Chai Spice Cake Recipes

SPICED VANILLA CHAI CAKE

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together the cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice, and cloves and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare three 6-inch or two 9-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with a cooking spray (Baker's Joy is my favorite) and fitting a wax or parchment paper circle to the bottom of the pan. Alternatively, you can grease and lightly flour the pans.
• Place the chai tea bag into a mason jar. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, warm the whole milk, stirring constantly, until it begins to boil. Pour the boiling milk over the chai tea bag in the mason jar and let steep for 20 minutes before removing the tea bag. Allow the mixture to cool completely to room temperature before moving on.
• Sift the cake flour and then measure by spooning and leveling it in your measuring cup. Add the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, 4 teaspoons of the chai spice mix, and salt into a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer (a handheld mixer works fine too!), cream the butter for on high for two minutes until it's light and fluffy. Add in sugar and continue to mix on medium-high for another two minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, then add vanilla and sour cream and mix for one minute on high, scraping down the bowl and paddle once more.
• With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the (room temperature!) chai milk mixture slowly and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and give it a few stirs to make sure there are no lumps (without over-mixing). The batter will be slightly thick, but pourable.
• Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans (no more than 2/3 of the way full) and bake for 30-35 minutes. They're done when they spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for five minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack for an additional few hours of cooling. Make sure they're entirely room temperature before applying any frosting.
• With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream the butter on medium-high until it's creamy and light (almost white) in color. About 7 minutes.
• Whisk 1 Tbsp of the Chai Spice Mix into the measured powdered sugar. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar mixture a few cups at a time, scraping down after each addition and making sure each addition is fully incorporated before adding the next one.
• Add vanilla, milk, and salt and mix on medium-low for another two minutes until fully incorporated.
• Once the Vanilla Chai Cakes have cooled completely, fill and frost the layers with Vanilla Chai Buttercream. To create the design pictured, add crushed Speculoos Cookies to the sides of the cake by placing them into the palm of your hand and gently pressing them onto the buttercream finish. Then, fit one piping bag with Wilton Tip 4B and another piping bag with Wilton Tip 1M before filling each with Vanilla Chai Buttercream. Pipe rosettes and stars onto the top of the cake in a crescent moon shape, add some cinnamon sticks, and sprinkle more crushed Speculoos Cookies on top.

CHAI TEA CAKE WITH GINGER CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.
• Begin cake by combining water, 3 tea bags, ginger root, cardamom pods, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon cloves in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and keep warm.
• Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add molasses and egg; mix well.
• Mix flour, baking soda, cardamom, and salt with remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon cloves in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, one half at a time; stir to combine. Strain hot tea and slowly pour into the batter and stir until smooth; batter will be thin. Pour into the prepared cake pans.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Run a table knife around the edges to loosen. Invert carefully onto a serving plate or cooling rack. Let cool, about 30 minutes.
• While the cakes are cooling, combine water, sugar, and tea bags for simple syrup in a small pot over medium-high heat. Cook until sugar has dissolved, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
• Brush simple syrup over cooled and leveled cakes until the majority of the cake has absorbed the syrup. Do not oversoak the cakes; you want enough syrup to soak in and keep cakes moist and flavorful without flooding them. Place cakes in the refrigerator for 1 hour or until ready to decorate.
• Combine cream cheese, butter, and ginger for frosting in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add sugar and blend until smooth. Frost cake.

CHAI SPICE "CHEESECAKE"

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Stir together graham crackers and brown sugar in a small bowl, then drizzle with oil and stir. Add just enough milk to make crumbs stick together. Press very firmly into bottom of pan. Bake 10 minutes. Keep oven at 350 degrees F.
• Meanwhile, blend cheesecake-batter ingredients in a blender until completely smooth and no bits of cashew remain, giving blender a rest every minute or so and scraping down sides with a rubber spatula. Batter should be completely smooth and not grainy: This takes about 1 minute with a high-powered blender (such as Vitamix) or about 5 minutes with a standard blender.
• Spray inside springform pan (above baked crust) with cooking spray. Pour in batter and jiggle to spread evenly over crust. Bake until top is lightly puffed and edges are golden, 45 to 50 minutes.
• Cool to room temperature on a rack, about 1 hour. Chill, covered, at least 3 hours or, even better, overnight.
• Slice cake with a thin, sharp knife dipped in water. Dollop each slice with whipped topping, dust with cinnamon, and sprinkle with candied ginger.

CHAI-SPICED TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Grease or spray bottoms and sides of two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans. In 2-cup measuring cup, pour boiling water over tea bags. Let steep 3 to 4 minutes. Discard tea bags. Add 1/2 cup water to tea to make 1 cup.
• In large bowl, beat cake mix, oil, eggs and tea mixture with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pans.
• In small bowl, mix sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg; sprinkle over batter in pans. Pull knife through batter in swirl design.
• Bake as directed on box for 8- or 9-inch rounds. Cool 15 minutes. Run knife around sides of pans to loosen cakes. On serving plates, place each cake, top side down; gently brush off excess crumbs. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
• In small microwavable bowl, microwave frosting uncovered on High 10 to 15 seconds or until thin enough to drizzle. Place in small resealable food-storage plastic bag; cut off tiny corner of bag. Drizzle frosting over cakes. Store loosely covered.

CHAI BUTTERMILK SPICE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Pour boiling water over tea bags in a bowl; steep 5 minutes. Remove and discard tea bags; cool to room temperature.
• Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, stirring with a whisk.
• Place the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 3 minutes).
• Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until well combined. Beat in brewed tea and vegetable oil.
• Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition.
• Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy.
• Add cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form.
• Gently stir one-third of egg whites into batter; gently fold in remaining egg whites.
• Spoon batter into a 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Cool in pan on a wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

SPICED CHAI BUNDT CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Place the chai and water in a small bowl and mix to combine. Place the flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, eggs, milk, butter, vanilla and tea mixture in a large bowl and whisk until smooth.
• Pour into a well-greased Bundt pan and cook for 30-35 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Invert onto a wire rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Gently lift off the pan and allow to cool completely before serving.