I have been thinking about how to incorporate tea into cooking recipes both new ones and ones I’ve tried in the past. I remember making one of those chocolate molten lava cakes and being quite impressed and delightfully surprised with the outcome. So I thought, wouldn’t that be great if it was a chai molten lava cake? That was my goal! Unfortunately, there was no molten chai lava flowing from my cake when I cut it open. But, I did end up with a beautifully chai spiced chocolate cake! Not exactly what I was going for, but made a wonderfully, moist, spicy, yummy dessert! I will continue to work on the chai molten lava cake so stay tuned!
Ingredients:
- 4 oz unsalted butter
- 6 oz chocolate*
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- ¼c sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon; 1 tsp ground ginger; 1 tsp ground clove; 1 tsp cardamom; ½ tsp ground nutmeg added to chocolate mixture
- 1 fluid oz milk boiled with 1 tbsp chai mix.
- 1 tsp cinnamon; 1 tsp ground ginger; 1 tsp ground cloves; 1 tsp ground cardamom; 1 tsp ground nutmeg added to egg mixture
- 1c Whipping cream for serving
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 450C. Butter and lightly flour 6 muffin baking pan tapping out excess flour.
- In a double boiler or bain-marie, melt butter with the chocolate.
- In separate pot, warm milk then add in 1 tbsp on chai mix. Brew the chai mix in the warming milk until desired strength.**
- Mix in the 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground clove, 1 tsp cardamom, ½ tsp ground nutmeg into the melting butter and chocolate mixture; stir in the concentrated chai into the melted butter and chocolate mixture.
- In a bowl mix in the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and salt until thickened. Add in 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp ground cardamom and 1 tsp ground nutmeg into the egg mixture.
- Quickly fold in melted butter and chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin tin.
- Whip whipping cream with hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
- Bake for 12 minutes OR until the sides of the cake are firm.***
- Let cool for 1 minutes. Then invert onto a plate.
- Serve immediately with whipped cream or ice cream.
Modifications for future versions:
*Since my original goal was a molten lava cake, I was thinking some kind of flavoured chocolate and used 6 ounces of orange dark chocolate.
** Since I wanted to get that spicy chai flavour, I wanted a more concentrated, strong tasting chai to be added and so used less milk and more chai mix. However, this can be done to taste. Note that the chai flavour you taste in a cup of chai usually gets muted in baking due to the other ingredients. So, opt for stronger flavours.
***The idea behind this step is that the firmness around the edges creates the exterior cake and hopefully the chocolate molten lava inside. Obviously, if you let the entire cake end up firm, you end up with exactly what I got. The very moist, chai, spiced chocolate cake which make a great dessert!
In future for any chai inspired recipe, I’m thinking molasses may the choice of sweetener as molasses has that “spicy” flavour to it.
Alternate tea choices:
The only alternate tea choice I would suggest would be a black tea made into strong latte. From mypersonalitea.com I would suggest the Chocolate Chaga Cake as an alternative to the chai.
Note:
I’m no cook, chef or baker so everything I make is based on the enjoyment of creating something new, cooking, baking and especially tea! I hope you enjoy the recipes, both making them and the tasting the results!
References
- Molten Chocolate Cakes, FOOD & WINE, URL: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/molten-chocolate-cakes
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