Chai Apple Bundt Cake Recipe

Name: Chai Apple Bundt Cake Recipe
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 115 min
Ingredients: 1 cup plus 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, (melted, divided); 1¾ cups granulated sugar; 2 cups all-purpose flour; 1½ teaspoons baking soda; 1 teaspoon salt; 1¼ teaspoon ground cardamom; 1¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1¼ teaspoon ground ginger; 1¼ teaspoon ground cloves; ¼ teaspoon finely ground black pepper; 3 large eggs; 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract; 4 cups Fuji or Granny Smith apples (about 3 apples), (peeled and thinly sliced (about 1/8-inch thick)); 6 tablespoons unsalted butter; 3 tablespoons water; ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar; ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon; ½ teaspoon ground cardamom; ½ teaspoon ground cloves; ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

September 5, 2019 By valentina 30 Comments

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This Chai Apple Bundt Cake recipe celebrates the flavors of fall. The warm spices, tart apples and soft texture all come together beautifully to create a heavenly dessert. You can make it ahead and it’s lovely for a crowd!

This is one of those baking projects that will make your whole house take on the scent of warm and cozy deliciousness.

I’ve been making this warmly spiced apple cake every fall for almost a decade and it always draws a crowd.

What’s in this recipe?

LOTS of thinly sliced apples (see apple variety suggestions below)
chai spice mix (cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, black pepper)
butter
eggs
vanilla
granulated sugar
all-purpose flour
baking soda and salt
powdered sugar

What is Chai?

Derived from the Chinese word for tea, which is Cha, Chai is the generic word for tea in Hindi, in India.
It’s a mix of spices steeped into a tea-like beverage, and the combination of various spices for the mixture can vary greatly.
Traditional ingredients for Chai typically include black tea mixed with strong spices, such as cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger and black peppercorns.
These spices are commonly used without the tea in all sorts of both sweet and savory recipes.

What are the best apples for baking?

The best apples for baking keep their shape and structure, without becoming mushy when heat is applied. Here are a few varieties that will do just that:

Granny Smith
Braeburn
Honeycrisp
Pink Lady
Fuji

I used a combination of Granny Smith and Fuji in this recipe. The Granny Smith apples are very tart, and the Fuji apples are a bit sweeter. Both are quite crisp and hold their shape extremely well in the cake.

Why I Love Bundt Cakes

I love bundt cakes! Not only is the presentation so pretty, but the shape of the pan enables a thin crust to form over a greater surface of the cake than regular pans. So almost every bite is a mixture of soft and crisp.

Can you make it ahead and freeze it?

You can make this cake ahead! Here are some options . . .

One day ahead. Once it’s cooled do not glaze it. Rather, wrap it tightly, keep it at room temperature, and glaze it just before serving.

Three days ahead. Once it’s cooled do not glaze it. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it. Remove it from the refrigerator early the day you want to serve it, keeping it out at room temperature. Glaze just before serving.

Four days and up to two weeks ahead. Once it’s cooled do not glaze it. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and freeze it. Remove it from the freezer the day before you want to serve it, keeping it out at room temperature. Glaze just before serving.

Note that the glaze doesn’t sit on top of the cake — it seeps deep inside, making every bite even more scrumptious! And it doesn’t really soften the outer, thin crust, so you still get all sorts of delicious textures.

Chai Apple Cake would be lovely for brunch as it would be after dinner for dessert. Just imagine it with a perfect cup of coffee!

I hope this fall you’ll make this Chai Apple Bundt Cake one of your go-to dessert recipes. Enjoy!