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The cutaway winter cakes in the reference turn their fillings into part of the decoration. This smaller home-baking version focuses on the Earl Grey idea: tea-scented sponge, a vanilla mascarpone cream center and a simple ivory exterior. Tiny piped branches give the cake a winter look without putting florist greenery on food.
An original Kumora recipe inspired by the linked cake design. The linked reference is decorating inspiration, not evidence of a kitchen-tested result from this recipe. The cover is identified in its caption.
Before you start
- Digital kitchen scale
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- Mixing bowls, silicone spatula and cooling rack
- Offset spatula, cake board and turntable
- Piping bags and parchment paper
- Two 6-inch round cake pans
- Fine sieve, small saucepan and two small round piping tips
Infuse the milk, then weigh it again
Tea leaves absorb liquid, so measuring the milk before steeping is not enough. Heat 150 g milk until steaming, steep the tea for 10 minutes, strain and top up to exactly 100 g. Let it cool before mixing the batter.
Loose tea gives you control over the flavor. Use ordinary Earl Grey, not a sweetened instant latte powder. Avoid grinding large quantities of dry leaves into the batter; they can leave an abrasive texture.
Keep the cream filling contained
Whip cold mascarpone with cream, icing sugar and vanilla only until it holds a soft but stable peak. Stop as soon as it thickens. Mascarpone can become grainy if overbeaten.
Pipe a buttercream dam around the bottom sponge. Spread the cream inside that ring without pressing it over the edge. Chill before covering the outside so the center stays in place.
Pipe a tiny winter garden
Reserve small amounts of buttercream for muted green branches and red berries. Draw each branch with a fine round tip, then add short diagonal needles on alternating sides. The pattern looks more natural when branches have different lengths.
Use small red buttercream dots instead of real holly berries. Keep an open area on top for one candle or a short message; lots of negative space makes the delicate details easier to see.
Serving and storage
This cake contains a fresh dairy filling. Keep it covered in the refrigerator and use within 2 days for the best texture. Take out the servings you need shortly before eating, and avoid leaving the whole cake in a warm room.
For advance preparation, freeze the unfrosted, wrapped sponges for up to a month. Thaw them still wrapped in the refrigerator, then fill and decorate the day you serve.
Earl Grey bento cake with vanilla cream
- Makes, at 1×
- One 6-inch, two-layer cake; 6–8 slices
- Prep
- 1 hr 5 min
- Baking
- 30 min
- Start to finish
- About 3 hr 30 min
Include time for the tea milk to cool, the sponges to cool and the filled cake to chill.
Original recipe draft · not yet kitchen-tested. Baking times are estimates; use the doneness checks in the method.
Ingredients
Cake
Tea infusion
Cream filling
Buttercream
Decoration
Let’s make it
- Heat the cake milk together with the extra 50 g milk until steaming. Add the tea, cover and steep for 10 minutes. Strain, then add fresh milk if needed to reach exactly 100 g. Cool to room temperature.
- Heat the oven to 175°C / 350°F conventional (155°C fan). Grease two 6-inch (15 cm) round cake pans, line their bases with parchment, and set them on the middle rack when baking. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together.
- Beat the cake butter and sugar for 3–4 minutes until noticeably lighter. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl between additions. Add the vanilla.
- On low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions. Stop when the last streaks of flour disappear; do not keep beating.
- Divide evenly between the prepared pans and level. Bake for 25–32 minutes, checking toward the early end. The centers should spring back lightly and a skewer should emerge without wet batter. Cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then turn onto racks and cool completely.
- Whip the mascarpone, filling cream, 20 g icing sugar and 3 g vanilla together on medium-low speed just until thick and spreadable. Refrigerate until needed.
- Beat the buttercream butter for 4 minutes. Add the sifted icing sugar in four additions on low speed. Add cream, vanilla and salt; beat until smooth, then mix on low for 2 minutes to reduce air pockets. Reserve 2 tablespoons each for green and red details before coating the cake.
- Level the cooled sponges. Spread a thin layer of buttercream on the bottom sponge and pipe a dam at its edge. Add the mascarpone filling within the ring, top with the second sponge and chill for 20 minutes.
- Apply a thin crumb coat and chill for 15 minutes. Cover with the remaining ivory buttercream, keeping the reserved portions for decoration. Smooth the sides and make a shallow spiral on top with the end of an offset spatula.
- Tint the reserved frosting and pipe small green branches around the lower sides. Add red buttercream dots and chill until serving.
Contains wheat, eggs and milk. Use the strained, measured tea milk in the batter wherever the method says milk. The colors are optional; a plain ivory finish works equally well.
The little details
- Cool the tea milk before adding it to the eggs and butter.
- A small cake is easier to smooth on a board wider than the cake itself.
- The three cakes in the reference have different flavors; this recipe makes one Earl Grey cake.
Your questions, answered
Can I leave out the mascarpone?
Use buttercream between the layers for a simpler version. Keep the amount modest so the tea flavor remains noticeable.
Can I make it without tea?
Use 100 g plain milk and omit both the tea and extra infusion milk. The result is a vanilla cake with the same decorating method.
Can real winter berries touch the cake?
Do not use unidentified berries or florist greenery. This version uses piped buttercream for every branch and berry.
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