Chai Cake With Buttercream Frosting

Say hello to this delicious chai-infused cake. It’s beautifully sweet, it’s moist and it’s wonderfully fragrant. Enjoy!

If you only have cardamom pods, add 3 pods to a pestle and mortar and grind gently to open them up. Then remove and discard the pod skins and grind the seeds a little more until ground.

Simply avoid using soya milk to make this recipe soy-free.

Ingredients

• 325ml (11fl.oz) plant-based milk 
• 2 tbsp loose leaf chai masala or 3 chai tea bags
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 225g (7.9oz) plain flour
• 140g (4.9oz) light brown sugar 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda in the US)
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 80g (2.8oz) vegetable oil

For topping:

• 250g (8.8oz) icing sugar 
• 60g (2.1oz) vegan margarine
• 1 handful of walnuts, roughly chopped

Method

1. To make the chai milk, pour the milk into a small saucepan on a medium heat.  Bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and add the loose leaves or tea bags. Stir, then leave the tea to brew in the milk for 10 minutes. 
2. Squeeze the tea against the side of the saucepan to extract all the flavour, then discard.
3. Measure out 200ml (7oz) of the chai milk and stir in the apple cider vinegar. Note: the volume of the chai milk will have reduced when it was heated which is why you will need to measure this amount now so it’s precise (you can drink anything leftover or simply discard it). Leave the mixture to sit while you carry out the next steps.
4. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan / 350°F and line a 20cm (8”) square cake tin with baking paper.
5. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cardamom together in a large mixing bowl. 
6. Next pour in the chai milk you measured earlier and the vegetable oil and stir until you get a smooth cake batter. 
7. Pour the batter into the lined cake tin and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake. 
8. Leave the cake to cool completely.
9. Meanwhile, to make the frosting, add the vegan margarine and icing sugar to a mixing bowl. Use a fork to bring them together to a buttercream. Once mostly combined, add a splash of plant-based milk to the mixture if it’s too thick.
10. Once the cake is fully cooled, spread the frosting all over the top and finish with a sprinkling of chopped walnuts. Now simply cut into slices and serve