I was going to make a chocolate soufflé for dessert the other night, but I'd run out of dark chocolate. I didn't want to have to go out to the shops, so I looked for something else I could make instead. Unfortunately, many of the recipes required a lengthy bake, chill, or both. And most of the rest... I didn't have the necessary ingredients for. This was one of the things that I could make. Without a trip to the shops. And without too much time or effort.

Frozen Chai

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 1L milk
• 4 chai tea bags
• 10 black peppercorns
• 3 slices fresh ginger (or 1 Tbsp. ginger paste)
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 500mL vanilla ice cream¹
• whipped cream (optional)

Directions

1. Bring the milk to a bare simmer.
2. Add the tea bags, peppercorns, ginger, and sugar and stir to combine.
3. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
4. Once cool, cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
5. Add the ice cream to a blender.
6. Strain the milk into the blender over the ice cream.
7. Blitz until smooth.
8. Pour into glasses, top with whipped cream and/or ground cinnamon, and serve.

---

¹ The convenience store down the street didn't have any plain vanilla ice cream, so we picked up a small tub of churro flavoured ice cream instead. The cinnamon flavour worked extremely well with the chai! ^Back

I'm too tired to do a properly detailed write-up for this right now, but it was really tasty despite my repeated goofs while preparing it. I've cut back the sugar slightly as I found it a tiny bit too sweet for my taste.

Masala Chai Crème Brûlée

Slightly adapted from Vegetarian Indian Cooking with Your Instant Pot

Ingredients

• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1 c. whole (3.25%) milk
• 3 black tea bags
• 6 green cardamom pods
• 6 black peppercorns
• 4 whole cloves
• 1/2 (3") cinnamon stick
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 5 large egg yolks
• 9 Tbsp. sugar, divided
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Directions

1. Combine cream, milk, tea bags, cardamom, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger in a heatproof (glass or steel) container.
2. Pour 1 1/2 c. of water into the InstantPot and then place the container of cream mixture on a trivet in the InstantPot.
3. Seal the InstantPot and pressure cook on high for 1 minute. Immediately release the pressure and remove the container from the pot. Set aside for 5-10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks with 5 Tbsp. of the sugar, vanilla, and salt.
5. Whisk the egg yolk mixture until it becomes pale yellow.
6. Once steeped, strain the cream mixture, reserving the liquids and discarding the solids.
7. Gradually whisk the cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture.
8. Pour the custard into a casserole dish or several small ramekins.
9. Cover the casserole/ramekins with foil or a heatproof lid.
10. Add another 1/2 c. of water to the InstantPot and place the casserole/ramekins into the pot on a trivet so that they're elevated above the water. (If using a casserole dish, make sure that you can get it back out again when you're done; if it's a tight fit consider running twine or similar below it that you can use to pull it out.)
    
11. Seal the InstantPot and pressure cook on high for 7 minutes. Allow a 10 minute natural release.
12. Remove casserole/ramekins from InstantPot and allow to cool to room temperature.
13. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and place under broiler for 3-5 minutes to melt and caramelize the sugar.

Chai Patte Waali Chana (Tea-Simmered Chickpeas)

I was sure that we'd already written that recipe up ages ago, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Hopefully this isn't a duplicate post. I didn't want to risk leaving this one out though. It's one of those things that didn't sound great to me at first, but I really loved once I tried it. The idea of a tea-based curry seemed strange to me and not particularly appealing. The fact it doesn't have much in the way of seasonings beyond the tea and some garlic and ginger didn't do much to reassure me either. But this is a really excellent curry! One of my favourites and one that I recommend to others who want to try a homemade curry but may not yet have an extensive collection of spices.

Chai Patte Waali Chana

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. black tea leaves
• 2 Tbsp. mustard oil
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 3 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 2-4 fresh green Thai or cayenne chilies, minced
• 3 c. cooked chickpeas
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• juice of one lime

Directions

1. Bring water to a rolling boil over medium-high heat.
2. Add tea leaves to boiling water, remove from heat, and set aside to steep for ~5 minutes.
3. Strain out and discard the tea leaves, reserving the tea.
4. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
5. Add cumin seeds and sizzle for 10-15 seconds.
6. Add ginger, garlic, and chilies and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.
7. Add chickpeas, cilantro, salt, and turmeric and stir to thoroughly combine. Cook for ~1 minute.
8. Stir in tea and bring to a boil.
9. Lower heat to medium and coo, uncovered, until thickened (~10 minutes).
10. Remove from heat, stir in lime juice, and serve.

Chai Glop

I really like chai, and I also really like the sweet "chai latte" mixes you can get at the grocery store -- stuff like this. Unfortunately, the local grocery no longer carries the decaf version, and this is something I generally like to drink in the evening, with dinner. So, symbol set out to re-create the chai glop experience.

After a few iterations, this is what the recipe looks like. It's easy to prepare in large batches and then keep in a mason jar in the fridge, and like the commercial glop, needs no further preparation -- just mix with milk and drink.

