These Chai Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream are a warm and spicy cupcake dream! With all the spicy flavors of chai combined in a soft cupcake with smooth and creamy buttercream, these cupcakes are the new flavor of fall!
What are Chai Cupcakes with Cinnamon Butter?
Chai cupcakes are a soft and delicate cupcake infused with chai flavor. They start off with a typical cupcake base of flour, sugar, baking powder, oil, and eggs. To create a warm depth of flavor, these cupcakes have a little bit of brown sugar in them which pairs perfectly with the chai flavors. Two chai tea bags are steeped in warm milk, then the milk is added to the cupcake batter along with cinnamon and vanilla extract. The chai flavor is warm, spicy, and adds a perfectly level of coziness to these cupcakes.
To add to the warm and cozy vibes of these cupcakes, they are topped with a creamy cinnamon buttercream. This buttercream starts off with butter, powdered sugar, and heavy cream. To create the ultimate fall frosting, we add in cinnamon and vanilla.
The cinnamon of the buttercream pairs beautifully with the cinnamon in the cupcake and allows the chai flavor to shine! These cupcakes are all I want for dessert this fall!
Buttercream Tips and Tricks
This is the ultimate trick for creating the creamiest and dreamiest frosting ever!
Add your butter to a stand mixer and mix on medium speed for about a minute to fluff up the butter, then add in your powdered sugar. After 2 minutes of mixing, add in heavy cream, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Then turn the mixer up to medium-high and whip frosting for 7 minutes.
In total, this frosting gets whipped for 10 minutes! I know it seems like a lot, but I promise this is the secret for creamy and silky buttercream! The longer you whip it, you'll see the buttercream lightening up. This is because of the air that's being whipped into the buttercream.
Because of all the air that's being added to the buttercream, you get a light and fluffy buttercream, but also the frosting practically doubles in size! Think about it like when you make homemade whipped cream. You start off with a cup of heavy cream, but end up with 2 cups of whipped cream. The same action happens to the butter!
Try it out and have your buttercream taste just like the bakeries!
Other Cupcake Recipes to Love
Cookies and Cream Cupcakes - Why keep cookies and cupcakes separate when you can combine them into these delicious Cookies and Cream Cupcakes! A soft, airy chocolate cupcake topped with cloud-like cookies and cream whipped frosting creates the ultimate cookies and cream dream!
Browned Butter Peach Cupcakes - These Browned Butter Peach Cupcakes are the perfect balance of sweet peaches, caramel-y browned butter and a soft vanilla cupcake to top it all off! Browned butter buttercream creates the ultimate bed for these perfectly soft peaches flavored with a little bit of cinnamon and whole lotta deliciousness! It almost makes me sad summer is ending! I did say *almost*!
Marble Swirl Cupcakes - There’s no need to choose between chocolate and vanilla with these Marble Swirl Cupcakes! A delicious combination between chocolate and vanilla swirled into one cupcake! It’s basically like having two cupcakes at once!
Ingredient List:
- Vegetable Oil
- Sugar
- Brown Sugar
- Cinnamon
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Flour
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Milk
- Chai Tea Bags
- Sour Cream
- Powdered Sugar
- Heavy Cream
These Chai Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream are quite possibly my new favorite cupcake flavor! I love the warm and spicy notes in the cupcake that pairs beautifully with the smooth and creamy buttercream. It's basically fall in cupcake form!
Cheers!
-Holly Michelle
Chai Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Vegetable Oil
- ¾ cup Sugar
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 2 Eggs
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 ½ cups Flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Milk
- 2 Chai Tea Bags
- 3 tablespoons Sour Cream
Cinnamon Buttercream:
- 2 sticks Butter room temperature
- 2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ cup Heavy Cream
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Measure out milk and add to a small saucepan on the stove. Turn heat to medium and let the milk simmer.½ cup Milk
- Once the milk is simmering, add in teabags and remove from heat. Let steep.2 Chai Tea Bags
- In a bowl, combine oil, eggs, vanilla extract, and sugar. Whisk together.¼ cup Vegetable Oil, ¾ cup Sugar, ¼ cup Brown Sugar, 2 Eggs, 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- Then add in chai milk and sour cream.3 tablespoons Sour Cream
- Once the liquids are fully combined, add in flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder.1 teaspoon Cinnamon, 1 ½ cups Flour, 1 ½ teaspoons Baking Powder, ¼ teaspoon Salt
- Pour into cupcake molds about ⅔'s of the way high and bake for about 18-22 minutes. Until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
To Make the Frosting:
- Add butter to a mixing bowl and whip on medium speed for about a minute.2 sticks Butter
- Then add in powdered sugar and cinnamon.2 cups Powdered Sugar, 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- Once the powdered sugar and cinnamon has been added in, pour in heavy cream and vanilla.¼ cup Heavy Cream, 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- Whip on high speed for 7 minutes.
To Assemble:
- Add frosting to a piping bag with a star tip.
- Start piping the frosting around the edge of the cupcake making a full circle around the cupcake before swirling the frosting upwards.
- Serve and enjoy!
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