Chai Cake

Combine all the spices in a small bowl.

Mix until well-blended. You will use it throughout this recipe in the pastry cream, cake batter, frosting, and then to dust the cake once frosted.

Place the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat.

At the first sign of bubbling, turn the heat off.

Add the tea bags to the milk and let it infuse for 5 minutes. Discard the tea bags once steeped.

Whisk egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and chai spice powder in a medium bowl until pale in color.

Now we're going to temper the egg mixture with the steeped milk. Pour the hot milk over the yolks in thin stream while whisking. Do this slowly so you don’t scramble the eggs. By slowly bringing the eggs up to temperature, they should not scramble. Do this until all the milk is incorporated.

Pour the mixture back into the pan that you used to heat up the milk. Use a strainer to catch any lumps that may have formed.

Place the pan over medium heat, and begin to cook the mixture stirring non-stop. It will start to thicken into a custard. Cook until the custard becomes thick.

When the custard starts thickening up, the mixture will look scrambled or lumpy. Just continue to stir and cook, it will come together and become smooth.

When the custard is thick like pudding, remove from the heat.

Place the custard in a bowl and add the vanilla extract. Stir to combine.

Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard so it won’t form a skin as it cools down.

Let it cool down, and then place it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

You can make the pastry cream ahead. It can be kept in the freezer for up to 1 month, and in the fridge for up to 3 days.

If desired, infuse the 1/2 cup milk with tea bags. Place the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat, then add the tea bags and let it infuse. Discard the tea bags, and measure out 1/3 cup of milk. We start with 1/2 cup in the recipe because some milk might evaporate or get soaked by the tea bags but the recipe requires only 1/3 cup. If you are not infusing the milk with the tea, use 1/3 cup instead of 1/2 cup.

Let the milk cool down before using in the recipe.

Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.

Line a 8” or 9” springform cake pan with parchment paper and spray it with oil. If using a 8″ pan, make sure it’s at least 2.5 inches deep.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and chai spice powder. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter at medium speed for 30 seconds.

Add the sugar to the bowl, and beat together with the butter for another 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Scrape the bowl every so often to ensure everything is getting nicely incorporated together.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated before adding the next egg.

Add the vanilla and mix to combine.

Add half of the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on low to combine.

Pour the cooled down milk in and mix.

Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix on low to combine. You can also use the spatula instead of the mixer to fold the batter during this final stage. Avoid over mixing, to prevent the cake from turning out dry.

Spread the batter on the bottom of the prepared pan.

Bake the cake in pre-heated oven for about 35 to 40 minutes. If the top of the cake is browning too much towards the end, and the center is not yet cooked, cover it with a piece of aluminum foil.

You will know the cake is done baking when you touch the top of the cake and doesn’t feel soft or jiggly underneath. Insert a toothpick in the cake, and should come out clean, without any gooey batter attached.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool down completely.

When the cake has cooled down, use a dowel, or a chopstick, or even the handle of a wooden spoon or spatula, to poke holes in the cake.

Place the pastry cream in a piping bag. Snip the end of the bag with scissors.

Pipe the pastry cream inside each hole you poked.

Beat the cream cheese and butter with a mixer for 45 seconds. Add the powdered sugar and chai spice powder. Mix on low until incorporated, then raise the speed to medium and beat for another 45 seconds to 1 minute.

If the frosting is too thick, add one tsp of milk at a time to thin it out, and if it’s too thin, add a bit of powdered sugar to make it thicker.

Top the cake with the frosting, using a spatula to spread it out evenly and smooth it out on top of the cake.

Sprinkle with the remaining chai spice powder.

Place the cake in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.