The Viral Tea Cup Cake Is Made With An Unexpected Melted Ingredient

Cupcake recipes are innumerable, from a classic vanilla cupcake recipe to a sweet and savory chocolate bacon cupcake recipe. In recent years, people have even begun making tea-flavored cupcakes. Some go the extra mile by making them inside tea cups for the perfect individually-sized baked treat. 

One TikTok user hopped on this particular cupcake trend and posted a video featuring a recipe that uses Earl Grey tea, flour, and melted ice cream. Using melted ice cream may seem odd, but using Earl Grey tea in ice cream is somewhat popular, as are ice cream batter cupcakes. Using melted ice cream in your baked goods negates the need for ingredients like milk, water, and vanilla and also provides additional moisture and sweetness in the final dessert. Or, used as a sauce, melted ice cream can replace a custard or créme anglaise. 

As well as cutting down on the number of ingredients you need, melted ice cream also offers countless flavor options. When you factor in the different available teas, the possibilities are endless. 

While the TikTok creator used Earl Grey tea and what appears to be strawberry ice cream in their recipe, you can try any combination of flavors you'd like.

@nikkalcaraz

CHEW YOUR TEA! It's much sweeter. #bridgerton #teatime #teacakes #baking #teaparty

♬ Wildest Dreams – Duomo

Several TikTokers suggested green matcha or raspberry cheesecake Häagen-Dazs ice creams, as these are both highly flavorful choices that pair well with any number of teas. For instance, matcha complements lemon tea and green tea, whereas raspberry flavors can work well with black tea, green tea, and other herbal teas. Again, once melted, ice cream provides most of the ingredients you need to bake a mug cake and imparts additional moisture and flavor.

What's more, if tea isn't really your thing as a flavor base for dessert, you can still use melted ice cream to make an incredibly simple and delicious cake. All you need to add is self-rising flour, just as you would if following the TikTok recipe.