Ingredients for 2C water:

• 5 orange pekoe tea bags
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 20 cardamom pods
• 16 black peppercorns
• 1 star anise
• 4 cloves
• 1/2 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp jaggery
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Procedure

1. In a small pot, bring the water to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and add all the other ingredients.
3. Steep for five minutes.
4. Remove the tea bags.
5. Pour everything else into a mason jar and store, refrigerated, for up to a week.

Removing the teabags after a few minutes prevents it from becoming bitter; leaving the other ingredients in means it will keep steeping in the fridge and become stronger.

To use, pour through a strainer and mix 1:1-1:3 with milk; one 2C batch of glop will make 1-2L of drink depending on how strong you want it.

Brown Sugar Cupcakes

In theory these were supposed to be rooibos velvet cupcakes. But I went a little heavy on the brown sugar and it ended up dominating. There's still a hint of tea and spice from the rooibos, but it's not nearly as prominent as I'd hoped. In retrospect, I think I probably should've just stuck with white sugar in the batter and relied on the toppings to deliver the caramel-y goodness.

I'll still share what I did this time, just in case brown sugar cupcakes (with a hint of rooibos) are appealing. But I'll also post a(n untested) recipe suggestion below this that will hopefully deliver the actual lightly chocolate-y, rooibos-flavoured cupcakes I was imagining.

Brown Sugar Rooibos Cupcakes

Adapted from a red velvet cake recipe in the Something Awful cake thread

1 c. buttermilk

1/4 c. heavy (35%) cream

2 Tbsp. rooibos chai

1 c. butter, softened

1 c. firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. vinegar

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1. Combine buttermilk and heavy cream and gently warm them.

2. Remove from heat and add tea. Stir and set aside to steep for at least 15 minutes.

3. Cream butter with sugars until light and fluffy.

4. Mix in eggs one at a time.

5. Strain buttermilk mixture and gradually beat it into the butter mixture.

6. Stir in vanilla and vinegar.

7. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt.

8. Mix dry ingredients into wet. Do not over mix.

9. Scoop batter into lined cupcake pans. (Should be enough for 24 cupcakes if you don't overfill them like I did mine!)

10. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.

11. Allow to cool completely, then frost/decorate as desired.

I had some problems with my buttermilk curdling, even with the added cream/fat to help stabilize it. I think next time I might just use whole milk. Heat it up, add the tea, then add some vinegar and let it steep. And, as for making actual rooibos velvet cupcakes? Well, see below.

Rooibos Velvet Cupcakes (Hopefully!)

Adapted from a red velvet cake recipe found on the Something Awful cake thread

1 1/4 c. whole milk

2 Tbsp. rooibos

5 tsp. vinegar, divided

1 c. butter, softened

1 1/4 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1. Gently warm the milk until it is just steaming. (Do not allow to boil!)

2. Add the tea. Stir. Wait 5 minutes. Then add 4 tsp. vinegar. Stir again and set aside for at least 10 more minutes.

3. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

5. Strain the milk and gradually beat it in to the butter mixture.

6. Stir in the vanilla and the remaining 1 tsp. vinegar.

7. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt.

8. Mix dry ingredients into wet by hand.

9. Scoop batter into lined cupcake pan(s).

10. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.

Chocolate-Rooibos Cupcakes (from Something Awful)

I loved the Something Awful cake thread when it was active. There were so many great recipes and beautiful cake decorating projects shared there. It's a shame that it kind of fizzled, but it had a good run.

I've been craving baked goods lately, so I decided to look to the cake thread for inspiration. Sadly, this recipe didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped, but it has given me inspiration for future baking adventures, so... stay tuned!

Chocolate-Rooibos Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream

Adapted slightly from C&C Cakery (via Something Awful)

2 Tbsp. rooibos tea (I used rooibos chai)

1 c. boiling water

1 2/3 c. all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 c. canola oil

4 eggs, separated

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

pinch cream of tartar

0. Place egg whites in a large bowl and place in fridge until needed.

1. Pour boiling water over tea and set aside to steep for ~15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, combine cocoa powder, vanilla, and oil.

4. When the tea is done steeping, strain it (or remove the bags).

5. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugars together.

6. Pour the cocoa mixture into the sugar and mix until blended.

7. Pour the tea in, a bit at a time, and mix until blended.

8. Gradually add the flour.

9. WASH YOUR BEATERS.

10. Get the egg whites out of the fridge and add a pinch of cream of tartar.

11. Whip until they form soft peaks. (I think mine were closer to stiff peak stage. Seems to have worked out okay though.)

