This tender and fluffy chai tea spice cake is infused with chai tea and warm fall spices, frosted with honey biscoff buttercream. The flavors are so cozy and perfect for fall, and if a cake could wrap you up in a blanket and give you a hug, this would be the cake. Today’s recipe is a vanilla version of my classic spice cake, and whether you’re a chai tea drinker or not, you’ll love this high altitude vanilla spice cake recipe!
Looking for more fall recipes? You’ll love this butter pecan bourbon ice cream, chocolate fudge cake with ganache, and toasted trail mix.
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Why You’ll Love This Cake
A Perfect Blend of Fall Spices. This time of year, it’s not really all about pumpkin for me, but rather about the warm cozy spices that make baked goods so fragrant and comforting. The honey in the buttercream is a perfect pairing with the chai tea, while the biscoff cookie butter adds another depth of flavor and spice.
Easy to Make. The cake batter comes together quickly with just a bowl and whisk, no mixer needed!
High Altitude Tested. I test everything I bake at Denver’s high altitude of 5,280 feet, so if you’re at a high altitude like me, you can rest easy that your cake will turn out perfectly soft, moist and fluffy.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Cake
- Milk + Buttermilk. A blend of whole milk and buttermilk adds fat, flavor, richness and acidity to cakes, for a soft, tender cake crumb.
- Chai Tea. You’ll need two chai tea bags, which you’ll be steeping for a few minutes in hot milk, to infuse the flavor into the cake.
- Flour. Cake flour makes a lighter, softer cake, but all-purpose flour works perfectly fine in this recipe, too.
- Sugar. Plain granulated sugar adds sweetness and moisture to the cake.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Spices. I use a blend of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice and cloves to complement the flavor of the chai tea in the cake.
- Eggs + Egg Whites. The eggs add strength and structure to cakes, while the extra whites keep it light.
- Butter + Oil. Using both melted butter and vegetable oil makes a cake flavorful, moist and fluffy.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
Buttercream
- Butter. I make my buttercream with unsalted butter, so if you use salted butter, be sure to omit the extra salt in the recipe.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream.
- Meringue Powder. Adds stability and improves the texture.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Honey. Adds sweetness, and honey flavor to complement the chai tea.
- Biscoff. Biscoff spread, or cookie butter, is a ground paste made of biscoff or speculoos cookies. It’s creamy, smooth and subtly spiced.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick baking spray.
- Warm the milk until very hot, almost boiling, then remove from the heat. Add the tea bags, let steep for 10 minutes, then throw away the tea bags.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices, then whisk until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, buttermilk, melted butter, oil and vanilla, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the warm chai tea milk.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk until combined and smooth, about 10-15 seconds. Divide the batter between the cake pans. Tap a few times against the counter to pop any large air bubbles.
- Bake the cakes for about 21-25 minutes, or until a cake tester or a toothpick comes out clean, and the tops spring back when lightly touched.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack, cover them loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting. When ready to frost and assemble the cake, remove the cakes from the pans.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder and the salt, mixing until thick and combined.
- Add the vanilla, honey and cookie butter. Increase speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl down several times, until light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to low, and mix for 1 minute, to pop any large air bubbles.
Assembly
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. If needed, use a sharp knife to level the tops of the cakes, if they’re domed on top.
- Stack and fill the cake layers with the buttercream, then frost all over with a thin crumb coat of buttercream.
- Chill the cake for 45-60 minutes, until the crumb coat is cold and firm. Keep the remaining bowl of buttercream covered.
- Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, and fill with buttercream. Starting at the bottom of the cake, move the piping bag from the bottom to the top, back to the bottom, in vertical rows of ruffles. Every few rows, stop at the bottom to turn the cake and adjust the piping bag, and continue piping ruffles all around the cake.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will this recipe work with other flavors of tea besides chai tea?
Yes, you can use any flavor of tea to infuse into the milk. Black tea, orange spice or earl grey would be great. If you use a tea like chamomile, you may need to adjust the spices to complement the flavor of the chamomile.
What piping tip did you use for the buttercream?
Tip 1M.
Is there a substitute for the cookie butter in the buttercream?
Peanut butter has a very similar consistency to cookie butter, but of course a completely different flavor, and peanut butter wouldn’t work with this spice cake recipe. If you’re not able to find cookie butter, I’d suggest just leaving it out, and add a few spices to the buttercream instead.
Can I make half this recipe for a smaller cake?
For a smaller cake, cut the cake recipe in half, and bake the batter in three 6-inch cake pans. Make 3/4 of the buttercream recipe for a small cake, if you want enough to do the piping. The cake photographed in today’s post is a 6-inch cake.
Can I use 9-inch cake pans instead of 8-inch pans?
Yes, you can use two 9-inch pans instead of the three 8-inch pans, and your assembled cake will be shorter.
Would cream cheese frosting be good with this cake?
Cream cheese frosting is delicious with spice cake. Here is my recipe for cream cheese buttercream.
Where did you find those honey stir sticks?
Aren’t they so cute? I recently found them at World Market. You can also find something similar on Amazon.
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Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!
High Altitude Chai Tea Spice Cake with Honey Biscoff Buttercream
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Whisk Attachment
- 8 inch round cake pans (x3)
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 chai tea bags
- 3 ¼ cups cake flour or all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg whites
- ¾ cup whole buttermilk, room temperature
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp meringue powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 tbsp honey
- ¼ cup Biscoff cookie butter
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick baking spray.
- Warm the milk until very hot, almost boiling, then remove from the heat. Add the tea bags, let steep for 10 minutes, then throw away the tea bags.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices, then whisk until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, buttermilk, melted butter, oil and vanilla, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the warm chai tea milk.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk until combined and smooth, about 10-15 seconds. Divide the batter between the cake pans. Tap a few times against the counter to pop any large air bubbles.
- Bake the cakes for about 21-25 minutes, or until a cake tester or a toothpick comes out clean, and the tops spring back when lightly touched.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack, cover them loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting. When ready to frost and assemble the cake, remove the cakes from the pans.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder and the salt, mixing until thick and combined.
- Add the vanilla, honey and cookie butter. Increase speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl down several times, until light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to low, and mix for 1 minute, to pop any large air bubbles.
Assembly
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. If needed, use a sharp knife to level the tops of the cakes, if they're domed on top.
- Stack and fill the cake layers with the buttercream, then frost all over with a thin crumb coat of buttercream.
- Chill the cake for 45-60 minutes, until the crumb coat is cold and firm. Keep the remaining bowl of buttercream covered.
- Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, and fill with buttercream. Starting at the bottom of the cake, move the piping bag from the bottom to the top, back to the bottom, in vertical rows of ruffles. Every few rows, stop at the bottom to turn the cake and adjust the piping bag, and continue piping ruffles all around the cake.
Hi! Do you think think these would covert well as cupcakes?
I think it probably would. The cake is based off my classic vanilla cake, which I often bake as cupcakes, too.
What if we don’t live at high altitudes? Do we need to adjust? Thank you!
Yes, you’ll need to make a few adjustments such as decreasing the flour and increasing the leavening. This is a good article that can guide you: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking
Delicious, warm flavors, beautiful crumb, perfect rise. For the second test cake, I doubled the tea bags and the dry spices, as well as added freshly ground pepper. The couple requesting this flavor LOVES chai so I really want to pump up the spice level! You are my go-to baking site for living at 6200′ elevation. Thanks so much!