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5 from 1 vote

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes

All of the goodness of chai in a DELICIOUS (and easy!) cupcake! You will love this Vanilla Chai Cupcakes recipe!
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cupcake, halloween, thanksgiving
Servings: 12 -16 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract store-bought or homemade
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp. chai spice mix (recipe below)
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour sifted
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Chai Spice Mix Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
  • 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Buttercream Ingredients:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract store-bought or homemade
  • 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
  • remainder of the chai spice mix
  • 1 Tbsp. cold milk if needed to thin out the buttercream

Instructions

Cupcake Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a cupcake pan with liners.
  • In a small bowl or plastic bag, combine the chai spice mix ingredients. Set aside.
  • Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla and beat in one egg at a time. Stir in 2 teaspoons of the chai spice mix. Fold in the flour and buttermilk alternately and stir until combined, don’t over mix. Mix together the baking soda and vinegar in a separate bowl, then add it to the batter and mix until combined.
  • Spoon into prepared cupcake tins until 3/4 full and bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Buttercream Directions:

  • In a stand mixer, beat the butter until it is creamy. On low, mix in the vanilla and the rest of the chai spice mix. Carefully beat in the powdered sugar about ½ cup at a time. If the buttercream is too thick add 1-2 tbs of cold milk until the desired consistency is reached. Then pipe onto cooled cupcakes with your favorite frosting tip. (I used a 1M Wilton tip.)

Notes

I've mentioned this before, but an easy way to get perfectly sized cupcakes (and muffins!) is to scoop the dough into the muffin tins with an ice cream scoop.  I like this one.
Recipe adapted from The Novice Chef