Rooibos Chai Latte Cupcakes

I got the recipe from Love & Olive Oil (one of my favourite foodblogs) and adapted it slightly according to what I had on hand. These cupcakes are simply delicious, not too sweet, just spicy enough, moist and chewy. I think they would be good even without an icing, but the matching white chocolate cream glaze (also flavoured with chai spices) is the perfect complement to the cupcake. This one is a keeper and I'm already planning to use the base recipe with some different flavourings added - I'm considering a lemongrass flavoured cupcake with perhaps a lemon curd-ish frosting...

Makes 9 cupcakes (Love & Olive Oil says 12 - maybe I'm using a bigger baking tin?)

1 cup milk

3 rooibos chai tea bags

1 chamomile tea bag

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 1/4 cups (plus 2 tablespoons) cake flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/3 cup canola oil

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons caramel (or vanilla) extract

For glaze: *

100g white chocolate

1/2 cup cream

1 1/2 - 2 cups icing sugar

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Prepare a muffin tray with cupcake liners.
2. Add teabags to milk and heat in microwave for 3 minutes on high. Allow to steep for a further 5 minutes or so, then remove teabags, squeezing out as much milk as possible. Re-measure, and add more milk to make up 1 cup. Whisk in cider vinegar, and side aside until curdled.
3. Meanwhile sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Pour in tea-milk mixture, along with oil, sugar, and caramel essence, and stir just until no large lumps remain.
4. Divide batter evenly among 9 cupcake liners (liners should be 2/3 full), and bake for 20-22 minutes or until puffed and golden. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
5. For white chocolate glaze: Break chocolate up into the milk, microwave on 60% power for 2 - 3 minutes, until melted. Stir to combine, add spices and add enough icing sugar to make a thickish & spreadable frosting. Spread each cupcake thinly with the glaze. Wait a few minutes until dry, then add another layer. Decorate further as you wish.

* The glaze recipe makes a lot more than what you need - reserve the remaining glaze for another use (or another batch of cupcakes!)

Nutritional info (per cupcake): Calories 304.7 Total Fat 12.6 g Saturated Fat 3.6 g Polyunsaturated Fat 5.3 g Monounsaturated Fat 1.9 g Cholesterol 6.4 mg Sodium 224.5 mg Potassium 76 mg Total Carbohydrate 42.8 g Dietary Fiber 0.9 g Sugars 14.5 g Protein 3.1 g