Chai Spiced Cupcakes
At the very first hint of Autumn, these fragrant fellas become a staple at CAYC. They are all the delicious flavours of autumn bundled into one cupcake, warming spices, brown sugar, sweet maple topped off with a dusting of cinnamon. They are a must bake.
If you are leaning into cosy season and want an easy recipe to bake on a Sunday afternoon, these are perfect. Here’s our recipe that makes 12 cupcakes (maybe a few more!)
For the Chai infused milk:
1 small mug of oat milk (or milk of your choice)
2 chai tea bags (we used Pukka)
For the Chai Spiced Cupcakes:
185g salted butter, softened
185g light brown sugar
3 large free range eggs, at room temperature
185g self raising flour
1tsp vanilla extract
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground ginger
1/2tsp nutmeg
1/2tsp ground cardamom
Tiny sprinkle of clove (it is a very strong flavour!)
3 tbI sp chai infused milk (we used oat milk)
For the maple frosting:
200g unsalted butter, at room temperature
500g Icing sugar
A very generous glug of maple syrup
1/2tsp vanilla extract
2tbsp chai infused milk
Let’s bake:
Start by preheating your oven to 180C, and lining a 12 hole cupcake tin with cases.
We will start with the chai infused milk to give it time to gently infuse. Add milk and chai tea bags to a small saucepan and leave to infuse on a very low heat (about 5-10 mins). Remove from the heat and give the tea bags a final squeeze into the milk before discarding.
In a stand mixer / big bowl, mix your butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Then add your spices and vanilla. Once mixed through, crack in your eggs one by one until fully combined.
Sieve in your flour, and we tend to very gently fold (keeping as much air as possible) with a wooden spoon. Loosed the mixture with your chai infused milk.
Scoop into your 12 cases, about ¾’s full. Bake for approx 15 - 20 minutes until risen and golden brown.
Pop your baked cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool whilst you make your maple frosting…
In a big bowl, beat together your room temp softened butter, icing sugar and maple syrup until light in colour and fluffy. Add chai milk infusion to loosen as needed (ideally easily pipeable!)
Load into a piping bag and swirl over each cupcake. You don’t have to get this fancy, spooning and swirling with the back of a teaspoon is perfect, too. Finished with a light dusting of ground cinnamon.
Serve up to friends and family with a big ole pot of tea and enjoy.
