On Wednesday, Rach, one of my dearest friends from my days back at SUNY Brockport celebrated her 30th birthday. Today, we’re packing up our gear to head up to the land of snow and wings–Buffalo–to spend some time with her and her husband Dave, then we’ll be off to Toronto to see more friends and to ring in Ray’s 32nd birthday. Good times.
Because this is Rach’s birthday week, and she’s awesome, I crowned her Cupcake Czarina again (I think this is the third time she’s held the title). She loves apples and she really loves chai.
Chai is a big part of our friendship. She introduced me to the heavenly spiced tea and milk beverage in our freshman year of college. I think my first cup of it may have been from Java Joe’s, a little coffee shop on Brockport’s Main Street. Though Rach transferred from Brockport after her sophomore year, we’ll always have the memory of caroling through the streets of Brockport, with chai in hand.
Working with Rach’s pick of chai and apples, I created a chai cupcake filled with spiced apples, topped with a chai buttercream and more apples piled on top. And to make it even more authentic, I made my own chai concentrate! I highly suggest this, and used the base recipe from Budget Bytes. I made a few tweaks here and there (I love cardamom and I have it, so in it went!), and found it to be a great base recipe. And compared to Oregon Chai or Tazo, it’s more affordable and customizable. Double bonus! However, if you don’t have the time, using any liquid chai concentrate for this recipe should be fine.
Ingredients
Directions
For the cupcakes, heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks toward the center. Line pans with cupcake papers.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chai spices together. Set aside.
Combine the chai concentrate and milk in a measuring cup and stir to combine. Set aside.
Whisk the egg for 20 seconds, then add the sugar and whisk an additional 30 seconds until thick and frothy.
Add the oil and vanilla, and beat until combined. Alternate the flour mixture and chai and beat until combined.
Divide the batter between wrappers in cupcake tins and bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack completely before coring and frosting.
For the filling, combine the peeled, cored and sliced apples in a large mixing bowl with the sugar, cinnamon and salt. Toss to combine.
Heat the butter in a dutch oven over medium-high heat until the foaming subsides. Add the apple mixture and cook with the lid on for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove the lid and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes until the apples have softened.
Remove from the heat and set aside.
For the frosting, start off by reducing a 1/2 cup of chai over medium-high heat. Reduce until you have approximately 2 tbsp ... the chai should still be a little liquidy, but not thick and sticky. Set aside in the fridge to cool.
While the reduced chai cools, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add 1 cup of confectioners sugar, beating to combine.
Add the remaining chai concentrate that you did not reduce to the frosting. Add more confectioners sugar in 1/2 cup increments, beating to combine after each addition.
Add the reduced chai concentrate, then whip on high for a few minutes to get the frosting light and fluffy.
To assemble, core the cupcakes and spoon in the apple filling, gently packing it in.
Fit a piping bag with a piping tip (I used a Wilton 1M star tip) and pipe the buttercream into a swirl. Top with a few pieces of the leftover apples.
https://cupcakefridayproject.com/2012/11/apple-chai-cupcakes/
Hi Mel – I’m making these cupcakes this morning with my daughter – how much butter is used in the filling with the apple mixture? Butter is listed in the instructions but not in the ingredients list (except below for the frosting)!
Thanks!
Ah! You just need enough to cook the apples in…1-2 tbsp tops. I’ll make a note in the recipe as well. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, and happy baking!!!
Thanks for getting back to me Mel! We also had an issue with the proportions of the frosting – 1/2 cup of non-reduced liquid chai concentrate (in addition to the 1/2 cup reduced to 2 T) was far too much liquid for 3 cups of confectioners’ sugar and the 2 sticks of butter. We ended up dumping the first batch of frosting and adapted it – just making more of the reduced chai for flavoring. Did I misunderstand the frosting instructions? Thanks
Hi Martha, sorry to hear you had some difficulty with this recipe, but I think I see the issue:
“For the frosting, start off by reducing a 1/2 cup of chai over medium-high heat. Reduce until you have approximately 2 tbsp … the chai should still be a little liquidy, but not thick and sticky. Set aside in the fridge to cool.”
So you needed to reduce the 1/2 cup to 2 tbsp, then you also had 2 tbsp non-reduced. It sounds like you didn’t reduce the first part.
Hope this helps!
Tried this recipe over the weekend and loved it. Perfect seasonal flavor combination. I happened to have some powdered chai latte mix and used it in the frosting. It gave the flavor and cut out on the step of reducing liquid chai concentrate. I was also able to add plenty without worrying about breaking the frosting. Thank you for the great inspiration.