Chai Latte Cake

 

Happy Easter folks! I hope you're having a lovely day with lots of eggs. Here in Amsterdam it is so different from back home. In the UK there will have been an aisle dedicated to Easter Eggs since the 15th February with Easter Eggs for all the big name chocolate bars. Here, they are all about the mini eggs. It's a lot less commercial which is really refreshing and there is a bag of cappuccino mini eggs in the cupboard with my name on it!

Speaking of cappuccino, living with someone who runs on coffee and practically has it running in his veins, the kettle in our house is always whistling. With a two month old you might think that I too would also be hitting the caffeine hard but if I did I would be too wired to make the most of the times when I do get to sleep. Instead I have the occasional coffee but mix it up with different teas.
One of my favourites is Chai Tea. Traditionally made in India it is black tea mixed with milk, sugar and aromatic spices such as cinnamon, ginger and cardamom, which if you read my last post you'll know is a favourite of mine. The ingredients are all mixed together and bought to the boil then strained. For convenience some clever bods have made an instant powder mix that you just add hot water to. There are a few on the market but I prefer Drink Me Chai and their Spiced Chai Latte.

This drink is the inspiration and an ingredient in my Chai Latte Cake. It's a spiced fragrant sponge with a punchy buttercream icing.
This is a cake for Chai lovers.

CHAI LATTE CAKE

Ingredients

For The Cake

200g Unsalted Butter, Softened
200g Caster Sugar
3 Large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
200g Self Raising Flour
65g Chai Latte Powder
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Cardamom
1/4 tsp Ginger

For The Icing

410g Icing Sugar
40g Chai Latte Powder
220g Unsalted Butter, Softened
1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste

• Preheat oven to 180°c and grease and line a 20cm round springform tin with baking parchment.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until they are pale and fluffy (I use the whisk attachment on my KitchenAid). This will take at least 5 minutes. Don't skimp on this as it really helps make for a lighter fluffier cake.
• Beat the eggs and the vanilla paste together. 
• On a medium speed slowly add the egg and vanilla mix to the butter and sugar.
• Combine the flour, Chai Latte powder, baking powder and spices. 
• Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until they have just come together
• Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin and smooth the top.
• Bake in the centre of the oven at 180°c for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack until cool enough to handle then remove from the tin and peel away all the baking parchment. Leave to cool completely.
• For the icing put all the ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Very slowly bring the ingredients together. You don't want too fast here or your kitchen will be covered in icing sugar. I often cover my machine with a clean tea towel when I do this. 
• As the mixture comes together increase the speed and beat until the mixture is very pale and fluffy. As before for the cake mix the longer you go the lighter the mix will become.
• Put the icing in the fridge for around half an hour to firm up or until you are ready to ice the cake.
• Cut the cake in half horizontally (not vertically obviously!) and spread 1/3 of the icing on the top of the lower half. Pop the top half on and cover the top and sides with the rest of the icing.
• For an extra touch I dusted my cake with a little cinnamon before I served it. Store in the fridge or in an airtight container.

I made this cake as a layered cake but it works equally well as a tray bake. In a 27 x 18 cm tray bake for 35-40 minutes and make a half batch of the icing.
Each element of this cake is delicious on their own. The icing would be delicious on a plain vanilla or lemon sponge. But together it's a total immersion experience. If you want slightly less in your face flavour for the icing you can reduce the amount of Chai Latte Powder in the icing by 20g and reduce the amount of butter by 10g.


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