is mixed in.

Pour the batter evenly into the bundt pan. Tap the pan around on the counter or table to rid of air bubbles and to even the batter. Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until you can poke the center with a toothpick and have the toothpick come out clean. Remove from oven.

Let the cake cool in the pan for about one hour, then invert onto a rack and cool for 30 minutes.

For the blood orange syrup:
In a small bowl, whisk together the icing sugar, fresh blood orange juice and milk. Whisk until there are no lumps and you have a smooth consistency.

Drizzle the syrup over top of the bundt cake. Garnish with extra orange zest and a few fresh thyme leaves if desired.

Notes:
1. Caster sugar is super fine sugar. You can make your own simply by grinding regular sugar in a blender until it’s a more fine consistency, but not quite a powder.
2. If you don’t have actual buttermilk or don’t feel like purchasing a carton of buttermilk for such a small amount, simple combine 1 cup of whole milk with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Mix well. Allow to sit for approximately 15 minutes and the milk should have thickened up a bit. Tah-dah! Buttermilk.
3. This recipe was adapted from hungryaustralian.com recipe for Lady Grey Bundt Cake.