Chai Latte Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

So I have to start by saying that finding time to write this blog is a bit harder then I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think it would be easy…but it takes me longer then I thought. I guess I focus too much on trying to make it perfect when I should really just be myself, but in writing. Harder said then done, that’s for sure. Anyways, here’s my next entry – chai latte cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

I love chai tea. Hot or cold, it’s my favorite drink. The absolute best I’ve had is the vanilla chai tea from Bolthouse Farms. It has just the right amount of spice and is perfectly creamy. This is one of those things I think I could live on. These cupcakes capture the drink perfectly. And I added cream cheese frosting, which makes everything better!

The cupcake recipe is pretty straight forward and you can find it in the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. (I haven’t found a recipe from here that I haven’t loved.) The batter may be a bit more time consuming then others because you have to make tea, but if you plan it right it really doesn’t take too much longer. I usually make the tea and let it steep and work on the rest of the batter.

Brought the soy milk to just barely boiling and put the tea bags in to let them steep.

Combined all the dry ingredients.

This is what the milk looks like after 10 minutes of steeping.

Whisked the wet and dry ingredients.

Fill the cups (these are mini ones) and bake for 10 - 11 minutes at 350F. (When I make full sized cupcakes I bake them for 20 minutes.)

I cut up the butter and cream cheese and put them in the mixing bowl when I started working on the cupcake batter so that they would soften up faster. (The recipe is below.)

I sifted the flour right into the bowl and mixed in.

Then I added the vanilla and neon blue food coloring. (These were for my coworker and her children so I like to make the frosting colorful and fun.)

Here I wanted Earl to take photos of me frosting the cupcakes, but as you can see it didn't work too well...better communication definitely needed.

I made two other cupcake recipes since I last posted...hopefully I will get the mini chocolate-peanut butter cup cupakes up tomorrow. :) Happy Cupcaking!