Chocolate Chai Bundt Cake

No, this is not a close-up of some slimy sea creature (although I understand why you might think that).
It's actually chocolate- a Chocolate Chai Bundt Cake, in fact!
This cake used a few ingredients, though I suspect most of them can be found in your cupboard...
After adding the usual suspects into my mixing bowl...
I brewed some Chai Rooibos tea...
And added tons of cocoa powder...
Before dumping it into the rest of the batter.
I know what you're thinking: tea in a cake? But believe it or not, the spices seemed to be a welcome addition to the recipe (and it sure made my kitchen smell good).
And after just under an hour in the oven, I flipped this beautiful bundt from the pan!
While I left it to cool on the wire rack, I turned my attention to the frosting.
I whisked various ingredients together, including more chai tea!
Once the frosting was lump free, I set about drizzling away to my heart's content.
And in short order I had finished smothering the cake in frosting- not too shabby, eh?
If you'd like to whip up this tasty cake at home, here's the recipe:

Chocolate Chai Bundt Cake

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CAKE:
1-¼ cup Chai Tea, Strong Brewed
¾ cups Cocoa Powder, Unsweetened
2-¼ cups Sugar
1-¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt
2-½ teaspoons Baking Soda
2 whole Eggs
1 Egg Yolk
1-¼ cup Whole Milk
1 cup Canola Oil, Plus 2 Tablespoons
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
2-¾ cups Unbleached Flour

INGREDIENTS FOR THE ICING:
6 ounces, weight Bittersweet Chocolate
¾ cups Unsalted Butter, Melted And Cooled
2 cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted
½ cups Sour Cream At Room Temperature
⅓ cups Chai Tea, Strong Brewed, Cooled To Room Temperature

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the cocoa powder into the hot brewed tea to combine thoroughly and then let cool. In a mixer with a whisk attachment, mix together the sugar, salt, baking soda, whole eggs, and egg yolk until combined. Add the milk, canola oil, vanilla, and mix again to combine. Add the flour and mix until well incorporated. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and whisk again until all the ingredients are well mixed. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 60 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Meanwhile, make the icing. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, heating in 20-second intervals and stirring in between. Be very careful not to burn the chocolate. Just keep heating and stirring until all the chocolate is melted. Melt the butter in a separate bowl and whisk into the chocolate. Add half of the sifted powdered sugar into the chocolate mixture, whisking to remove any remaining lumps, followed by the sour cream. Then add the rest of the powdered sugar, followed by the chai tea. The icing should be thick and shiny. Drizzle the glaze over the bundt cake. (There will probably be extra icing... just an FYI!)

And while I made this cake to take to my friends, there was enough batter left over to bake a few mini-cakes... so I had a chance to taste the fruits of my labor. This bundt is quite rich but also very moist- and the spices from the chai really add a nice flavor!
Thank you for visiting- I hope you have a great day!

T Salon

My family was in town this weekend, and boy did we have a blast visiting all sorts of places throughout Manhattan! One of our stops included Chelsea Market; I blogged about their awesome stores a couple months ago- check out that post here. But one of the stores I failed to show you was T Salon. It's a wonderful tea store- not only do they have an incredible assortment of teas...
But it's also the first sustainable tea bar/cafe/market in the world!
The floors and shelving are all made of bamboo, and all the packaging is made using recycled materials and soy ink. Even the concrete counter tops are stained with tea to create that pretty color! But the coolest feature is the light fixture- it was made by an artist out of recycled tea bags!!
And while the store was really cool, the experience was even better because I was there with my Dad...
My brother...
And my Mom!
As for our tea, it was scrumptious! Everything is served on snazzy bamboo trays, so when you're done with your tea bag, you just place them on the tray to be recycled!
Talk about a hot treat on a cold day!
If you ever want to visit T Salon, you can find it in Chelsea Market, located at 16th Street and 9th Avenue. Thank you for visiting my blog- I hope you have a great day!!

subtletea

Last week, I had to run an errand in Murray Hill. While I was in the neighborhood, I stopped by one of my favorite tea stores in the whole city: subtletea! Please forgive the quality of these cell phone photos- I didn't have my camera with me this day.

Subtletea is a wonderful little tea store- at the front of their store they have a huge table surrounded by chairs. Each seat has an ipod charging station, and there's free WiFi available to all patrons. On top of all that, they have a yummy little sandwich bar that's fully stocked with lunches and snacks. But the best part of all are the teas. You can have any of their tea flavors served hot or cold... and you can buy them loose!
Being a tea lover, I think this place is the bees knees! Check out their branding- it's like the ring you get when you jostle a mug of tea!
Here's the front of their tea menu: each tea flavor has a description of ingredients...
As well as a suggestion as to what time of day the tea should be consumed!
And as I'm sure you've guessed, I couldn't walk away without buying a few ounces of loose leaves for myself.
I went with the Organic Rooibos Vanilla...
And the Cappucino Cream Rooibos.
How about a closer look?
The Cappuccino Cream tastes rich and creamy, but because it's a rooibos it's still decaffeinated. Also- see those yellow things? They're marigold blossoms!
And the little square things? Those are chunks of dehydrated caramel- YUM!
And the Vanilla Rooibos is just as great!
I love the woody, earthy scent of rooibos... plus, it looks like lots of little wood chips!
And after taking all these pictures, I couldn't resist brewing a pot of tea!
Isn't that color spectacular?
While you can order any of the Subtleteas on their website, if you're in NYC you can find the store on the corner of Madison Avenue and 30th Street. And because they're nice guys, whenever you buy loose tea the workers always throw in a free drink of your choice. I'm telling you- this place is great!!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a wonderful Thursday! Don't forget- the deadline to participate in my giveaway is MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!

The Sensuous Bean

Did the title of this post intrigue you?
When we were walking through the Upper West Side this weekend, SFS showed me a nifty little shop he came across a while ago.
The Sensuous Bean sells all sorts of gourmet coffees and teas- and I was in hog heaven!
And to top it all off, SFS treated me to a few bags of loose tea!
I decided to try New York Cider- it's an apple flavored tea, with all sorts of yummy bits of fruit and herbs.
And SFS picked out Blood Orange tea.
I can't begin to describe how yummy it smells!
SFS was inspired to make some iced tea with this delectable tea, so after steeping it for a while, he put it into the fridge to chill. In the meantime, I suggested we slice up a tangerine...
And put it in the freezer.
After a few hours the tea was cool enough to drink.
So we poured a few glasses over ice and pieces of the frozen tangerines.
Talk about a refreshing drink on a cool winter day!
If you'd like to visit The Sensuous Bean, you can find it just off the corner of Columbus Ave. and 70th Street. I hope you're having a great Tuesday- thanks for stopping by!