I am so glad the last 14 days are OVER.  2 weeks ago today I had my wisdom teeth out and let me tell you… it has been a rocky road to recovery.  I ended up having an infection in 2 of the incision sites and I didn’t eat any solid food for a week and a half.  Yesterday was my first day without any prescription pain killers… HURRAY!

Needless to say it has been a while since I did any baking, I was too busy sleeping and eating food in liquid form.  So, to celebrate feeling 100% more awesome than I have over the last little while, I pulled out a recipe I book marked a few months ago.  My favorite drink at Starbucks is a tazo chai tea latte.  I usually order it half sweet with lactose free milk and a little sprinkle of cinnamon on top.  A-mazing.  When I came across this recipe for chai latte CUPCAKES I was instantly in love.  I also secretly like that this recipe is vegan.  I have had some delicious vegan cupcakes in the past (leaving out the eggs and milk does something wonderful to the cupcake texture) so I was eager to whip up a batch of these treats.  It was also my friend Jen’s birthday this week so I had a doubly fabulous reason to get back to baking.  I topped these cupcakes with some whipped cream frosting, a sprinkling of cinnamon and a dark chocolate covered coffee bean.  YUM.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 4 chai tea bags
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Frosting:

• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream (35%)
• 6 Tablespoons icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Heat almond milk in a small saucepan or microwave until almost boiling.
• Remove from heat and add tea bags. Allow to steep for 10 minutes, then remove teabags, squeezing out as much of the almond milk as possible.
• Re-measure, and add more almond milk to make exactly 1 cup. Whisk in cider vinegar, and side aside until curdled (Note: I know this sounds gross but it really is a necessary step!)
• In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
• Pour in the almond milk mixture, along with oil, sugar, and vanilla, and stir just until no large lumps remain.
• Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 20-22 minutes or until puffed and golden. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Note: You can also use soy milk instead of almond milk, just cut back on the sugar by a 1/4 of a cup if you decide to use vanilla flavored soy milk.

To Make the Frosting:

• Add the heavy cream to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
• Start beating on medium-low speed, slowly increasing as the cream begins to thicken up to medium-high speed.
• While the cream is being whipped, gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar a spoonful at a time.  Whip the cream until stiff peaks form.
• Fold in the vanilla extract.

Recipe yields approximately 12 cupcakes.

Enjoy!

Source: Cupcake recipe adapted from the Spiced Chai Latte Cupcakes recipe by Love & Olive Oil, frosting recipe taken directly from the Whipped Cream Frosting recipe by Annies Eats.

ALSO…

As a side note, I saw this ingenious idea on Pinterest for storing cupcake liners.  My extra liners always have a tendency of getting squished at the bottom a drawer somewhere only to be long forgotten.  I simply emptied out my spaghetti noodles jar (this one is from Ikea) and voila, quick and easy cupcake liner storage.