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Baked, Brewed, Beautiful

Chai Tea Cupcakes Recipe With Chocolate Buttercream

in Baked, Food & Coffee Combos on 05/12/21

chai tea cupcakes and coffee

Swap out plain vanilla cupcakes for spiced chai tea cupcakes with a delicately sweet chocolate buttercream frosting. 

Jump to Recipe
  • Spice up your plain vanilla cupcakes with chai tea spices in this chai tea cupcakes recipe.
  • The sour cream helps to make these chai cupcakes deliciously moist.
  • Pair these chai cupcakes with a cortado or a dirty chai latte!
  • Grab my FREE desserts eBook at the bottom of the post for more delicious coffee pairing recipes just like this! 

Once in a while it’s fun to mix things up and try out something totally new like these chai tea cupcakes with buttercream chocolate frosting. This recipe incorporates all of the spices that are used in brewing chai tea. Think cloves, ginger, cardamom, and even a hint of black pepper.

You’ll find that each cupcake starts as with a delicately sweet taste followed by a subtle hint of spice. And the perfectly chocolate buttercream frosting does just the trick to pull these contrasting flavors together (and really brings it to a whole new level).


Read on for a few baking tips on how to make these chai tea cupcakes even better!

Get the FREE grocery store checklist and a bonus chai cupcake recipe card (PDF) to make additional notes.

To make the trip to the grocery store easier on you, we made a recipe checklist for these chai tea cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting. You will also find a downloadable chai-tea-cupcake-themed recipe card, so you can write down additional notes as you make these cupcakes at home.

Get the checklist and recipe card by signing up below.

 

FREE Chai Cupcake Grocery Store Checklist & Recipe Card PDF

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Classic buttercream frosting is a great alternative in this recipe if chocolate isn’t your thing.

If you don’t like chocolate, you can totally use a classic buttercream frosting to top these spicy cupcakes. You can find an easy and delicious buttercream frosting recipe here.

chai cupcakes on wood

Either frosting you choose, you can’t go wrong since the buttery goodness found in each lends itself to pairing so well with the spicy flavors of the chai cupcakes.

Sour cream, plain yogurt, or canola oil all work as moisturizing agents.

It’s so important to add the sour cream in this recipe to make it moist. If you don’t have sour cream at home, there are other options for making these cupcakes moist. One option is to use an equivalent amount of plain yogurt in place of the sour cream. If you want to avoid diary, you can also use canola oil (about 1/3 cup) as a substitute.

Make this cupcake recipe into a delicious cake for special occasions.

For some occasions, bringing a cake along is a bit more festive than cupcakes. You can make this cupcake recipe into a cake recipe if you’d like by pouring the batter evenly into two round 8-inch cake pans.

easy chai cupcakes on a marble background

You can layer the cakes and frost both cake layers with loads of buttercream frosting. Garnish your cake with cinnamon sticks and/or ground cinnamon!

Pair these chai cupcakes with a cortado or try them with a chai latte!

The ideal coffee pairing for these chai tea cupcakes is a cortado. A cortado is espresso topped with steamed milk. Typically, 4 ounces. It works so well with this recipe due to the fact that it’s a more espresso-forward drink.

This just means there’s not much milk, so you get a very strong espresso taste which helps to cut down some of the sweetness of the cupcakes (that’s a good thing!).

If you want more coffee and food pairings like this, grab my free desserts eBook at the very bottom of this post. Each recipe includes a suggested coffee companion to help you pair each dessert perfectly at home. Grab your eBook today.

Learn to make a dirty chai latte.

If you want to go all out on the chai, you can also pair this recipe with a dirty chai latte. A dirty chai is basically a chai tea latte with a shot of espresso. It has the taste of the chai as its base and then a bit of a coffee aftertaste that works really well when you need an extra kick of caffeine.

coffee and chai tea cupcakes

I have a super easy recipe for it here, 3-Ingredient Dirty Chai Latte Recipe. Check it out and let me know what you think when paired with the cupcakes!

Share your brewtiful bakes with us on Pinterest or on Instagram!

When you’ve finished with your chai tea cupcakes, post a pic and tag me on Instagram @bakedbrewedbeautiful or use the hashtag #bakedbrewedbeautiful, so I can see your brewtiful bakes!

