The concept for this cake was concieved over a year ago. My friend Mick challenged me to come up with a cake that was infused with the flavors of chai tea.
Mick is what I might think of as a post-goth. He dresses in a spectrum of blacks with the occasional purple or red. So I quickly concluded that this chai cake should included blackberries to make it a beautiful dark purple. I had a hunch that the blackberry and chai spice combo would be killer.
I didn’t initially get around to making the cake for Mick. My first stab at this cake was for a baby shower. Yeah, it feels kind of weird going to a baby shower, but it was a baby shower for some cool people. It was “a baby shower with beer.”
I actually made up the recipe the night before the shower. I didn’t even get to taste it before serving it. It was quite the risk.
However it was a hit! The cake was super moist and full of gentle yet intriguing flavors. The addition of a cool layer of vanilla spiked pears gave it great contrast and texture and the milky marscapone icing was cool and refreshing, accented with blackberry bursts.
Months later, I finally got to make the cake for Mick. Confident in the previous recipe results, I decided to kick up the presentation. To make it decidedly more goth, I covered the entire outside with blackberries, rather than just the perimeter like on my first version. Oh, and I baked half the batter in various sized mixing bowls making the final cake a dramatic volcano shape.
We covered the cake top with 22 candles. Black candles. It was for a goth theme birthday party, after all.
There was so much love for that cake.
Goth Chai Cake with Pear Filling, Marscapone Icing and Blackberries
- 3 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Ground Allspice
- 1 tbs Natural (non-dutched) Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 cup Cream
- 2 cups Whole Milk
- 1 tbs Loose Leaf Black Tea
- 1 tbs Chicory Root, optional
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 5 Whole Green Cardamom Pods
- 2 Whole Star Anise
- 3 dashes Cayenne Pepper
- 2 tsp Lemon Juice
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/2 cups Raw Sugar
- 1/2 cup Creamy Honey
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
- 4 cups Pears, peeled, cored and chopped
- 1/4 cup Honey
- 2 tbs Vanilla Extract
- 3 1/2 cups Cream
- 2 cups Marscapone Cheese
- 1/4 cup Organic Powdered Sugar
- 6 cups (or less) Fresh Blackberries
For the Cake:
For the Pear Filling:
For the Icing:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9″ cake pans and line with parchment paper.
- Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and cocoa powder. Mix well and set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cream milk, tea, chicory, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, star anise and cayenne over medium heat. Heat to a rapid boil, whisking constantly to avoid scorching the milk. Cover and remove from heat. Let steep for five minutes, then strain the liquid into a measuring cup. 2 cups of liquid should remain. Let cool slightly then whisk in the lemon juice and vanilla.
- Beat together the sugar, honey and butter until smooth. With the mixer still running, add the cooled spice-infused milk. Once the milk and butter are well mixed, slowly add the dry ingredients. Mix until just smooth, being careful not to overmix!
- Pour into prepared baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out of the center just barely clean, about 50 minutes.
- Let cool in pans on a cooling rack. Meanwhile, make your pear sauce. In a covered saucepan or dutch oven, mix the pears, honey and water. Cook covered on medium-low heat until the pears are easily smashed with the back of a wooden spoon. The time will vary depending on the ripeness of the pears. Firm pears will take as long as an hour. Once the pears are cooked, remove from heat, add the vanilla and stir. Transfer to a container and refrigerate.
- Chill a large mixing bowl and mixer beaters in the freezer. Once cold, pour in the cream and beat on high until soft peaks form. Add the marscapone and powdered sugar and beat until thick like buttercream.
- To assemble the cake, first put about two tablespoons of the icing on a platter and spread it around with an offset spatula. Put down the first cake round and remove the parchment paper. Top the round with all of the pear filling the top with the other cake round. Spread the remaining icing around the top and sides of the cake. Cover the cake with blackberries completely, or for a more conservative approach, simply put a ring of blackberries around the top perimeter. Refrigerate the cake before serving.
Dying. That sounds incredible.