Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes
These Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes feature a tasty spiced cupcake topped with
cinnamon cream cheese frosting…and they’re delicious!!
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But finding those old books reminded me of many, many late night study sessions in the library on campus. I’d go up there with a friend around 8 or 9, and we wouldn’t leave until past midnight usually. Of course, past midnight was still early in college hours. Now, I’ve usually been asleep for hours by the time the clock rolls over to 12:00am.
I actually didn’t mind those study sessions. I mean, sure, I would have rather been doing something else, but I felt like I could really crank out some good study time in the quiet library. But the best part of late-night study sessions? The snack break around 11pm. There’s only so much the brain can absorb before it needs a snack. Fortunately for us, there was a coffee shop there in the library, and we’d grab a drink and a cookie. I can still picture those amazing peanut butter cookies!
One of my favorite study session snacks was a chai tea latte, though. I had never heard of chai tea growing up, so this was a relatively new discovery for me. But I made up for lost time there. Those chai tea lattes were delicious, and I totally convinced myself that they helped me study better. Of course, I also convinced myself that peanut butter cookies were brain food, too.
The other day, I was grabbing some milk in the dairy section at our local grocery store, and I noticed that International Delight now has a new chai tea latte. Woah. Talk about blast to the past there! The vanilla chai tea latte ended up in my cart, and it made for one awesome snack later that day.
As I was sipping on that vanilla chai tea latte, it hit me that I should use it in a recipe. My mind went instantly to cupcakes because, well, cupcakes are awesome. The next thing I knew I was looking at a couple trays of cupcakes just waiting to be frosted. I decided a cinnamon cream cheese frosting would be appropriate for these cupcakes. My love for cinnamon is no secret around here, and I knew that a cinnamon frosting would complement the flavors in the chai tea latte cupcakes. These cupcakes were so tasty that I could have just eaten them without frosting. But frosting makes everything better, right? Especially when cinnamon is involved!
Now that the weather is finally warmer, I’ve become fond of just grabbing a seat on the back porch for a couple of minutes in the middle of the afternoon. I leave my phone inside and just enjoy the quiet warmth of the day. (Hopefully my 10-minute break doesn’t coincide with the time when the neighbor decides to mow his lawn.) But tell me, do you ever take a few minutes to just disconnect from the world? How do you take back your 10 minutes? (My breaks may or may not involve a tasty vanilla chai tea latte. But they no longer involve Latin love elegies. Go figure.)
Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 4 egg whites
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 cup International Delight Vanilla Chai Tea Latte
For the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 16 oz. cream cheese room temperature
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon plus more for garnish
- 5 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line muffin tin with paper cupcake liners; set aside.
- In the bowl of a countertop mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes on medium speed).
- Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and salt. Mix on low speed until combined.
- Add the vanilla, egg whites, sour cream and chai tea latte to the mixer bowl; mix on low speed just until combined. (Tip: Don’t forget to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl to ensure batter is fully mixed.)
- Fill each cupcake liner just slightly over ½ full. (Tip: Don't overfill the liners or the cupcakes will overflow as they bake!)
- Bake at 350°F for 26-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
- Set cupcakes aside to cool before frosting.
For the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- In the bowl of a countertop mixer with the paddle attached, add the cream cheese and butter and cream together until blended.
- Add the vanilla, cinnamon and powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until each addition is incorporated.
- Beat on high for 1-2 minutes.
- Fill pastry bag with frosting and frost each cupcake as desired. (I used a large star tip for these.)
- Sprinkle tops of cupcakes with a dash of cinnamon before serving.
This conversation is sponsored by International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.
Chai tea lattes are totally amazing! And those cupcakes, I have no words! They look absolutely delicious!! Pinned 🙂
Thank you so much, Christina! I must admit that these cupcakes didn’t last long in our house. I might have eaten several before I even frosted them. You know…just to test the quality and all…haha!
These chai tea latte cupcakes look delicious David! I made a chai tea cake once too and frosted it with a very similar frosting. It’s hard to go wrong with cinnamon! I wish I could grab one of these right now!
Can’t go wrong with chai tea cakes/cupcakes, right Manali? Plus, cinnamon goes great with everything! It’s got to be my all-time favorite spice in the cabinet. 🙂 I’d offer you a cupcake, but I might have eaten them all. Oops. Haha!
Hi David! These cupcakes are lovely! I’m jealous of your piping – mine never look this good! And what do mean questioning the attributes of peanut butter cookies! 🙂
Hey now! I’m not questioning the attributes of peanut butter cookies! They are absolutely brain food. They made me smarter when I was studying. And if they happened to include chocolate chips, then they made me even smarter. That’s my logic, and I’m sticking to it! 🙂
P.S. Cupcake piping isn’t nearly as hard as you think. Just make sure to have the right frosting tips…that’s the secret!
