Name: Rooibos and Vanilla Cake Glaze
Total time: 10 min
Yield: Glazes 1 x 20cm cake or 1lb loaf
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 3 Dragonfly Organic Pure Rooibos pyramid bags; 60ml freshly drawn water, brought to a true rolling boil; 200g icing sugar, sieved twice for a clean smooth glaze; 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1/2 tsp natural vanilla extract); 1 tsp fresh lemon juice; A small pinch of fine sea salt; 1 cooled cake, ready to glaze (a 20cm round sponge, a 1lb loaf, a small bundt or a lemon drizzle)

Rooibos and vanilla cake glaze is a thin pourable icing for the top of a cooled sponge, a lemon drizzle, a bundt or a coffee and walnut. A strong little rooibos concentrate stands in for the usual splash of water, so the glaze carries a soft honey malt note and a natural pale pink colour, with vanilla seeds flecked through and a squeeze of lemon to keep it from being flatly sweet.

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the Rooibos and Vanilla Cake Glaze recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/Biscuits/rooibos and vanilla cake glaze/

It comes together in about ten minutes and sets soft rather than hard, staying just tacky enough to hold a slice together neatly. Mix it as you need it; left on the worktop it stiffens, so glaze the cake within the hour.

⏱ 10 min 🍽 Glazes 1 x 20cm cake or 1lb loaf 📊 Easy 📚 Biscuit Recipes

You'll need

3 Dragonfly Organic Pure Rooibos pyramid bags
60ml freshly drawn water, brought to a true rolling boil
200g icing sugar, sieved twice for a clean smooth glaze
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1/2 tsp natural vanilla extract)
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
A small pinch of fine sea salt
1 cooled cake, ready to glaze (a 20cm round sponge, a 1lb loaf, a small bundt or a lemon drizzle)

Method

Bring the kettle to a true rolling boil. The full 100C is needed for the pure rooibos to give up its honey malt structure into a small concentrate volume.
Pour the 60ml of rolling boil water into a small heatproof jug or measuring cup and drop in the 3 Dragonfly Pure Rooibos pyramids. Cover with a small saucer and steep for ten full minutes for a strong concentrate.
Lift the bags from the jug with a teaspoon, press each firmly against the side of the jug with a teaspoon to extract every drop of the concentrate, and discard. You should have roughly 40 to 45ml of dark red amber liquid.
Slide the jug into the freezer for five minutes to cool the concentrate fast to room temperature. Pouring hot concentrate into icing sugar will lump the sugar; the concentrate must be cool before it goes in.
Sieve the 200g of icing sugar twice through a fine sieve into a clean mixing bowl. The double sieve is what stops the glaze going grainy.
Whisk the cooled rooibos concentrate slowly into the icing sugar a tablespoon at a time, whisking smooth between each addition. You may not need all of the concentrate; stop when the glaze reaches the consistency of thin single cream that flows in a slow ribbon from the whisk.
Whisk in the teaspoon of vanilla bean paste, the teaspoon of fresh lemon juice and the small pinch of fine sea salt. The lemon juice cuts the icing sugar sweetness and the salt sharpens the rooibos character.
Sit the cooled cake on a wire rack set over a tray. Pour the glaze straight from the bowl over the top of the cake in a steady stream, letting the glaze run down the sides and pool on the tray below. Tip the cake gently from side to side to even out the coverage.
Leave the glaze to set on the wire rack for ten minutes before lifting the cake onto a serving plate. The glaze stays soft set rather than going hard, which is the right finish for a tea time slice.

What you'll end up with: A pale pink cream glaze flecked with dark vanilla seeds, flowing in a thin even layer over the top of the cake and running down the sides, with a gentle gloss and a faint honey malt note sitting under the vanilla.

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🛒 Made with this tea

Dragonfly Organic Pure Rooibos, 40 Tea Bags 100g£4.50