Adagio Wild Strawberry Tea Powder

1. Take 0.5 ounces or more if you desire of Adagio Wild Strawberry tea and separate the apple pieces from the rest of the tea

2. Take the apple pieces and place them onto a bit of parchment paper and then place that into a toaster or regular oven at 375 degrees F

a. Cook till golden brown

b. Be careful not to burn the apple pieces

i. Cooking the apple pieces makes them crunchy and gives you the ability to grind them into a powder. Without the added heat and crunch the pieces are too soft and squishy to grind

3. Allow the apple pieces to cool

a. They may feel squishy when hot but if they are golden brown once they cool down, they will be crunchy

4. Take the apple pieces and add them back to the tea. Then place the mix into a mortar and using a pestle grind the tea until it is a fine powder

a. You can divide the total 0.5 ounces into smaller batches to make it easier to grind

b. Additionally, adding a tablespoon of sugar to the tea gives an added coarseness to which helps facilitate the grinding of the tea. It also makes it easier to see when the tea has become a powder

c. In total if you add the sugar you will end up with 26.6 grams of tea powder

5. Place the tea powder into a small cup or dish and save for later use

Strawberry Purée

6. Take 25 small strawberries wash and remove the cores and tops

7. Place the strawberries into a blender

8. Add ¼ of the tea powder into to the blender with the strawberries

a. Add a bit of water to the mortar to get any tea powder that clung to the sides and add that solution to the blender as well

9. Purée the mixture

a. You should get about two cups

10. Take the purée and pour into a pan

11. Cook the Purée till it has reduced by about half

a. You should have about 1 cup of the strawberry liquid

b. I find it best to cook at medium to medium high, when you cook at high it bubbles a lot and splashed the strawberry mix everywhere

12. After the purée has reduced to about 1 cup remove from the heat and allow to cool for use later

a. If you put it into another bowl and place it in the fridge it cools faster

Cake

13. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

14. Butter the bottom of two 8-inch cake pans. Then line them with parchment paper and butter

a. I also like to spray a bit of walnut oil in the pan as well

b. It sometimes is easier to just buy those disposable cake pans too

c. If you want more layers to your cake get a third cake pan and divide the batter evenly between the three

15. Cream the butter and sugar on high speed in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy

a. If your butter and sugar are not creaming and are just forming tiny lumps add a bit of oil and then mix by hand till it is all incorporated

b. It should then be easier to cream the butter with the mixer till light and fluffy

16. On medium speed add the eggs 1 at a time till fully incorporated

17. Then add the sour cream, zests, and vanilla

a. Scrape down the bowl as needed for any of the previous steps

18. Add ¼ of the tea powder to the mix and then make sure everything is well mixed.

19. Then add ½ a cup of the strawberry purée and mix

20. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.

21. Add in the chia and flax seed plus the hemp hearts and mix with a whisk

22. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture little by little to the butter mixture and combine just until smooth

a. It may be easier to add a little bit then mix and then add a little bit more repeating till all the flour mix has been incorporated

23. Pour the batter evenly into the pans, smooth the tops, and bake in the center of the oven for 40 minutes

a. The cake will be done when you can put a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean

b. You may want to put the cake pans on a baking sheet, it helps with putting them in or taking them out, especially if they are the disposable alumni pans

24. Let the cakes cool till you can touch the metal pan

25. Then remove the cake from the pan and place them onto a wire rack to fully cool to room temperature

a. You can easily remove the cakes from the pans if you use a couple large plates

b. First put a plate on top of the cake and then flip the cake over. Remove the cake pan and place a plate on top of the bottom of the cake which should be facing upward. Then flip the cake over and slide onto the wire rack

Frosting

26. Whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl until firm

a. You can use honey instead of sugar if you desire

27. Once firm drizzle in the melted butter while mixing on low

28. Next drizzle in the walnut oil while mixing on low

29. Add some crushed cocoa nibs to the mix

30. Then mix in the rest of the strawberry purée and mix on high making sure your frosting is stiff

Decorating and Frosting the Cake

31. Slice both cakes in half with a sharp knife

a. Touch the center of the cake and make sure it is cool

32. Place the bottom slice of the cake on a serving platter, spread with the whipped cream and scatter with sliced strawberries

a. If you want more evenly distributed strawberries cutting them into cubes also works

33. Cover with the top slice of the cake

34. Again, cover with whipped cream and layer with strawberries.

35. Add the bottom layer of the second cake to the top and again repeat with the cream and strawberries

36. Next add the top lay of the second cake to your layered cake

37. Slather the cake with the rest of the frosting making sure to get the sides

a. If you want to make your cake look a little cleaner take a butter knife and smooth out the frosting