I’m impressed you were introduced early to the Chai Tea Latte- I only came across it a few years back when my friend refused to drink coffee but also refused to drink tea to settled on this! Cookies are definitely brain food and seriously, I question my stamina from back in the day! These cupcakes look delicious and you should use it as college kid fuel…I mean, 5 hour energy shots be gone!
Yeah…who needs energy shots when you can just have a cupcake every hour instead? It would taste way better, and therefore everyone would be happier! Warm summer days are perfect for a cold chai tea latte. And now you know what I did all weekend. (Hah…just kidding. I actually moved mulch. But I wish I sat on the back porch drinking lattes and eating these cupcakes instead!)
Lovely, lovely memories, David! Unfortunately, I don’t have anything like that to remember. I was a decent student, and I was spending a lot of my time in the library as well (Indeed, I did love doing that). However, out student cafe was just outrageous, and got closed much earlier than the library and the other facilities. Needles to say, it wouldn’t sell any peanut butter cookies. They did have some muffinsm but they were the way too far from your beautiful and delicious cupcakes! Oh, I believe if I had had a few of them occasionally, I would have been an excellent student (I was almost:)) Well I would probably even have started reading Latin poetry 🙂 Nice job, David!
Haha…if these cupcakes could get you to start reading Latin poetry, then they must have some magical properties! I mean, they do taste magical…but they didn’t make me pull out the book on Latin poetry that is sitting in the bookshelf right next to me. (Why exactly is that book still in my bookshelf??) I spent quite a few hours in that library…but believe it or not, I don’t think I sat foot in the library during my first two years in college. My grades during those first two years also reflected the fact that I never stepped into the library, too. Haha!
I used to drink chai tea lattes in college too 🙂 Could we be any more similar? Well, other than the obvious answer to that question….
But on a more important topic, yes, even more important than Latin love poetry, CUPCAKES!!!!!!! Where’s mine? These look phenomenal. I cannot pass up a cream cheese frosting. cannot. Pinned!
Quit copying me, Lindsey! You are like my shadow. My awesome, pastry-making, cake-baking goddess of a shadow that is. But let’s be real here. Is there anything better than Latin love poetry? I think not. Of course, cupcakes give Catullus a serious run for his money. I think I was born about 2,000 years too late. 🙂
These spiced cupcakes look so good! I also have fond memories of studying in college with a coffee and a snack. I never got into the chai tea lattes, but I could totally get into these cupcakes! That cream cheese frosting looks just perfect.
Thank you so much, Kristine! It’s funny how thinking back to those marathon study sessions now evokes fond memories…because at the time, I’m pretty sure it was anything but fond! Either way, cupcakes are guaranteed to make everything better. I think that’s written in small print at the bottom of every cupcake recipe: “Guaranteed to put you in a better mood when eaten.” Haha! Thank you so much for commenting!
I’ve recently started drinking chai tea lattes and I love them! What I cool way to incorporate that flavor into a cupcake. And the frosting idea is a winner because, cinnamon. 🙂
P.S. I’m so jealous of your frosting piping skills. I need to up my game. 🙂
Thank you so much, Tamara! Chai Tea Latte is delicious. Cupcakes are delicious. So it just goes to stand that the combination will be delicious, right? Also, the key to piping is the right tip. I used a huge star tip for these and it was a piece of cake…well, cupcake. 😉
These look fantastic and I’m sure fluffy with the egg whites. Chai tea latte is one of my favs after my Quad Espresso! Love those exotic spices and the smell is so relaxing. Now, about that Latin love poetry? Wow, you were an academic!
Haha…you and that quad espresso, Kevin! I’ve heard about that thing! But yes, the spices and smell of chai tea latte is absolutely addicting…let along the taste. I guess you could say I was an academic. Maybe I still am. I just prefer to study things in the kitchen now! 🙂
I am not sure how I could miss these cupcakes! Dang – I missed out during my college years – we used to eat leftover ramen noodles – one of my roommates added it to ice cream once – and another made a “Falooda” with ramen noodles. I do remember the little shops in Abu Dhabi offering chai tea – made with tea and spices and condensed milk that they would froth by pouring back and forth from cup to cup – but they pail in comparison to these cupcakes!
Wait. Leftover ramen noodles on top of ice cream? That sounds like something only a college student would invent…and only a college student would eat, I might add! 🙂 I chuckled at the idea of frothing milk by just pouring it back and forth between two cups…but hey, whatever works, right? I enjoy a good chai tea latte, but man these cupcakes were awesome. Too bad I ate them all already. And thanks for coming back and giving this some love! I sometimes miss posts, too. Not sure how that happens but I blame BlogLovin!