Chai White Chocolate Raspberry Cake – tender chai flavored cake layers with a silky smooth white chocolate buttercream and fresh raspberries.
Chai Cake
I’ve been wanting to make a chai flavored cake for a while now. I’ve always loved chai spices and live for winters full of homemade chai steamers. Have you ever made one? It’s so easy! Use some of the chai seasoning from this recipe and boil some milk. Add your seasonings, stir with a frother, and enjoy! The flavors are so warm and flavorful. What’s not to love?
For my chai cake layers, I started with my Eggnog Cake as a base for the layers. It has a similar spice cake flavor and texture that I wanted with my chai cake. I switched out the brown sugar for all white sugar to make it a little lighter in texture. I also added a few more seasonings to get the chai flavor. And obviously, I switched out the eggnog for buttermilk.
White Chocolate Buttercream
As I thought about a frosting pairing for the chai cake, I couldn’t stop thinking about white chocolate. It just sounded like a Starbucks drink to me – chai white chocolate latte… don’t you think? And if Starbucks would make the combination for one of their drinks, no doubt it will make a great cake combination.
I’ve used my white chocolate buttercream recipe for several years now, but there’s times where I (and I know some of you) have struggled to get the white chocolate incorporated into the buttercream without the chocolate hardening. As I was talking about this the other day on Instagram, my friend Annie had one of the best suggestions! She recommended heating the cream and the white chocolate to make a ganache (like we do with our drips), and then adding it to the buttercream. Genius! It worked like a charm and I’ll never make my white chocolate buttercream another way!
Tip: when you’re making the ganache for the buttercream, first heat your cream in a microwave safe bowl, without the white chocolate. You’ll then pour the cream over the white chocolate and stir to combine. If you try to heat your cream and the white chocolate at the same time, you’ll likely see that your chocolate seizes. White chocolate is super temperamental, so we have to be careful how we heat it.
I also think you’ll love the fresh raspberries as an added element of texture and flavor in the cake. And don’t you think the color is perfect for the holidays?
Tips:
- Remember to use room temperature ingredients in your cake batter. Room temperature wet ingredients are better absorbed by the dry ingredients, which helps your cake to rise more evenly.
- Mix your dry ingredients in a bowl before adding them to the wet ingredients. You want the seasonings and leavening agents well blended so you don’t have to try mixing them too much in the batter. Over mixing your batter will cause your cakes to sink in the oven and taste dense.
- Watch your bake time. If your cakes are coming out dry, you’re likely over baking them. All of our ovens are different and will bake differently. When you insert a toothpick into the center of the cake, it should come out with a few moist crumbs on it.
I find it difficult to navigate your shop online. I couldn’t get any additional items onto the cake making class and wanted to do it on cyber Monday. In trying to navigate I pushed what I thought would b=give me more or the cart, and it purchased. Now I don’t get a discount or the additional items I desired.
I’m so sorry to hear that! Will you email [email protected] and she can help you out!
Hi Courtney… Do you prefer your white chocolate buttercream recipe for this cake over your white chocolate buttercream recipe for your White Chocolate Cranberry Cake? They are slightly different (more white chocolate, no salt, less cream in the White Chocolate Cranberry Cake). I see that you are melting the heated cream into your white chocolate, too. Should I use this updated recipe for the White Chocolate Cranberry Cake? Thank you!
Yes melt the heated cream into your white chocolate. I will be changing all of my white chocolate frosting so that it says to do that.
Set my butter out all night because I was going to make this cake for our Christmas this evening. When mixing I still have lumps of butter. Has been setting for over an hour and when I mix there are still lumps. Instead of room temperature should you maybe melt it or zap it in micro to really soften it. I’m not sure what to do at this point, just going to go ahead and see how it turns out. I don’ have enough time to fool with this issue.
I haven’t had that problem before. You don’t want to microwave the butter. If you beat it for long enough, it should get smooth! You want it smooth before you start the rest of the recipe.
Hi Courtney, I was wondering if instead of cake flour can i use all purpose flour?
You can but you’ll need to do an extra step.
For one cup of AP flour, take out two tablespoons and replace with two tablespoons cornstarch. Then sift the mixture at least six times. You need to get the mixture as fine as actual cake flour, so don’t skip this step.
Made this for my family Christmas party and it was a huge hit! So yummy!
The cake was so flavorful.
I would recommend cooking for the min amount – this cake dried out and was crumbly but I was still able to frost it just fine! (I live in UT for baking reference)
Can’t wait to make again!
Hi! Love the looks of this recipe. Do you think it would translate well into cupcakes? I’m looking to make about 12 (but more is welcome). I was thinking of keeping everything the same, except for the raspberry, and to make a raspberry filling for the center of the cupcakes. What are your thoughts/suggestions?
That sounds great. It’ll make about 24 cupcakes.