Honeybush Chai Spiced Coffee Cake

Serves 8.

A simple coffee cake with a Curio twist — our Honeybush Chai flavors the nut filling and crumb topping with the honeyed sweetness of the tea and pleasing aromatics of the spices.

Notes: To use the Honeybush Chai as a spice in this recipe, grind 2 tablespoons of chai in a mortar and pestle or electric grinder. Any leftover ground chai can be sprinkled on the finished cake.

For the nut filling:
½ cup roasted, salted pecans,* chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon Honeybush Chai, ground to a powder

For the crumb topping:
½ cup (60g) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (53g) brown sugar, lightly packed
¼ cup (50g) sugar
1 tablespoon Honeybush Chai, ground to a powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons butter, melted

For the cake:
½ cup sour cream
2 eggs, room temperature
⅓ cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ cups (180g) all-purpose flour
¾ cup (150g) sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
6 tablespoons (85g) butter, very soft but not melted

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease an 8” x 8” cake pan. Line the pan with baking parchment cut or folded to 8-inches wide and long enough to extend over two sides of the pan (this makes it easy to lift the cake from the pan, after baking).

Make the nut filling  Mix the filling ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Make the crumb topping  Put the flour, sugars, Honeybush Chai powder, and salt into a small bowl; stir to mix. Pour in the melted butter into the flour mixture and stir with a fork until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Set aside.

Make the cake batter  Put the milk, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla into a bowl and whisk until completely combined. Set aside.

Put the flour, sugar, soda, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk gently to mix. Add the butter to the bowl in lumps; then, use an electric mixer on low speed to work the butter into the flour mixture until it looks like lightly moistened sand, with only a very few small lumps of butter.

Add about a third of the milk mixture to the flour mixture, beat on low until mostly combined. Repeat twice more.

Assemble the cake and bake  Pour about half the batter into the prepared pan and spread it to the edges and into the corners of the pan. Sprinkle the nut mixture evenly over the batter.

Pour the remaining batter over the nuts and spread it to the edges and corners of the pan. (This is easier if you partially distribute the batter over the nuts as you pour it. Some nuts may get mixed into this layer as you spread the batter, which is OK.)

Cover the top of the batter with the topping, crumbling it with your fingers as you go. It’s nice to have some lumps, so don’t worry about breaking it up super evenly.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center top of the cake. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then use the parchment ‘flaps’ to lift it gently onto a cooling rack. Cool for at least another 20 minutes before slicing. Enjoy with a cup of freshly brewed Honeybush Chai!

*Salted nuts are nice, but plain pecans or walnuts are a fine substitute — just toast them lightly before chopping them and add a tiny pinch of salt to the filling mix.