When I quit drinking coffee I searched for a replacement that still satisfied my morning taste. Today I treat myself occasionally to a latte when out, but everyday I make chai with french vanilla creamer. It's simple, flavorful, and warm. This cake turned out to satisfy those same qualities.
Spiced Chai Bundt Cake
by Donna Hay
1 tablespoon chai tea leaves
2 tablespoons boiling water
2 1/2 cups self-rising flour*
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar*
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°F. Place the chai and water in a small bowl and mix to combine. Place the flour, sugar, pumpkin pie
spice, eggs, milk, butter, vanilla and tea mixture in a large bowl and whisk until smooth.
Pour into a well-greased Bundt pan and cook for 30–35 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Invert onto a wire rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Gently lift off the pan and allow to cool completely before serving.
We added a glaze made from french vanilla creamer, powdered sugar and tea. Delicious!
* So many recipe notes:
1) self-rising flour can sometimes be found now in US markets. You can make your own though: Mix 1 cup flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt (for this recipe use: 2 1/2 cups flour, 3 3/4 teaspoons baking powder, 5/8 teaspoon salt)
2) superfine sugar is usually called for if they want a quicker melt and incorporation. You can process regular sugar for a few moments or purchase the superfine
3) pumpkin pie spice: you can purchase, but why? Mix 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg, 1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice and 1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves
published by Epicurious
Internet address: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/spiced-chai-bundt-cake-56390089
Reprinted from Donna Hay Magazine. Published by News Life Media. All rights reserved.
Yield: 8 –10 servings
Copyright: Oct 2015
This recipe was a compilation of several others, which we adapted for easy cooking! It will feed 4 easily and 6 without too much trouble. Don't be put off with the length of it, our cheats are included!
Spinach Salad with Sweet Corn Polenta and Asparagus Bundles
Polenta Part
6 ears corn
2 1/4 cups water
3 tablespoons butter, diced
**7 ounces feta, crumbled
**1/4 teaspoon salt
**Black pepper
Cheat: While I loved the idea of fresh corn polenta (!) we used ground polenta with milk and added frozen corn kernels with the feta.
Salad Part
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons chopped marjoram or oregano
1 eggplant (1 1/4-pounds) trimmed and cut into 8 (1-inch-thick) rounds
1 zucchini, cut into 1-inch-thick rounds
10 ounces baby spinach
1/4 cup pine nuts (1 ounce), lightly toasted
Asparagus Bundles
8 slices bacon
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 pound asparagus
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
salt and pepper
Polenta
Cheat: Use package directions with milk as liquid, then skip everything to ***
Remove the leaves and "silk" from each ear of corn, then chop off the pointed top and stalk. Use a sharp knife to shave off the kernels -- either stand each ear upright on its base and shave downward, or lay each ear on its side on a cutting board to slice off the kernels. You want to have 1 1/4 pounds kernels.
Place the kernels in a medium saucepan and barely cover them with the water. Cook for 12 minutes on a low simmer. Use a slotted spoon to lift the kernels from the water and into a food processor; reserve the cooking liquid.
Process them for quite a few minutes, to break as much of the kernel case as possible. Add some of the cooking liquid if the mixture becomes too dry to process.
Now return the corn paste to the pan with the cooking liquid and cook, while stirring, on low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the mixture thickens to mashed potato consistency. (Be aware that if you have a lot of liquid left in the pan, it can take a while to cook down the polenta, and it will sputter. Consider holding back some or all of the liquid. Alternately, if you like the consistency after processing, you can skip to step 5.)
***Fold in the butter, the feta, salt and some pepper and optionally cook for a further 2 minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed.
Salad
Prepare grill for direct-heat cooking.
Whisk together oil, lemon juice, garlic, marjoram, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper
in a small bowl.
Brush both sides of vegetable slices with some of dressing. Season with 1/4 teaspoon each of
salt and pepper. Oil grill rack, then grill vegetables, covered only if using a gas grill, turning
occasionally, until tender, 12 to 15 minutes total. Cut into pieces.
Toss spinach with enough dressing to coat and season with salt and pepper. Add eggplant and zucchini and toss again. ***Cheat: use the broiler to speed the vegetable roasting. Don't worry about tossing it all- arrange spinach as the base, top with vegetables and sprinkle the dressing.
Bacon/Asparagus
Place the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the bacon until it begins to shrink up
and gets just a little crisp, about 3 minutes per side. Remove from the heat, sprinkle on the
brown sugar, and stir until well coated. Allow the bacon to cool until it is no longer too hot to
handle.
Place the asparagus on a baking sheet and drizzle with the vegetable oil. Season with salt and
pepper, then toss to combine. Divide the asparagus into 4 bundles and wrap each with a slice
of brown sugar covered bacon. **We had 3 spears for each slice of bacon
Place the bundles on the baking sheet and bake in the oven, or grill on the grill, until the bacon
becomes crispy on the ends, about 10-12 minutes. Allow the bundles to cool for about 5 minutes, then garnish with cracked pepper.
Putting it All Together
Simple! Spinach first. You could stretch extra plates by adding extra of this. Next, the Salad; be sure that some vegetables show. Next, the polenta, then top with the asparagus bundle. We scattered cherry tomato quarters and pumpkin seeds around for garnish.
Beautiful!
