With the Great British Bake Off in full swing once again, we're in the mood to roll up our sleeves and get baking. GGBO contestant and quarter finalist Martha Collison was kind enough to share her brand new cook book with us, so we dipped into Crave for some ideas. Our favourite of her mouth-watering recipes is this decadent Earl Grey Caramel and Chocolate Loaf Cake; the perfect fusion of chocolatey sponge and bergamot-infused goodness balanced with sweet caramel. Why have a cup of tea and a slice of cake when you can have both in one go? This brilliant bake off recipe makes one loaf cake and only takes 25 minutes to prep and cool and 40 minutes to bake, making it the perfect choice for a relatively easy showstopper to impress friends and family.

Ingredients

For the sponge:

  • 500g loaf tin
  • 3 Earl Grey teabags
  • 125g plain flour
  • 125g caster sugar
  • 100g soft light brown sugar
  • 50g cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 60g butter, plus extra for greasing
  • 125g natural yoghurt
  • 1 egg

For the Earl Grey caramel sauce:

  • 125ml double cream
  • 1 Earl Grey tea bag
  • 1 quantity of Salted Caramel Sauce (see page 152 of Crave) made with Earl Grey-infused cream
  • Loose leaf Earl Grey tea and cornflowers to decorate

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4, then grease the loaf tin and line it with baking paper. Place the Earl Grey tea bags for the sponge in a mug or small heatproof jug and pour 150ml of boiling water over them. Leave to brew for 5 minutes. While the tea is brewing, combine the plain flour, both sugars, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a separate bowl in the microwave or a small saucepan and remove the tea bags from the tea, discarding them. Whisk the yoghurt, egg and brewed tea into the melted butter. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients, whisking until a smooth batter has It will be fairly runny but don’t worry – this is normal. Scrape the batter into the loaf tin and bake for 35–40 minutes or until risen, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. While the cake is baking, make the caramel by gently heating the cream in a small saucepan with an Earl Grey tea bag until the cream is steaming and slightly coloured by the tea. Pour it into a small heatproof jug and set aside to infuse for 5 minutes, then squeeze out the teabag and discard. Make the Salted Caramel Sauce on page 152, using the infused cream instead of the regular cream. Allow the sauce to cool briefly before using. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then carefully remove it and transfer it to a wire cooling rack. Then, pour the caramel sauce over the cake and leave it to set briefly before sprinkling with loose leaf Earl Grey to make it look beautiful. Next, slice, serve and enjoy!   Crave: brilliantly indulgent recipes by Martha Collison (HarperCollins) £16.99 is out now.