Description
This chai sheet cake packs intense ginger, cardamom and cinnamon into a dense, moist cake. A thick layer of tangy cream cheese frosting over the top, balancing those cozy fall spices. It stays tender for days, making it a go to dessert for any chai lover!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Chai infusion
- 5 tbsp (75 g) loose chai OR 5 chai tea bags
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) milk
Wet ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp (10 ml) vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (180 g) all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1/2 tsp (3 g) baking powder, sifted
- 1/4 tsp (1 g) baking soda, sifted
- 1/2 tsp (3 g) sea salt
- 1 tsp (2 g) ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp (2 g) ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp (2 g) ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp (1 g) ground nutmeg
Frosting
- 1/2 batch vanilla cream cheese frosting
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Line an 8×8 inch square pan with parchment paper.
- Combine the loose chai (or contents of tea bags) and milk in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat and continue to heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for 5 minutes. Strain the chai mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the tea leaves.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the strained chai mixture, melted butter, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth.
- In a separate medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and nutmeg.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Gently fold with a spatula until just combined. Stop mixing when a few small pockets of flour remain.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack.
- If you are using cream cheese frosting, spread it over the completely cooled cake.
Notes
- For a bolder chai flavour, I like to let the tea steep for an extra 5-10 minutes after removing it from the heat. Just make sure you strain it well afterwards.
- When you’re mixing the wet and dry ingredients, stop as soon as most of the flour is incorporated. A few small lumps are fine, and it keeps the cake tender.
- If you’re adding the cream cheese frosting, make sure the cake is completely cool before you spread it. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a melty mess.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Cake
- Method: baking
