Pumpkin Chai Chocolate Chip Mini Cakes

Pumpkin Chai Chocolate Chip Mini Cakes are perfect for breakfast (yes, cake for breakfast!) or dessert! A hint of molasses and a heavy dose of cinnamon and cardamom come together with a bit of chai and a sprinkling of mini chocolate chips in an easy quick bread-style cake. And the best part is, you don’t even need a special cake pan to make adorable mini cakes. Oh, no, wait, the best part is the chai icing and the chocolate chips, right? 

This is one of those days that I just can’t believe is here [noted I’m writing on Sunday, Oct 12th]. Our anniversary. 

What?!

Seriously, a whole year has passed since the most beautiful day in my whole life. I can’t fathom that. It was just so beautiful and I hold it on a pedestal in my mind. I’ve never felt more beautiful either. Well, at least we have gorgeous photos from that day (thank you Elizabeth!) and a big ol’ hunk of cake (my parents have a whole layer in their freezer and my mom said she was saving it to eat on our anniversary too! Cake for everyone!). I even saved the sugar flowers from the cake. How could I not?! 

Anyways! I had an awesome weekend. We finally found rugs we loved for our house. 2 of the 3 were out of stock, so at least we get one of them, right? My home is going to look like a friggin Turkish bazaar. Woohoo! 

We also attended our small town’s “Water Tower Festival”…which in a small town is basically a stage for middle-aged men in a cover band and 1 funnel cake stand and 2 beer stations. Fall festivities at their finest. We walked around the town square a couple times, went and ate dinner, then went home to watch the DVR. We’re so fun. 

Insert terrible transition here…

And so here’s some cake for you! Because I know you’ll want to pop champs and toast to us [right?]. This cake is amazing. It’s basically the consistency of banana bread or pumpkin bread. And it tastes like chai and is studded with chocolate chips! You could totally eat it for breakfast if you wanted to. Please do. And it’s based off of my Baked Pumpkin Donuts recipe, so you know it’s going to be amazing! 

You don’t need mini cake pans either! Just use tin cans. Wash them really really well, remove the labels, and make sure they’re well greased before you pour in any batter. Mini cakes, done!

You’re so impressive. You’re welcome! 

Cheers! [to autumn, to our anniversary, to 5 years of blogging, to small towns, to cake]

Pumpkin Chai Chocolate Chip Mini Cakes

2014-10-12 12:45:56

Pumpkin Chai Chocolate Chip Mini Cakes are like a breakfast bread disguised as cake. They're tender and moist, spiced with your favorite autumn flavors and studded with chocolate chips. A drippy, sweet glaze adds the perfect finishing touch. (makes 2, 2-layer mini cakes)

Write a review

Save Recipe

Print

Ingredients

1. ¾ cup pumpkin puree
2. ½ tsp. cinnamon
3. ¼ tsp. cardamom
4. ¼ tsp. cloves
5. 2 Tbs. molasses
6. ¼ cup coconut oil
7. 1 egg
8. ½ cup oat flour
9. 2 Tbs. coconut flour
10. 1 tsp. starch (I used tapioca)
11. 1 tsp. baking powder
12. ½ tsp. salt
13. 1 chai tea bag tea (I used Tazo)
14. ¼ cup mini chocolate chips

Glaze

1. 1 cup powdered sugar
2. 2 tsp. almond milk
3. pinch of cinnamon
4. pinch of cardamom
5. pinch of cloves

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Grease your mini cake pans or 2 empty, cleaned and dried, tin cans (make sure they’re squeaky clean and don’t have any labels on them anymore).
2. In a small microwave safe bowl, heat the coconut oil until melted and warm. Add the tea bag to the warm coconut oil and set aside (odd, yes, but we’re infusing the oil with the chai flavor here). Let steep at least 5 minutes. Squeeze out the tea bag (carefully, and don’t do this yet if your oil is hot because I don’t want any burned fingers) and discard the tea bag.
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and the spices with the egg until smooth. Next, add the molasses and whisk until smooth. Add your infused coconut oil and mix.
4. Finally, add all of the dry ingredients and stir until everything is just combined. Then add the chocolate chips and give it a couple mixes.
5. Pour your patter into your mini cake pans or tin cans (just divide the batter evenly between the two cans). Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let your cakes cool in the cans on a wire rack. When they’ve cooled for a bit (at least 30 min), turn your cans upside down on your wire rack and release the cakes (you may need to run a paring knife around the edges first, just don’t shake them to get the cakes out or you’ll probably break the cakes…because I’ve totally done this!). Let the cakes finish cooling before assembling.
7. When you’re ready to assemble your cakes, cut them each in half. Mix up your Glaze ingredients in a small bowl until you have the desired consistency. Spoon some glaze on top of the bottom layer, add the top layer of cake then top with more glaze (and maybe a pinch more of spices). Eat and enjoy!

Notes

1. Unglazed cakes can be kept in a storage bag in the fridge for 4 days. Glaze before eating…or don’t glaze at all and eat them for breakfast, because they’re essentially a quick bread!

By Melissa @ Treats With a Twist

Adapted from my Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Adapted from my Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Treats With a Twist https://www.treatswithatwist.com/