Chai Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cakes & Cupcakes
December 21, 2022
Cakes & Cupcakes
December 21, 2022

Chai Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Prep time: 2o min
  • Cook time: 30 min
  • Total time: 3 hr

Drink your chai and eat it too with this perfectly spiced, supremely moist chai cake layered with a dreamy cream cheese frosting!

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Chai Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Drink your chai and eat it too with this perfectly spiced, supremely moist chai cake layered with a dreamy cream cheese frosting!

Like chai tea in a cake, this Chai Spice Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting is delicately spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger. YUMMA.

Chai Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

When I was 13 I remember being at Starbucks and seeing “Iced Chai Latte” on the menu board.  My mom had always been a tea-drinker, and she loved Chai tea. So I thought to myself, Oh ok… I mean I don’t want a frappuccino or whatever that is, so let’s try it out.

Like chai tea in a cake, this Chai Spice Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting is delicately spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger. YUMMA.

I had one sip and was HOOKED. It was like a symphony in my mouth: the warmth of cinnamon, the pucker of ginger, and that floral and exotic combination of black tea and cardamom danced across my tastebuds.

From then on, every time I went to Starbucks I would order an Iced Chai. I’d even bite the straw with my front teeth, making the straw’s hole smaller just to savor it longer.

Then, a few years later I spent a summer in northern India. There they make masala chai from scratch with hot milk, lots of sugar, and in a pot as big as your arms can make a circle. Only there, the cardamom is even stronger.

Like chai tea in a cake, this Chai Spice Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting is delicately spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger. YUMMA.

I must’ve drank it by the quart it was so good.

So like yeah, I kind of love chai spice. Kind of a lot.

This recipe combines those glorious chai spice flavors into a soft and moist cake that is almost too good. This Chai Spice Cake is then finished with a tangy cream cheese frosting, bringing out the spice even more so and adding a little extra oomph to the cake.

Like chai tea in a cake, this Chai Spice Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting is delicately spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger. YUMMA.

Sidenote: is it just me or when someone sees a recipe for vanilla frosting do they substitute it with cream cheese frosting instead because it’s so much better? No, just me? Oh no you too? OK cool.

Anywho. I’m super into this Chai Spice Cake. And if you’re a chai fan, I feel like you will be too.

Enjoy, friends, and happy almost weekend!!!

Like chai tea in a cake, this Chai Spice Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting is delicately spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger. YUMMA.

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Chai Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.9 from 17 reviews

Perfectly spiced, supremely moist, and a total crowd pleaser, this chai spice cake is the layer cake of your dreams!

Perfectly spiced, supremely moist, and a total crowd pleaser, this chai spice cake is the layer cake of your dreams!

  • Author: Sarah | Broma Bakery
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 hours
  • Yield: 16 servings
  • Category: dessert
  • Method: oven
  • Cuisine: american
  • Author: Sarah | Broma Bakery
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 hours
  • Yield: 16 servings
  • Category: dessert
  • Method: oven
  • Cuisine: american
Units:

Ingredients

for the cake

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 cups cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons ginger
  • 2 teaspoons cardamom
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 cup buttermilk

for the frosting

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup blackberries
  • 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios
  • 2 tablespoons candied ginger
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 teaspoon black sesame seeds
  • edible gold leaves

Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line three 6-inch cake pans* with parchment paper. Set aside.
    2. In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
    3. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating between additions. Continue to beat until batter forms a pale yellow color. Mix in the vanilla extract.
    4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices.
    5. Alternate folding in the flour mixture and the buttermilk, mixing only until combined.
    6. Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
    7. In a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt and whip to combine, about 1 minute more.
    8. Place the first cake on a plate, then top with a large dollop of frosting. Layer the second and third layers, frosting in between each. Finish with frosting the outside of the cake with the remaining frosting. I used a cake scraper to give my cake that unfinished, naked look!
    9. Last, top your cake with garnishes. I used blackberries, chopped pistachios, candied ginger, cinnamon sticks, black sesame seeds, and edible gold leaves!

Notes

*you can also use two 8-inch cake pans.

Like chai tea in a cake, this Chai Spice Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting is delicately spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger. YUMMA.

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  1. Just made this cake last night. Awesome recipe! My house still smells like a bakery. One suggestion—post a picture of what you mean by pale yellow. I had no idea how long to beat the eggs and sugar mixture!

  2. Just made this in a 9×13. Baked perfectly in 40 minutes. I used cup-for-cup gluten-free flour and whisked/stirred everything by hand. My whole apartment smells amazing! I’m planning a whipped raspberry-mascarpone topping with a honey drizzle.






  3. Sarah, I love you and your recipes, but I’m wondering if I could ask a tiny favor! Every time I make one, I need to convert the entire recipe to grams and it’s killing me – is there any chance that you might consider adding the weight, maybe in parentheses, next to your measurements? I don’t want to get caught up in the big baking world drama of people arguing about weight vs. volume, not at all my intention! I’d just love to keep making your wonderful recipes and with a baby next to me I just don’t have the time to bake and convert first every time. Thanks for at least considering!

    • Hi Amanda! I totally hear you on this and it is certainly something we’ve been considering! Unfortunately all of the existing recipes on the site have not been tested by weight, but it is something I would love to do in the future! In the meantime, you should be able to convert the recipes to grams within the recipe card by just switching to metric, but just know that I haven’t personally tested them with those, it’s just converting it!

    • Absolutely! I’ve never personally tried it, but the cake recipe as stated should fit perfectly in a 9 x 13. I would guess it would cooke for about 45 minutes at 350F, but just keep an eye on it to make sure–it might be a bit less or more!