Vanilla chai cupcakes are moist and fluffy, filled with earthy spices like cardamom, ginger, and nutmeg. The vanilla chai buttercream frosting on top will give you seriously sweet dreams!
My lil girl kitten, Kiori, loves to counter cruise, which is not a behavior I condone. Leave a stick of butter out and she can’t help herself, up on the counter tops she goes to claim it as her own. She has calmed down a bit since our counters aren’t as spacious as out last living arrangements and I only really catch her up there once in a while (like this morning when two sticks of butter were coming to room temp – or when someone leaves pizza crust on a plate. Not pointing any fingers or anything).
The absolute best moment was the day she stuck her entire face into a cupcake with strawberry icing. Really? How can you be angry at a kitten who has pink icing all over her face? Wish I had the camera ready for that one. Not to mention, when it comes to the pets, I’m a horrible disciplinarian. I tend to find all of the bad behavior funny or cute and its really hard to get an angry infliction acrossed when your laughing.
Maddox is the tabby and Kiori is the back and white one. 🙂 Weren’t they so cute when they were little???
Vanilla Chai Cupcakes
adapted from, Some More Please, seen on https://thenovicechefblog.com
Ingredients:
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 quantity chai spice mix (recipe to follow)
- 1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
For the Chai Spice Mix
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Preparation:
spices together in small bowl.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla and beat in one egg at a time. Stir in half the quantity of chai spice mix.
Fold in the flour and buttermilk alternately and stir until combined, don’t over mix.
Mix together the baking soda and vinegar and mix into the batter.
Spoon into prepared cupcake cases until 3/4 full and bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Vanilla Chai Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:
2 stick (1 cup) butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 quantity chai spice mix
1-2 tbs cold milk, if needed
Preparation:
In a stand mixer, beat the butter until it is creamy. On low, mix in the vanilla and the rest of the chai spice mix. Carefully beat in the icing sugar about ½ cup at a time. If the buttercream is too thick add 1-2 tbs of cold milk until the desired consistency is reached. Then pipe onto cooled cupcakes with your favorite frosting tip.
This is my second attempt at the wonderful world of icing tips and cupcakes.
I used Bake It Pretty’s Closed Star Tip and a Bake Mate pastry bag. Mine look nothing like the picture shown, but practice makes perfect…. someday… However! I did learn a neat little tip from You Made That?, which was to wrap the icing in plastic wrap before putting it in the pastry bag. AWESOME. My kitchen did not have frosting all over it like my last attempt – nor did I 😀 Make sure to cut a hole in the plastic wrap (duh) before sticking it in the pastry bag. Clean up was a breeze.
Tanya says
Will be making these, I love Chai tea, so these sound so delish! We use to have two Cats who lived on the counters when the boxers were inside. Poor things they were targets as soon as they hit the floors!
Corned Beef and Kimchi says
I MUST make this. Both the hubs and I love Chai.
Marylou Pinedo says
Those look NOM-licious.
Our new kitten is growing up so fast… 🙁
You have to drop by sometime and meat him and Lola!
Marylou Pinedo says
MEET*
OH GOD
food on the brain, haha
Kita says
lol. You’ll have to invite us over some time ;P
Wendy (The Local Cook) says
another chai lover here . . . those look amazing! The kitten is super cute too 🙂
Jamie says
We have two cats also. I think they do some funny things and just can’t get mad when they do it. Both cats like to get in the bathtub as soon as anyone gets out and leave little paw prints all over the wood floors. Silly cats.
These look amazing. I actually posted a Chai recipe today too. Stop by and check it out.
OMG! Yummy says
You do such a nice job with the frosting! Looks professional. Saying hi from your new SITS tribe! Wish I could grab one of those cupcakes right off the screen and take a bite!
megan @ whatmegansmaking says
I made these a few weeks ago as well and we LOVED them. They are seriously good and they taste like Fall 🙂
Jessica says
OMG! I love anything with Chai in it- so doing this this weekend and that is not a lie! Thanks for the recipe girl!
Suzanne says
thanks for mention here, glad the tip worked for you. Love your kitties they are so cute.
Dave says
Oh, yeah! I had one of these babies, and it was goood! The textures were great with the carrot cake-like, somewhat dense cupcake against the light and smooth frosting. If you like chai, you’ll love these.
Thanks, K!
Julie M. says
I absolutely adore the cute little “isms” of cats and kittens. They’re too cute for words! These cupcakes look perfect, I am addicted to chai so I can already tell they’re a winner in my book! Nice to meet you!
Serene says
Those are really pretty, but I must be a terrible person, because I would indeed get mad with a kitten who stuck its paw into my frosting. 🙂
Cindy says
I was just going to make some sort of chai cupcake today until I realized I left most of my chai spices at a friends when we made pumpkin pie earlier this week. This looks like a great recipe so I’ll bookmark it for when I get my spices back! =)
Some More Please says
Ahaha it’s such a random feeling to stumble on a foodblog that features my recipe…! <3 They look beautiful
Steph@stephsbitebybite says
So glad I’m not the only one whose kitty likes to jump on the counter and eat random things 🙂 Loving these cupcakes!
Christina says
Baby kitties! Me wanna squeez ’em!!! Everything is better with a little cat hair. It’s something you learn to live with if you live with cats.
Those cupcakes look as cute as the kitties!
Medeja says
Very cute kitties 🙂 Of course that you can’t be angry at such lovely creatures. My moms cat was drinking coffee if she was able to find unattended cup :)) that was so cute
Really nice cupcakes and icing is very interesting 🙂
Cakewhiz says
These woud be perfect to have with indian, milky chai. I can’t wait to serve these next time i have people over for dinner or brunch.
Great piping too 🙂
Amy Bakes Everything says
These are gorgeous! Chai and vanilla is a great combo!
Tiffany says
Super cute cupcakes! And great flavor combo!
shannon says
1/4 ts cloves. for the chai mix.. what is that?
Kelly Gonzales says
for the chai spice mix…is that 1/4 tsp cloves or ground cloves/cloves powder?
Kita says
Ground cloves