I love to talk baking, so if you had any issues with your cupcakes too, feel free to send me a message or reply with a comment below!

chai cupcakes on wood and white marble

Chai Tea Cupcakes With Chocolate Buttercream

Total Time40 minsYields16 ServingsDifficultyBeginner

[cooked-sharing]

coffee and chai tea cupcakes

Cupcakes
 ½ cup softened butter
 ½ cup brown sugar
 ½ cup white sugar
 2 eggs
 1 tsp vanilla extract
 ½ cup whole milk
 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
 ½ tsp baking soda
 1 tsp cardamom
 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
 1 tsp ginger
 ¼ tsp allspice
 ⅛ tsp ground cloves
 ⅛ tsp nutmeg
 ¼ tsp salt
 ⅛ tsp ground black pepper
 ½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
Chocolate Frosting
 ¾ cup softened butter
 ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
 ¼ cup whole milk
 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
 ¼ tsp instant coffee

Cupcakes
1

Grab the FREE grocery store checklist for this chai tea cupcake recipe along with a cute chai tea recipe card! Find it above in the full recipe post.

2

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 1 1/2 muffin tins with 16 cupcake liners (for 16 cupcakes) and set aside.

3

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, closes, nutmeg, black pepper, and salt, and set aside.

4

In a medium bowl, cream the butter, the sugars, and the vanilla until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5

Alternatively add the flour mixture and the milk to the butter/sugar mixture. Beat well after each addition. After all of the flour and milk has been added, fold in the sour cream (do this delicately).

6

Pour the cupcake batter into the prepared muffin tins with liners filling each up about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
7

While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting by creaming the cocoa powder and the butter in a bowl. Add the powdered sugar and the milk alternatively to the cocoa/butter mixture. After all of the milk and powdered sugar has been added, mix in the vanilla and the espresso powder. Add more milk 1 tbsp at a time if the frosting is too dry.

8

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Leave us a rating!
Tag @bakedbrewedbeautiful on Instagram and hashtag it #bakedbrewedbeautiful.

Did you enjoy this recipe?Add Your Rating

Ingredients

Cupcakes
 ½ cup softened butter
 ½ cup brown sugar
 ½ cup white sugar
 2 eggs
 1 tsp vanilla extract
 ½ cup whole milk
 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
 ½ tsp baking soda
 1 tsp cardamom
 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
 1 tsp ginger
 ¼ tsp allspice
 ⅛ tsp ground cloves
 ⅛ tsp nutmeg
 ¼ tsp salt
 ⅛ tsp ground black pepper
 ½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
Chocolate Frosting
 ¾ cup softened butter
 ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
 ¼ cup whole milk
 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
 ¼ tsp instant coffee

Directions

Cupcakes
1

Grab the FREE grocery store checklist for this chai tea cupcake recipe along with a cute chai tea recipe card! Find it above in the full recipe post.

2

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 1 1/2 muffin tins with 16 cupcake liners (for 16 cupcakes) and set aside.

3

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, closes, nutmeg, black pepper, and salt, and set aside.

4

In a medium bowl, cream the butter, the sugars, and the vanilla until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5

Alternatively add the flour mixture and the milk to the butter/sugar mixture. Beat well after each addition. After all of the flour and milk has been added, fold in the sour cream (do this delicately).

6

Pour the cupcake batter into the prepared muffin tins with liners filling each up about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
7

While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting by creaming the cocoa powder and the butter in a bowl. Add the powdered sugar and the milk alternatively to the cocoa/butter mixture. After all of the milk and powdered sugar has been added, mix in the vanilla and the espresso powder. Add more milk 1 tbsp at a time if the frosting is too dry.

8

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Leave us a rating!
Tag @bakedbrewedbeautiful on Instagram and hashtag it #bakedbrewedbeautiful.

Chai Tea Cupcakes With Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
IngredientsDirections

 

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Cheyenne Elwell

HI, I’M CHEYENNE.

Cheyenne Elwell, ASJA is a travel and lifestyle writer covering coffee culture, small towns, and slow travel. Her work explores how people experience place through everyday rituals like coffee, meals, and quiet moments. She has written for Business Insider and The Spruce Eats.

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