Earl Grey Canelé113
The custardy Canelé infused with Earl Grey, with orange zest and bergamot to reinforce the citrus. A London-fog canelé — alcohol-free.
Ingredients
| 420g | milk |
| ½ | orange, zested (for steeping) |
| 38g | heavy cream |
| 14g | Earl Grey leaves, loose (for steeping) |
| 45g | butter |
| 1 | vanilla bean (or 8g vanilla extract) |
| 170g | granulated sugar |
| 2g | fleur de sel |
| 1 | whole egg (~50g) |
| 2 | egg yolks (~36g) |
| 30g | milk (added at the end, in place of the liqueur) |
| 2–4 drops | bergamot extract (or orange extract) |
| 85g | AP flour |
| 15g | cornstarch |
| 4g | Earl Grey, finely ground (optional, for punch) |
| Nonstick spray for molds |
Steps
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Heat the milk to 175°F — do not boil. Off heat, add the loose Earl Grey and the orange zest, cover, and steep 12–15 minutes.
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Strain out the leaves and zest and weigh the infused milk; measure out 340g for the batter — if you’re short, top up with fresh milk (the recipe starts with extra to cover what the leaves soak up). Return the 340g to the pot with the cream, butter, and vanilla and warm gently just to melt the butter.
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In a bowl, whisk sugar, salt, eggs, and yolks together.
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Slowly pour about ¼ of the warm infused milk into the egg mixture, whisking to temper. Sift in flour, cornstarch, and the ground Earl Grey (if using), whisk until smooth.
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Gradually add the remaining milk, whisking until combined. Stir in the 30g milk and the bergamot extract.
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Strain through a sieve. Refrigerate overnight (24 hours minimum).
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Coat molds with nonstick spray. Stir rested batter gently. Preheat oven to 525°F. Fill each mold with 70g.
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Bake at 525°F for 11 minutes, then drop to 375°F and bake 50–55 minutes more.
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Unmold immediately onto a cooling rack. Cool 2 hours. Eat the same day.
Analysis
Total batter weight: ~810g (after straining the leaves; excludes mold coating)
| Component | Amount | % |
|---|---|---|
| Structure solids (flour + cornstarch) | 100g | 12.3% |
| Fat (butter, cream, milk, yolk) | 78g | 9.6% |
| Sugar (added + lactose) | 181g | 22.3% |
| Liquid (milk, cream, egg water) | 426g | 52.6% |
| Egg/protein | 25g | 3.1% |
Essentially the custardy Canelé’s ratios (~12% structure) — the tea steeps into the milk as flavor without changing the structural math. Replacing the Cointreau with milk drops the sugar a hair (the liqueur was ~24% sugar) but leaves the liquid fraction effectively identical; the ground leaf and orange zest (if used) are inert flavor, not structure.
Notes
- Bergamot is volatile and fades in the oven, so the recipe over-steeps and adds orange zest, a small amount of ground leaf, and a few drops of bergamot extract to keep the citrus reading. The infused milk should taste aggressively strong before baking.
- No alcohol. The original used 30g Cointreau to echo the bergamot, but in a 60-minute bake the spirit is purely aromatic, not structural — orange zest steeped into the milk plus a couple drops of bergamot (or orange) extract reproduce the citrus more directly. The 30g is replaced gram-for-gram with milk so the batter’s liquid balance is unchanged. For the boozy original, swap the 30g milk + extract back for 30g Cointreau.
- The milk starts at 420g (vs the base 340g) to cover what the leaves soak up. Spent tea leaves retain roughly 2–4× their dry weight in liquid — around 2–3× for broken or bagged tea, up to ~4× for big whole leaf — so your 14g takes up somewhere near 30–55g. You don’t need to nail the exact figure: after steeping you weigh the strained milk and measure back to 340g, so absorption never throws off the batter. The extra start just guarantees you still have 340g left.
- Other technique is identical to the custardy Canelé.
- Use a good loose Earl Grey; the bergamot quality is what you taste.