Eggless Walnut Chai Cake
A soft and sumptuous tea cake infused with the heady spices of a freshly-brewed pot of masala chai and the gentle crunch of toasted walnuts.
Ingredients
- 128 gm all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 100 gm brown sugar (alternatively, use jaggery)
- 180 ml chai (brewed with milk, tea leaves and your favourite spices - see below)
- 60 ml neutral-flavoured oil
- ½ tbsp vinegar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 50 gm chopped walnuts
- rose petals for garnish
Instructions
Brewing the masala chai
- Combine 220-250ml of milk in a pan with 1-2 tsp black tea leaves and your favourite spices. Adjust the add-in’s according to preference. I added cardamom, cinnamon and saffron; you could also stir in grated ginger and/ or cloves!
- Bring the chai to a boil and let it gently simmer before straining and measuring out 180 ml of chai. If you fall short of this level (due to evaporation during boiling), just add more milk until you have 180ml.
- Set aside to slightly cool.
Preparing the cake batter
- Preheat the oven to 180C and prep a 6” round cake pan with parchment paper , greasing well.
- Add the brown sugar to a mixing bowl. Pour in the oil, vinegar , vanilla extract and lukewarm chai. Whisk well the sugar has dissolved.
- Now sift in all the dry ingredients and gently fold until just combined and no visible streaks of flour remain.
- Stir in the walnuts.
- Pour into the cake tin, smoothen the top and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool down before serving with more walnuts on top and rose petals for garnish!