Golden Chai Layer Cake

I have two special treats to share today! The first is this golden chai cake, which is richly spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. It’s covered in honey-cream cheese frosting and together that makes  the cake reminiscent of my favorite cup of tea. The second treat is a fun giveaway sponsored by Fair Trade brands. One lucky reader will receive a big box of Fair Trade products and ingredients in honor of Mother’s Day!

Each year at Mother’s Day I partner with Fair Trade USA to help raise awareness about the important work they do to empower women. Did you know that women produce half of the world’s food yet only own 2% of land? (Wow!) Fair Trade provides women with resources to start businesses and helps provide maternity leave and childcare. This helps increase educational opportunities and better medical care for their families. All we have to do to help this effort is to buy Fair Trade brands! It’s so easy – it’s a no-brainer!

Here’s a quick how-to video with some very dramatic Chopin music (Fantaisie Impromptu, if anyone is interested). I think it’s good to have a visual when building a tall layer cake such as this one.

How seriously adorable is the printed Chuao chocolate bar on this cake? It makes a fitting decoration because the dark chocolate has crisp bits of caramelized honey throughout.

The frosting is lovely with a hint of honey. Like most cream cheese frosting, it’s soft (not stiff) so filling and frosting your layers may cause some wobbling to-and-fro. Just be sure to chill the cake well and the frosting will set firm.

The Fair Trade ingredients in this cake are Numi Golden Chai, Frontier Cinnamon, Chuao Honeycomb Dark Chocolate Bar, and Guittard Semisweet Chocolate Chips.

One more thing – the participating Fair Trade bloggers are having a friendly pinning competition May 7-14th. Check out our Pinterest Board to find new delicious recipes, and pin your favorites!

Special thanks to the Fair Trade Certified companies that made this giveaway possible! Please visit their websites for more product info: 

Wholesome!, Kashi, Numi, Guittard, Chuao, Frontier, Spectrum, 

Immaculate, Sun Ridge Farms, Sheila G’s.

Golden Chai Layer Cake

Heather Baird

I made this cake in three 6-inch cake pans, but you can also use two 8-inch pans, which is a more standard size. Use about a 6 tea bags steeped in 2 cups of water to make the strongly brewed tea required for this recipe. Leftover tea can be used in the frosting to thin the icing to spreading consistency.

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Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

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Cake:

• 1/2 cup 1/4 lb. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cups 350g sugar
• 3 eggs at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups 255g all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon Frontier ground cinnamon
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups 300 ml strongly brewed Numi golden chai tea

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup 1/4 lb. unsalted butter, softened
• 8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 lb. confectioners’ sugar
• 2 teaspoons wildflower honey

Ganache and décor:

• 6 ounces Guittard semisweet chocolate chips
• 5 ounces heavy whipping cream
• Rosemary sprigs
• 6 oz. Fresh raspberries
• 1 Chuao honeycomb dark chocolate bar
• and other assorted chocolates

Instructions

 

• Make the cakes: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray three 6-inch pans with flour-based baking spray (or grease and flour pans).
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt and add to the mixer bowl in three batches alternating with the strongly brewed golden chai. Begin and end with flour. Scrape down the bowl and beat again on high speed for 1 minute.
• Divide the batter evenly into pans no more than 2/3 full. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a tooth pick tester comes out clean when inserted into the centers. Let the cakes cool slightly in the pans. Remove and let them cool completely on a wire rack. Level the cakes if needed (these don’t crown much). Use a cake leveler or a large serrated knife to cut each cake layer in half horizontally so that you have 6 layers.
• Make the frosting: Combine the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until combined. Add sugar and honey. Beat again until well incorporated. If frosting is too stiff to spread, add cooled chai tea 1 tablespoon at a time until spreading consistency.
• Fill layers with frosting and stack. Insert a long skewer or lollipop stick into the center of the cake to stabilize the cake for frosting the outside. Cover the outside of the cake with frosting and remove most of it using a bench scraper or cake smoother. Chill until firmly set, about 2 hours.
• Make the ganache: In a heat-proof microwave-safe bowl, combine the cream and chocolate. Heat at 30 second intervals until the mixture can be stirred smooth. Let cool slightly. Pour the ganache onto the center of the chilled cake and push some of the ganache toward the edges with the back of a spoon creating a ‘drip’ effect.
• Garnish the top of the cake with fresh rosemary, raspberries and chocolate bar. Store cake in the refrigerator loosely covered in plastic wrap.

Keyword golden chai, honeycomb chocolate bar, wildflower honey

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!