12. Scoop about 1/4 of the whipped egg whites into the batter and stir them in well to loosen the batter.

13. Add the rest of the egg whites and very gently fold them in.

14. Pour ~1/3 c. batter into cupcake liners (in a muffin tin) and bake at 350F for 16-18 minutes.

15. Allow to cool completely before icing.

Caramel Buttercream

6 Tbsp. heavy cream

1 tsp. rooibos tea

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

6 Tbsp. sugar

3 Tbsp. water

3/4 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

2 1/2 c. icing sugar

1. Warm cream in the microwave (20-30 seconds).

2. Stir in tea leaves and set aside to steep for 15 minutes or so.

3. When tea is done steeping, strain and stir in vanilla.

4. Combine sugar and water in a small pot or pan and cook over medium heat until mixture just begins to brown.

5. Remove from heat and pour in cream while whisking.

6. Cream butter. Sift in icing sugar while continuing to beat.

7. Pour in caramel and mix until blended.

The actual cake part of these cupcakes was fine. They had a nice texture. Were light, but chocolate-y. And the rooibos did come through a bit. The icing, on the other hand, was a disaster. First of all, the original recipe calls for 1 1/2 CUPS of butter! Seeing as I didn't want to use up 3/4 of a pound of butter in one go, I decided to just do a half batch of icing and deal with maybe not having enough for all the cupcakes. All I can say is it's a good thing I decided to start with a half batch!

I can only assume that the recipe author had a brain fart and actually meant 1 1/2 STICKS of butter. I did up a half batch of the icing according to the recipe and it just tasted like butter. After adding the full amount of icing sugar, it was actually starting to taste like icing, if somewhat bland. So I figured that it must've been a typo and made up another batch of caramel to add to it as well. Since the first bit of caramel didn't really seem to have much presence in the icing, I decided to do the second batch with brown sugar to boost the flavour a little bit.

It still just tasted like vanilla icing.

So, now I had twice as much icing as I'd originally intended to make and, while it was inoffensive, it didn't really seem to have much going on. It was very sweet and very bland.

What I probably should've done at this point was make up another small batch of caramel to mix in. But I was tired and frustrated and I had a little bit of condensed milk sitting in the fridge. So, I decided to try making dulce de leche. And then, because I wanted to make sure that the icing actually tasted of something this time, I added an extra Tbsp. of brown sugar to the milk while it cooked. And then, in my quest to get it just a bit darker and just a bit more flavourful... I went a bit too far and ended up cooking the milk right down to a sort of stiff, extremely chewy caramel candy. Which, needless to say, did not mix into the buttercream terribly well.

At that point, I gave up on the idea of trying to get this icing to take on any sort of flavour and just decided to roll with sugary, slightly vanilla-scented frosting with chunks of chewy caramel embedded in it. Not ideal, but I wasn't really willing to keep fiddling with it.

Honestly, I think what I'd like to do is redesign the whole recipe from the ground up. I think the chocolate-rooibos-caramel flavour combo has potential, but none of them really got to shine here. So, here's what I'm thinking for round two:

Rooibos Velvet Cake with Dulce de Leche and Butterscotch Frosting

Adapted from a red velvet cake recipe in the Something Awful cake thread

1 1/4 c. buttermilk

2 Tbsp. rooibos

1 c. butter, room temperature

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1/8 tsp. salt

1. In a small saucepan, gently warm the buttermilk.

2. Add the tea, set aside, and allow to steep.

3. In a separate bowl, cream the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy.

4. Beat in the egg.

5. Strain buttermilk and add to batter.

6. Stir in vinegar and vanilla.

7. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt.

8. Stir dry ingredients into batter until just mixed.

9. Pour into two greased and floured 9" pans and bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes.

10. Let cool completely.

Butterscotch Frosting

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 large egg white

1/2 tsp. salt

12 Tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Combine sugar, egg white, and salt in a heatproof bowl.

2. Heat mixture over simmering water, whisking constantly, for 2-3 minutes (until it reaches 150F).

3. Remove from heat and beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes.

4. Add butter, one Tbsp. at a time, and beat until smooth.

5. Mix in vanilla.

6. Increase speed to medium high and beat until light and fluffy.

Assembly

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 layers cake

1 recipe butterscotch frosting

1. Pour the condensed milk into a baking dish and bake until darkened.

2. Place first layer upside down on plate.

3. Spread with dulce de leche.

3a. Optionally, spread a bit of frosting over the dulce de leche.

4. Place second layer (right way up) on top of dulce de leche filling.

5. Frost top and sides of cake.

Obviously I haven't tried out the above recipe yet, so I can't vouch for it. I just thought it might be interesting to replace the food colouring in a red velvet recipe with rooibos and see how it goes. Red velvet cakes already have the slightly chocolate-y thing going on. And I'm not a big fan of all the red food colouring anyway. So I figured this might be an interesting way to play with the chocolate-rooibos combo.

Meanwhile, the suggested butterscotch frosting for this particular red velvet cake sounds somewhat more promising than the caramel buttercream given above. It's got the same amount of butter, but much less sugar. And what sugar there is is brown. And the presence of the egg whites should hopefully give it some body without relying on either icing sugar or yet more butter. *fingers crossed!*

Hopefully I'll be able to take this particular combo for a test run soon and see how my theory pans out. I'll try to do another write-up for it and share the results when I do.