Layers of flavourful vegan chai-spiced cake paired with a whipped chai meringue buttercream is a real treat for true chai lovers.
Finding the right flavor and design for your own birthday cake.
Finding what cake flavors to do for a friend’s birthday cake is easy peasy!
Finding your own cake flavor for your birthday… not so much.
The beauty of being a pastry chef means that anything you can dream, you can make for yourself.
The sky is the limit.
A unicorn cake? I can make that in my sleep.
Cookie dough icing? So easy its not even funny.
But choosing is hard!
But if you are anything like me, making decisions is not your strong suit. I’m basically Chidi in The Good Place.
But birthday cakes are double trouble. Not only do you need to choose a flavor that will please all your friends ( and your own picky taste), but you also need to find a design.
You should also try my pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.
Vegan Chai cake: the king of all fall flavors
This year, the temperature chose for me. With the early snow we have been getting, I’ve been obsessed with fall flavors like apples, mulled wine, sweet cinnamon. I’m all into fuzzy socks and Hygge.
But one flavor that as always dominated the cold season for me is chai tea. I love to steep it and then sweeten it with apple cider. I even sometimes add a glug of dark rum to my drink ( when I’m feeling a bit naughty).
Chai is the flavor that warms my soul and the tips of my fingers when coming in from the cold.
So with the 20 centimeters of snow we have been getting here, choosing chai as a flavor for my birthday cake was a no brainer.
Crazy about Fall?
You should try my curried sweet potato soup!
A quick tip for a pain-free molasses experience
I love molasses because it brings that caramel flavor that distinctively screams Fall. The only problem with molasses is that it’s a pain in the ass to work with since it is soooooo sticky.
Your measuring spoons? It will stick to them.
Your measuring cups? It will stick to that
Your dignity? It will stick to that too!
But I have a trick for you if you’re not already using a scale, which I highly recommend you start doing.
Lightly coat your measuring instruments with oil or cooking spray. This will make it easier for the molasses to slip out of your cups, and into your preparation.
Ways to customize your chai cake
Dirty Chai
You can make a dirty chai cake by replacing some of the soy milk with espresso shots. You will want to infuse your chai milk for 20 minutes instead of 10 in this case.
Spiced walnut cakes
Add some walnuts to make a spiced walnut cake. It’s as simple as that!
Caramel Chai
Pink your chai cake with a drippy border of canna-caramel sauce. This will not only look amazing but also taste incredible.
Vegan Chai-Spiced Cake with American Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients
Chai spice mix
- 4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
Chai Cake
Wet ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (375g ) your favorite plant-based milk , I like to use soy milk
- 2 chai tea bag
- 3 tbsp (40g) apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 cup (160g) A mixture of Cannabis-infused oil and vegetable oil ,depending on your potency preferance
- 1 3/4 cups (360g) white sugar
- 1/2 cup (150g) vegan yogurt
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Dry ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups (290g) unbleached flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- 4 tsp chai spice mix
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
Vanilla Chai American Meringue Buttercream
- 2 cups (450g) vegan butter
- 7 cups (875g) powdered sugar
- 1 to 2 tbsp chai spice mix , to taste
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (60g) aquafaba
- 3 tbsp (65g) molasses
Instructions
Chai spice mix
- In a small bowl, mix together all the spices and set aside.
Vegan chai cake
- Preheat your oven at 350°F or 180°C. Grease and line with parchment paper three 6-inch cake pans or two 9-inch cake pans.
- Bring the milk to a boil, turn off the heat and add the tea bags and let steep for 10 minutes. Add the vinegar to the milk. The mixture will curdle
- In a large separate bowl, whisk the rest of the wet ingredients until homogenous.
- Separately, mix together the dry ingredients. Add to the wet ingredients in 2 parts, while alternating with the chai milk.
- Divide the batter evenly between the previously prepared cake pans. Cooke each layer between 30 and 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Chai American meringue buttercream
- In either a stand mixer or a large bowl with a hand mixer, whip together, on low speed, the butter, and powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
- Add the molasses, spice mix and vanilla to the buttercream and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed.
- Add the aquafaba to the buttercream and whip on high for 5 to 10 minutes, until light and fluffy.
Assembly
- Once the cake layers are cool to the touch, fill and frost the layers with the buttercream, smoothing out the top and the sides.
- Using a Wilton Tip 6B and a piping bag, pipe little drops of icing of various sizes in a semicircle and decorate with cinnamon sticks, star anise, and cloves.
- Enjoy.
Notes
Info Infusion
You can also estimate the potency of your edibles by using my THC calculator.
Sensitivity to changes in oil: yes. You should not change the overall quantity of oil in this recipe.
Type of oil or infusion: Vegetable oil
But you could also use cannabis-infused milk in this recipe.
Dosing method: batch
Taste: I made a sober version of this recipe, so I did not add cannabis to it. The spices should camouflage the distinctive weed flavor.
If you did try this recipe as an edible, let me know how strong you found the cannabis taste.
Strength potential: Medium
Sober version: replace the canna-oil with regular vegetable oil
Always clearly label your edibles, keep them out of reach of children and pets, and don’t eat more than you can handle.
Did you try this recipe?
Don’t be shy and let me know how it went! You can even leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #loudbowlblog.
Ashley
Can this be made into cupcakes? Any time or measurement adjustments needed? Also, which type of vegan butter – sticks or tub – did you use for buttercream? Thanks a million; this looks great!
Raspbelyse
I’ve never tried this cake in cupcake form but I think it would work.For time adjustment I would recommend cooking the cupcakes for 15 minutes and then checking with a toothpick every 3-5 minutes until they are done( toothpick comes out clean).
For the buttercream, I used vegan butter in a tub, more specifically I use the crystal margarine, but if you use earth balance the icing will simply be thicker.
You are welcome 🙂
Cam
This was my birthday cake and it was amaaaazinnng
Chloe
made the sober version of this for my mums birthday cake! soo delicious
Marlene
This sounds epic and I absolutely want to try it! Is there any way to use less powdered sugar for the frosting? I tend to prefer a more subtle sweetness for frosting. Will the consistency change if I use less?
Raspbelyse
Using a smaller amount of powdered sugar is not recommended as the icing will be too soft. However, if you like buttercreams that are not too sweet, I have a vegan Swiss meringue buttercream recipe on my other blog berrybaker.com .
Brandon
Baking cannabis oil @ 350 is a bit much if your looking to keep you cannabinoids intact, you could drop your temp down to 250 increasing your bake time or you might think about binding activated oil to your butter in your buttercream.
Raspbelyse
Hello Brandon, the oven is at 350F but the cake itself will be ready when it reaches an internal temperature of around 210F so our cannabinoids should be fine.