Chai Tea Cupcakes

Credit: Gerilee McBride

Spiced milk and ground almonds come together perfectly in this cupcake treat

These unique chai tea-flavoured cupcakes make a nice, light tea-time treat

I created this recipe one evening in an attempt to keep the cold and damp Vancouver weather at bay. I made my chai with black tea but you can omit the tea entirely and just go with the spiced milk by itself.

I also discovered that ground almonds are a delicious replacement for icing sugar in the buttercream icing. This substitution was more happenstance brilliance as I hadn’t realized I was out of icing sugar until mid-recipe and didn’t want to venture out to the store in the rain.

The recipe makes a dozen cupcakes.

Chai Tea Ingredients

• chai tea
• 2 cups milk (I used coconut milk for extra oomph)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 6 green cardamom pods
• 6 whole cloves
• 1.5″ of fresh ginger root (peeled and sliced)
• 4 black peppercorns
• 2 black tea bags (optional)

Instructions

1. Bring all ingredients together in a pot to a boil, reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Remove from heat, strain the milk and let cool.
3. Optional: remove the pot from the stove after simmering, add the tea bags (or loose tea), let steep for 10 minutes, then strain and let cool.

Cupcake Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup shortening (I used 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup olive oil) — using olive oil results in a lighter texture but use one that has a subtle flavour or your cupcakes might taste like olives
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used raw granulated sugar but white granulated sugar is just fine too)
• 2 eggs (room temperature)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup milk (in this case I substituted the milk for my chai tea mixture)

Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
2. Cream together the shortening and sugar.
3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition.
4. Add dry ingredients alternately with the chai milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way and bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes, testing with a toothpick to determine when done. Let cool on rack.

Honey-Almond Buttercream Icing Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup honey (I used unpasteurized buckwheat honey)
• 1 cup ground almonds (add up to 1/4 cup more depending on your taste and texture preference)
• 1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Instructions

1. Cream butter and add the honey, mixing until a smooth paste develops.
2. Add ground almonds 1/4 cup at a time, tasting between each addition for flavour preference. I added a little more than 1 cup since I wanted more of the almond taste to come through.
3. Ice cupcakes as soon as they’re cool and enjoy!