It’s a freakishly cold day here in Omaha and the forecast is calling for 12 inches of snow by tomorrow evening. On days like this, I love a nice cup of coffee …. or better yet, a nice Chai Tea Latte
The spices and aroma are so soothing and just make you feel all warm and cozy. So, again, I was perusing the great land of Pinterest and found a recipe that looked promising. I adapted it to my liking and only made a half batch since a) I didn’t want a gazillion cupcakes sitting around when I’m about to be confined to the house for a couple of days and b) the hubs doesn’t like chai tea
I was pretty happy with the results. I’m glad I scaled back on some of the spices since there were some pretty major heavy-hitters in there (speaking of cardamom and cloves more specifically). The frosting in the original recipe wasn’t really what I was wanting, so I made my own buttercream …. here you go!
Vanilla Chai Tea Latte Cupcake
Ingredients
Remember, this only makes a dozen…
3/4 c. Cake Flour
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Cardamom
1/4 tsp. Ginger
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Cloves
1/2 c. Caster/Baker’s Sugar
1/4 c. Unsalted Butter
2 Eggs, room temp
3 T. Apple Sauce
1 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 c. Milk
2 Chai Tea Bags
1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners
2) In a saucepan, warm your milk over medium heat just until it’s simmering. Please don’t boil. Add the chai tea bag and steep for about 10 minutes. The milk/tea mixture needs to get to room temp, so in the mean time….
3) In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves
4) Get your standup mixer ready, fitted with paddle attachment, and cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl, around 2 minutes.
5) Add your eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined.
6) Add applesauce and vanilla. Mix just until combined
7) Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix until combined.
8) Add 1/2 of your chai milk goodness and mix until combined.
9) Repeat until all the flour and milk is mixed (don’t overmix!!!)
10) Fill each cupcake liner with 2-3 T. of batter and bake for 15 minutes. It’s ok if your tester has some crumbs on it, btw. Don’t freak out and overbake that crap
11) Remove from tin and cool on wire racks
Cinnamon Buttercream
1 c. Unsalted Butter
1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
4 1/2 c. Powdered Sugar, sifted if you’re weird like me
1-2 T. Whipping Cream
1) In your standup mixer, with the paddle attachment, cream your butter for 2 minutes (should look light and fluffy)
2) Slowly start adding in your powdered sugar, about 1/2 c. at a time
3) Add your vanilla and cinnamon and mix until well combined
4) Add your whipping cream and beat on medium high for 1 minute
5) Pipe your cinnamony buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes
I found the taste to be quite interesting…and the house smells divine.
xoxo
Michelle
baking bing 