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Writer's pictureTina Larson

Vanilla Chai Cake

Updated: Dec 31, 2021

Vanilla chai cake with chai cream cheese frosting :). Loaded with cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, and nutmeg, this is everything warm and spiced that I love in my chai tea latte. The rings of "ruffles" around top edge are my favorite minimalist pipework to add to cakes, and they are easy to create using a small rose tip. In case it is helpful, my process video is here on YouTube.





Cake

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cardamom

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp ground cloves

¾ cup granulated sugar

½ cup dark brown sugar (packed)

12 Tbsp butter, room temperature

3 eggs, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup sour cream

½ cup buttermilk (or ½ cup milk + 1.5 tsp white vinegar)

Chai Buttercream

Ingredients:

½ cup (1 stick) salted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp cardamom

⅛ tsp nutmeg

⅛ tsp ground cloves

2 cups powdered sugar

8 ounces cream cheese


Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line bottom of cake pans with parchment paper and grease the sides. Sift together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, and cloves) and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine sour cream, milk, and vanilla and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream together butter and both sugars on high speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add eggs one at a time and continue mixing for another minute.

Add ⅓ of your dry ingredient mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Add half of your milk mixture and mix well. Repeat. Add last ⅓ of dry mixture and mix until just combined.

Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 28-35 minutes (check with toothpick or sharp knife after 28 minutes, then every 5 minutes until it comes out clean). Cool to room temperature or cooler before frosting.

Chai Buttercream

Cream butter, powdered sugar, spices and vanilla 2-3 minutes on high in stand mixer. Buttercream should go from pale yellow to almost pure white and very fluffy. Add cream cheese and beat on medium-high for up to 1 minute (only until just combined; over-mixing cream cheese will turn the buttercream RUNNY).


Assembly

Frost cake layers and exterior with room temperature buttercream on room temperature or chilled (preferred) cake.


Ruffle Piping

To make ruffles as I did here, use a small rose tip (you can get it on Amazon here) to pipe concentric circles like rings in a tree. Start by piping the inner circle and work your way to the outside. Smooth the outermost ring to the sides of the cake with an offset spatula. You will need a cake turntable to accomplish this decorating (here’s the amazon link if you need one).


Hydrangea Piping

Use this link to see my tutorial on buttercream hydrangea piping.


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