I am neither a tea person nor a coffee person, rather you can say me "a health drinker" :P. I know, those so called health drinks are not so healthy but you tell me a name, I have had it for sure. From childhood till date I have had all kind of health drinks- Horlicks, Complan, Milo, Bournvita, Protinex, Ovaltin, Boost and so on. And you know, I had those only with warm water not even milk. My Maa used to scold me a lot for that but since childhood my go to food was those drinks only. Whenever I felt hungry, I used to have one of those drinks with two cookies. Even now also I drink Ovaltin as my breakfast.
A fun part I want to share here, it was my college time then. That day I was feeling very much hungry and asked Maa to give me some food. Maa gave me a lot of options but I didn't like any of those and finally ended up with "Bournvita and two cookies". Maa was very much angry and asked me "Now I am giving you this but what would you do when you get married? Would you ask your mother-in-law to give you Bournvita and cookies when hungry?", I told Ma, "Yes, I will". I got married after 4-5 years and after marriage when I used to go my office in the morning, (lucky me) my mother-in-law used to make Bournvita for me every day. :)
But last couple of days I am obsessed with "Chai Latte". I first had it in nearby restaurant and I fell in love with it at once. "Chai Latte" is basically an "Indian Spiced Milk Tea" with a subtle hint of smell of aromatic spices like Cinnamon, Cardamom, Cloves etc. I very much liked the smell of the spices with the tea and since last 2-3 months, whenever I go outside for any reason, I have it. So when I wanted to make some cupcakes, the very first flavour that came into my mind is "Spiced Tea Cupcake".
Today I am presenting you "Spiced Tea Cupcake". The smell of spices and tea with the sweetness of the cupcake. It's a perfect bite in any occasion.
Tips:
You can take the whole spices together and blend it in powder for the tea spice mix, if you want.
I have used self rising flour for the recipe. You can replace it with all purpose flour. Just add 1 cup of all-purpose flour plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon fine salt for replacement of 1 cup self rising flour.
You can replace the castor sugar with granulated sugar. For 1 cup of castor sugar, replace it with 1 cup plus 2 tsp granulated sugar.
All the ingredients should be in room temperature before making the cake. To softened the butter quickly, you can microwave in 15-20 seconds and stir it thoroughly or softened it in double boiler. Don't forget to bring it in room temperature before processing.
If you don't have icing sugar, grind the granulated sugar in a mixer until smooth powder formed. Sieve it through a mesh strainer to remove the large particles and lumps.
I used a large muffin pan, if you use medium muffin pan you can make 6 muffins with the below ingredients. If you don't have cupcake liners, brush some butter on the muffin tray and pour over the batter directly onto it.
I used 1:2 ratio of butter to sugar for the frosting, if you want less sweet frosting you can decrease the amount of sugar. You may also choose to avoid the frosting. The normal cupcakes will be as delicious as with the frosting.
Spiced Tea Cupcake
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Ingredients:
For Tea Spice Mix:
1/4th tsp Cinnamon powder
1/4th tsp ground Ginger powder
1/4th tsp Cardamom powder
1/4th tsp Cloves powder
1/4th tsp Allspice powder
For Tea Infusion:
1.5 tbsp loose Tea leaves
1/3rd cup (80 ml) whole Milk
For Cupcakes:
1/3 cup (80g) Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup (80g) Self Rising Flour (spoon & leveled)
1/3 cup (80g) Castor Sugar
1/4 tsp Baking Soda or Soda-Bi-Carb
Half of the Tea Spice Mix (above)
2 tbsp Tea Infusion (above)
1 large Egg (nearly 60g), keep in room temperature
Spiced Tea Frosting:
1/4 cup (60g) Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup (120g) Icing Sugar, sifted
1/8th tsp Salt
Remaining Tea Spice mix (above)
Remaining Tea Infusion
Optional for garnish: Cinnamon Powder and Granulated Sugar
Instructions:
Preparing tea spice mix: Mix all of the chai spices together. You will need half of the amount for the cake batter and rest of the amount for butter cream icing.
Preparing tea infusion: Take the milk in a saucepan, bring it to boil over medium heat. Pour over the loose tea leaves and boil it for 2 to 3 minutes. Turn of the heat, close the lid on and steep for 5-10 minutes. We will use half of this infusion in the cake batter and remaining infusion will be used in buttercream icing. Make sure the tea is in room temperature before adding it to the cupcake batter.
Making the cupcakes:
Whisk the self rising flour, baking soda, half of the tea spice mix together. sift through a strainer to remove the lumps and large particles. Set aside.
Take the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat the butter and sugar together with a hand whisk or hand mixer until smooth and creamed, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides with a spatula as needed.
Cracked the egg and pour over into the mixture. Beat the mixture until well combined, about 4-5 minutes with hand mixture.
Add the dry ingredients slowly, half the amount at a time and mix it well.
When all the dry ingredients will mix up with the mixture, pour over the half of the amount of tea infusion and mix it well. Do not over mix. Batter will be slightly thick and smell incredible!
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. This recipe makes 4 large cupcakes.
Pour/spoon the batter into the liners. Fill only 2/3 full to avoid baking over the sides. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
For Icing the cupcakes:
With a handheld mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and pale in colour, about 2-3 minutes. Add small amount of icing sugar at a time and beat the mixture in high speed until well combined. Add the salt, remaining amount of tea spice and tea infusion in the mixture and beat the mixture well.
Add up to 1 or 2 tbsp Icing sugar if frosting is too thin or another tbsp of milk if frosting is too thick. Add another pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet.
Now frost cooled cupcakes. Sprinkled with cinnamon powder and a pinch of granulated sugar.
The cupcake is ready to be served.
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