chai cake

There was another birthday at work the other day, two in fact, so one of the girls offered to buy a cake and I offered to make one too. As one cake was being purchased I knew it would be a standard flavour and guaranteed to be yummy and edible, so I felt I could be a bit more adventurous in my choice of cake. I was originally planning on a spiced apple cake (ok not that adventurous) but then I stumbled upon this chai cake recipe. Chai flavoured cake? The recipe looked like it would work (ie ingredients looked like they were in the right proportion and the method didn't look too out there) so I decided to give it a go. Having said that, I didn't fully trust the method, so I modified it a bit, which you will see below. I also opted for maple icing (from this recipe) instead of the honey icing as it looked ridiculously sweet - not a problem for my sweet tooth, but probably a bit too much for normal people. The result was a deliciously fluffy spicy chai-y cake.

Verdict: Yum! A winner!
Score: 10/10

Chai Cake

I halved the recipe, but I don't think you'd end up with too much cake if you made the whole amount

Ingredients
* 2/3 cups milk
* 4 chai tea bags
* 2 whole eggs
* 1 egg yolk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 3/8 cups all purpose flour
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 4 ounces unsalted butter, room temp

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Line the bottom and sides of the pans with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan bring the milk to a simmer over low med-low heat. Add the tea bags, careful not to let the paper tag fall into the milk. Remove from heat and allow the tea to steep for 5 minutes. Remove the teabags and squeeze out the milk. Let the chai milk cool completely.

In a medium bowl mix the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and 1/3 cup of the chai milk. Whisk together. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg mixture and beat until incorporated. Next alternate folding in the flour and milk (ie flour, milk, flour, milk, flour). (I did add some of the milk to the eggs but I'm not sure that this is necessary with my method - didn't seem to affect the outcome though :) I divided the batter evenly among 2 8-inch (? I think they were 8 inch - I must check...) tins, but I think this would be good for one slightly larger cake.

Bake the cakes for 26-28 minutes (longer if you're baking in one tin), or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from tins and peel off parchment paper. Cool completely on a wire rack.

spiced apple cake

I have been very bad at this blogging thing, but I'm going to give it another go (or just start blogging again and ignore the fact that I haven't blogged for months). I haven't stopped baking, not at all, but spending all your spare time baking means there's no time left for blogging. I also had this notion of coming up with a better design for my blog, but after many months I've accepted that that will not happen for a while, and so I will follow the advice of a colleague, and just post recipes, and hopefully polish up the commentary and design later.

I baked this gorgeous apple cake a few weeks ago - it's actually not a very sweet cake, and stewing the apples beforehand means the apples come out soft and full of flavour once the cake is baked. I also topped the cake with demerara sugar which gave it a lovely crunch, but I think it would probably taste just as good without it, if you wanted to be a bit healthier :)

The original recipe can be found here

Verdict: Delicious! Make me again!
Score: 9/10

Spiced Apple Cake

Sauteed Apples

2 tart apples (about 1 pound)

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons sugar

Cake

12 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature

1 cup packed light brown sugar

4 egg yolks, at room temperature

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon clove

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon sour cream

1/4 cup raw sugar (or granulated if you don’t have raw on hand)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place a rack in the center of the oven. Butter and flour an 8-inch spring form pan and set aside.

To sautee the apples: peel, core and dice the apples into 1/4-inch cubes. Melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat until butter beings to bubble. Add the diced apples and cook for one minute, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the sugar and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Turn the heat to low and cook the apples, uncovered for 4-5 minutes until they are softened. Remove from heat and allow to cool. You’ll only use the sauteed apples for the recipe so you can discard any liquids that may have accumulated.

To make the cake: cream the butter, sugar and spices in a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment until light in color and fluffy. This may take 6 to 8 minutes. Stop the mixer occasionally, to scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the egg yolks one at a time and continue beating until fluffy and glossy.

Measure out the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. With the mixer set on low speed, add half of the dry ingredients to the batter. Mix until no flour streaks remain. Add the sour cream all at once and incorporate. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until no traces remain. Fold in the cooked apples with a rubber spatula. The cake batter will be thick.

Spread the cake batter into the prepared pan and distribute evenly. Take a knife and run it in a singular circular motion through the batter 1-inch from the edge of the pan. This will help the cake to rise evenly. Sprinkle the cake with the raw or granulated sugar and bake for 60- 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing the sides of the spring form pan.