Chai Cake with Apples

Sep 5, 2019 · by Valentina · 30 Comments

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Chai Cake with Apples 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 perfect for a crowd!

Baking Chai Cake with Apples will make your whole house take on the scent of warm and cozy deliciousness.

I've been making this cake every fall for almost a decade, and it's always a huge hit.

Aside from the amazing flavors, part of what makes this such an incredible cake is that it's a bundt cake. The shape of the bundt 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.

Do you love chai tea lattes and crisp fall apples?

Then you will absolutely adore this Chai Cake!

Ingredients for Chai Cake

(The following ingredients are for the cake and glaze. They are divided in the recipe card below.)

apples (see apple variety suggestions below) - I used a combination of Granny Smith and Fuji in this recipe. Granny Smiths are very tart, and Fujis are a bit sweeter. Both are quite crisp and hold their shape well in the cake. Select apples that are firm without bruising on the skin.
ground cardamom
ground cinnamon
ground ginger
ground cloves
freshly ground black pepper
unsalted butter - It's best to bake and cook with unsalted butter to better control exactly how much salt is in the recipe.
eggs
pure vanilla extract - I like this one.
granulated sugar
all-purpose flour
baking soda
salt - I bake and cook with Kosher salt. (It’s coarse and salts ingredients in a subtle way that enhances their flavor without making them taste salty.)
powdered sugar

How to Make it

(More detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.)

- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a bundt pan with 2 teaspoons of melted butter.

- In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Mix until well combined.

- Add the eggs and vanilla with the remaining melted butter. Whisk until smooth. Add apple slices and mix just to incorporate them evenly.   Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and fold to blend.

- Pour the batter into the buttered bundt pan and bake in the 350°F preheated oven until the cake no longer jiggles, is lightly browned, and is beginning to crack on top.   Let the cake cool in the pan for about 30 minutes, then use a cooling rack to invert it, and place it on a foil-lined sheet pan. - Make the glaze by melting butter in a small saucepan with water, powdered sugar and spices. Whisk until it's smooth, pour it into a glass measuring cup and drizzle it over the cake, a little bit at a time. Let it seep into the cake and then add more.- Slice and serve.

Recipe Tips and Substitutions

The cake should still be warm when you add the glaze. It will absorb it much better this way. Drizzle it bit by bit to ensure it seeps deep into the cake. It might seem like there's too much glaze, but after each bit seeps in, drizzle more, until it's gone. You will have extra glaze on the foil below the cake -- you can use a rubber spatula to add this to the cake too.
Gluten-free? This recipe has also been tested with Cup4Cup Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour and it works very well.

Can you make it ahead?

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, warm it slightly, 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. Warm it slightly, and 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. Warm it slightly, and glaze just before serving.

What is Chai?

Chai is the generic word for tea in Hindi, and it's a mix of spices steeped into a tea-like beverage. The combination of spices for Chai 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, like this delectable fall Chai Cake with Apples.

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

Note that the glaze doesn't sit on top of the cake -- as I mentioned, 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 as lovely for brunch as it would be after dinner for dessert. Just imagine it with a perfect cup of coffee!

I hope you love it as much as I do!

More sweet apple recipes: