Mini cupcakes round two from the bridal shower! This is the second to last post from the bridal shower…I’m excited to start sharing some recipes I’ve been making recently since we’ve moved into our apartment! In my OWN kitchen! You have no idea how amazing it feels to be able to say that! But anyway. Back to the cupcakes. These ones are vanilla chai with a nicely spiced cinnamon buttercream frosting. One of Jenny’s (my sister) favorite warm drinks is chai tea, and she makes these chai cookies that are fantastic..so I saw this recipe at Bakingdom and knew I had to make it for her shower. Cupcakes and chai combined? Jenny’s favorite things..
I love how little these are, and the cinnamon buttercream really pulled together the chai flavor wonderfully. They were definitely a nice complement to the chocolate chocolate cupcakes for those that aren’t so into really rich chocolate desserts! These cupcakes are light and much more subtle in comparison.
I had so much fun piping the icing on the cupcakes; it was my first time using pastry bags and tips! I love how they turned out. And this recipe ended up making around 60 mini cupcakes, which is half the amount that we had of chocolate cupcakes..and I was SO glad. I couldn’t handle that many cupcakes again!
The display…
Mini Vanilla Chai Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
yields 5 dozen mini cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
3/4 t cardamom
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t cloves
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
3 eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup milk
4 chai tea bags (I used Bigelow’s Vanilla Chai)
Line a mini muffin tin with cupcake liners and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Combine the flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the milk until simmering. Remove from heat and add in the tea bags. Allow to steep for 10 minutes, remove the tea bags and allow to cool. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and beat until well incorporated. Add in the applesauce and stir until combined.
Add 1/3 of the flour and mix until combined. Add 1/2 of the chai milk; mix. Add 1/3 flour mixture; mix. Add the other 1/2 of the chai milk; mix. Add the final 1/3 of the flour mixture and stir until combined – do not overmix!
Using a small cookie scoop, add one scoop to each mini cupcake liner. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until toothpick comes out with a few crumbs on it. Allow to cool before frosting.
For the frosting:
2 sticks butter
1 t vanilla
1 1/4 t cinnamon
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
In a medium bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar and cream together. Add another cup of sugar and then the vanilla. Add the cinnamon and mix until fully incorporated. Add the remaining sugar, one cup at a time, until light and fluffy. Add 1-2 T of milk, 1 T at a time, if the icing is too stiff (I needed 2 T).