I’ve probably uttered the words ‘grande chai latte’ at least 1000 times. So putting the same ingredients in a cake feels comfortably familiar and yet very exciting. I’m actually surprised it took me this long to try!
For those of you who are not familiar with ‘chai’, you only need to know three things: 1. It rhymes with pie (already off to a good start). 2. The word chai literally means tea. And so to properly order, you can simply say chai, as opposed to chai tea. Otherwise, you’re saying, I’ll have a ‘tea tea’. 3. Masala chai is the Indian version of chai and is comprised of black tea, a combination of a variety of spices, milk, and sweetener.
For those of you who are already chai lovers, you probably have a very specific way you like it. Chai can range from very sweet to very spicy. My preference is a healthy balance between sweet and spicy. I don’t like it to be over sweetened because I really enjoy tasting the spice. But I also don’t want it to be so spicy that my brain hurts after drinking it. Does anyone else get headaches when you have too much spice? (Just me??)
For this recipe, I used a combination of ground cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and ground ginger. And the mixture was delightful! I also fell in love with the velvety look of this batter. Don’t these look like scoops of a creamy mocha ice cream??
For the buttercream frosting, I wanted to incorporate some seasonal flavors so I replaced some of the milk in my standard buttercream recipe with blood orange juice. I did end up adding a little bit of food coloring for the color. I wanted it all to be from the blood orange juice, but was a little nervous about the buttercream breaking apart.
Here is the frosting recipe in case you want to try. But honestly, these chai latte cupcakes were perfectly delicious on their own too!
Frosting:
4 cups powdered sugar
2 sticks butter
1 tablespoon milk
1 1/2 tablespoons blood orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
Friends, these cupcakes are great change up for dessert (like on a special holiday..hint hint). Or you can pretty much consider them breakfast if you’re replacing your standard morning chai latte. 🙂
- 1 chai tea bag
- ½ cup milk
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), cubed and at room temperature
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup of full fat yogurt
- Heat milk in the microwave and pour over tea bag. Let steep for 20 minutes. I
- n a medium bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ground ginger.
- Heat milk in the microwave and pour over tea bag. Let steep for 20 minutes.
- Cream the butter with the granulated and light brown sugar on medium speed in a large bowl.
- Add eggs one a time and mix into the butter/sugar mixture and then add vanilla.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the batter, then add the yogurt. Add the remainder of the flour mixture a little bit at a time alternating with tea-infused milk mixture. Mix until just combined as over mixing can cause a very tough cake.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack and let cook for another 15 minutes before frosting.
Leave a Reply