Chai Tea Cake

I’ve been hanging out on Pinterest some lately, and I ran across a description of a cake that made my mouth start to water.  Though I’m not much of a hot tea drinker and, in fact, have never tasted Chai tea (I KNOW!), there was something about this cake that called to me.  The combination of salty and sweet will always get my attention, and I love pistachio nuts.  The recipe calls for actually opening up a tea bag and using the Chai mixture in the cake batter.  Weird!  Also, it uses the 6 inch cake pans that I bought recently.

You can find the recipe here at this nice blog.

And this is how I made it.

Chai Tea Cake
serves 4

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 chai tea bag
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup low fat buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg (room temp)
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp milk
1/2 – 1 cup shelled pistachios, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, butter a 6″ cake pan, line the bottom with a parchment round and butter the top of the parchment. Place butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and swirl the pan until the butter browns slightly, then remove the pan from heat and let cool. In a medium bowl combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and contents of tea bag. Whisk these all together and form a well in the center of your dry ingredients. Pour in the browned butter, buttermilk, vanilla and the egg. Use a fork to lightly beat the egg and then slowly incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. Pour into the cake pan and use an offset spatula to even out the batter. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, let cool in the pan on a wire rack for a few minutes and then turn out onto the rack to cool completely. Stir powdered sugar and milk together in small bowl to make the glaze. Alternate glaze and pistachios to top the cake, allowing the excess to drip through the wire rack before transferring to serving dish.