Chai Spiced Apple Crumble Cake
Apple crumble cake in all is glory with added chai spice and flavors, a chunky layer of apple and a good helping of chai icing drizzled over the top. This cake recipe is large, it also works perfectly as a traybake cut into squares.
Ingredients
Crumble topping:
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1 cup brown sugar
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180g unsalted butter, melted
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2 cups all purpose flour
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1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
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1/2tsp ground cardamom
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½ tsp ground clove
Apple layer:
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2 cups peeled chopped apples (about 5 medium apples chopped)
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½ tsp cinnamon
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1/4 tsp Clove, ground
Cake base:
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2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
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170g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
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1 and 1/4 cups caster sugar
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3 large eggs, at room temperature
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¾ cup plus 1 ½ tbsp full-fat milk
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1 tbsp chai tea
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1 teaspoon baking soda
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1 teaspoon baking powder
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1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
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1/4 tsp Cardamom, ground
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1/2 tsp Cinnamon, ground
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1/2 tsp Clove, ground
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1/2 tsp Ginger, ground
Chai icing:
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1/3 cup icing sugar
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3-4 tsp of chai infused milk (from cake base)
Method
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Pre heat the oven to 175C, pre prepare and line the base of a large spring form cake tin (25cm wide). A rectangle high side tray tin also works well for this cake.
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For the crumble topping, combine all of the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Using your hands crumb the butter through the dry ingredients until it comes together as a rough gravel texture. Set aside while the cake base is made.
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Peel and core the apples, dice them into roughly 2cm pieces. In a mixing bowl toss the apples through the spices and set aside.
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For the cake base, add the milk into a small saucepan and bring it up to a low simmer. Add the chai tea and allow it to step while the flavors come out. Strain and set it aside to cool down.
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Cream together the sugar and butter in a stand mixer on medium speed until it is light and fluffy.
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Add one egg at a time, mixing in-between. Followed by adding 3/4 cup of the chai infused milk and vanilla extract.
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In a separate large mixing bowl combine all of the remanding dry ingredients. Stir well to combine.
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Add the dry mixing bowl to the batter on medium speed until it just comes together, be mindful not to overwork it.
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Pour out the cake batter into the prepared cake tin, scrapping down the sides of the bowl. Add a layer of apples evenly over the top, followed by the top layer of crumble mixture.
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Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
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Allow the cake to cool down on a cooling rack for 15 minutes before removing it from the tin
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For the chai drizzle icing, combine the icing sugar and 3-4 tsp of the infused chai milk from the cake base, if the icing is too thick add a little more milk.
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using a spoon drizzle over with the icing mixture.
Prep / cook time: 1 ¼ hrs
Recipe, styling and photography by Bonnie Coumbe. See her site here & Instagram here.