Ultimate brunch goals! This Chai Spiced Coffee Cake is the loaded with warm and cozy chai spices, espresso powder to give you the extra kick and topped with a chai glaze. It’s delicious, crumbly and perfect to go with your morning cup of coffee!
Y’all. Let’s just sing the Hallelujah chorus real quick. This is my first official Fall recipe of 2019! Yaaaaaassssss! I’m so excited! Don’t get me wrong, I love Summer – the produce is amazing, fresh and delicious. However, the inspiration pours out of me like crazy during the Fall. I want to make allll of the delicious things. Starting with this amazing Chai Spiced Coffee Cake.
Dirty Chai Feels
So, I think I’ve talked on here before how I was a barista for about a year after college. I absolutely loved it! It was so fun, I learned how to make beautiful latte art and had access to coffee 24/7. Talk about a dream job, right? One of my all time favorite drinks was called a Dirty Chai Latte. I know it sounds kind of weird but it’s basically a shot of espresso, chai tea and steamed milk. It’s SO mouthwatering. I love the extra pep in your step that it gives you along with the sweetness of the chai tea, the frothy milk…it’s amazing.
So, I thought to myself…how can I replicate this in food?! And here we are. At first I wanted to name this recipe Dirty Chai Coffee Cake but then I thought that people would think I was putting dirt in my cakes so….yeah.
This Chai Spiced Coffee Cake has full on espresso powder mixed in with the amazing cozy Chai spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, all spice and ginger. The cake itself is moist and gooey. It’s not your typical coffee cake where it’s super crumbly and has a crumb topping – instead, the brown sugar topping is almost swirled into the cake to make it extra yummy. Oh, and there is also the most deliciously spiced quick glaze on top to make it super sweet.
It’s perfect for breakfast on the go, a quick snack or a dessert! Let’s get into how to make it!
Ingredients You Need for Chai Spiced Coffee Cake:
- all purpose Flour
- salted butter
- chai spices (cinnamon, ginger, cloves, all spice, nutmeg)
- espresso powder
- brown sugar
- turbinado sugar
- granulated sugar
- whole milk
- eggs
How to Make Chai Spiced Coffee Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9×9 baking pan with butter or cooking spray.
In a small bowl, add whole milk and espresso powder. Mix together until it’s combined and then set it aside.
In a large bowl, beat together softened butter and granulated sugar until combined and fluffy – about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the 2 eggs in ONE at a time and vanilla extract and continue to beat until fluffy and delicious!
In a medium bowl, add the all purpose flour, cozy chai spices and baking powder. Whisk together to combine.
Slowly add both the dry ingredients and the espresso/milk mixture at the same time, pausing to mix as you go to combine. The mixture should look something like this:
Lastly, add brown sugar, turbinado sugar, all purpose flour, chai spices and espresso powder to the dry ingredients bowl you just used. Mix together and then add 1 stick of melted butter. Mix together.
Add the cake mixture to the pan and spread evenly. On top of the pan, add the brown sugar mixture you just made. Swirl it in if gently to the top.
Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until you can put a toothpick in it and it is clean! Let it cool in the pan until COMPLETELY cool. Then remove to a wire rack. For the glaze, add powdered sugar, milk and chai spices. Mix until desired consistency and then pour over the coffee cake.
Slice and then eat up! Enjoy with a cup of coffee, afternoon cup of tea or dessert! SO yum!!
Happy Fall – I can’t wait to take you guys along with me this year and share ALLLL of the delicious recipes! Love y’all! XO
Did you enjoy this recipe? Here are a few more you might like:
Thank you so much for following along here, friends! Want to see more? Be sure to follow ourbalancedbowl on Instagram and tag me with your photo if you end up making a recipe! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the Our Balanced Bowl Facebook page! Like a recipe that you saw? Follow me on Pinterest here! I always love to see your re-creations! If you do make a recipe, it would make my whole day if you were to rate and comment so I can get your feedback! Lots of love! – Haylie
Chai Spiced Coffee Cake
Ultimate brunch goals! This Chai Spiced Coffee Cake is the loaded with warm and cozy chai spices, espresso powder to give you the extra kick and topped with a chai glaze. It’s delicious, crumbly and perfect to go with your morning cup of coffee!
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1.5 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp all spice
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp espresso powder
Wet Ingredients
- 1/2 cup softened salted butter (1 stick)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Coffee Cake Topping
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup turbinado sugar
- 1/2 cup melted salted butter (1 stick)
- 1 tsp espresso powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp all spice
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
Chai Spice Glaze
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tbsp milk (more if you want the glaze thinner, less if you want it thicker)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9x9 baking pan with butter or cooking spray. Set aside.
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In a small bowl, add whole milk and 1 tsp espresso powder. Mix together until it’s combined and then set it aside.
-
In a large bowl, beat together softened butter and 3/4 cup granulated sugar until combined and fluffy - about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the 2 eggs in ONE at a time and vanilla extract and continue to beat until fluffy.
-
In a medium bowl, add the all purpose flour, cozy chai spices and baking powder. Whisk together to combine.
-
Slowly add both the dry ingredients and the espresso/milk mixture at the same time - a little bit of each at the same time.
-
Lastly, add brown sugar, turbinado sugar, all purpose flour, chai spices and espresso powder to the dry ingredients bowl you just used. Mix together and then add 1 stick of melted butter. Mix together.
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Add the cake mixture to the pan and spread evenly. On top of the pan, add the brown sugar mixture you just made. Swirl it in if gently to the top.
-
Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until you can put a toothpick in it and it is clean! Let it cool in the pan until COMPLETELY cool.
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Move cake to a wire rack. For the glaze, add powdered sugar, milk and chai spices. Mix until desired consistency and then pour over the coffee cake.
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Slice and eat up! YUM!
Haylie, I am definitely hearing the hallelujah chorus singing in my ears! This chai spiced coffee cake looks beyond delicious! Love the flavors! And that glaze! Your photos are truly drop dead gorgeous! I could stare at the close up with the puddle of glaze all day! I have so scrolled up four times just to get another look!
Thank you so much, Kelly!! This comment just totally made my day!! You’re always just the absolute sweetest!
This coffee cake really has all the fall vibes! The texture looks perfect and that glaze is amazing! Chai spice is right up there with pumpkin spice for me. Wish I had a piece right now to go with my coffee!
Thank you so much, sweet Leanne!!! I love chai spice too – it’s so underrated but just as important for Fall goodness! 🙂
How much granulated sugar should be used in step 3? I can’t find it on the ingredients list. Thanks!
Hey Emily! It should be 3/4 cup of granulated sugar. I just fixed it in the recipe card – so sorry about that!
What do recommend for espresso powder?
Hi Pam! I recommend the Delallo brand! 🙂 I purchased mine from Walmart for about 4 dollars.
I have a liquid chai. Can I use it instead of all the dry spices? If so, how much? Thanks.
Hi Kathryn – I’m not sure! I would worry that would add too much liquid to the entire recipe. If it were me, I would probably try to replace the 1/2 cup of whole milk with 1/4 cup liquid chai and 1/4 cup whole milk. Hopefully that would give enough spice but not make it overly liquidy. Let me know if you try it out and good luck 🙂
Love the recipe, Haylie! I’m a writer for Neighbors magazine in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and would love to include this in our September-October issue, with credit to you, of course! Give me a shout to see if we can’t work something out — and keep cooking!
Zak
Hi Zak! Thank you so much for reaching out 🙂 Thank you for your kind words about this recipe.