Birthday Cake Club: Chai Caramel Spice Cake

Celebrate November birthdays with a slice of chai frosted spice cake!

Hi Bakers! Happy November and welcome to the second installment of our Birthday Cake Club series. This series is dedicated to everyone celebrating their own or the birthday of a loved one during this super busy holiday season. With my baby due in December, I am determined to help make everyone’s birthday special - despite the time of year.

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Be sure to share this month’s recipe with anyone celebrating a November birthday!

Each month, we will be baking and eating a new layer cake recipe. They won’t always be seasonal (those November birthday folks probably need a break from pumpkin cake - don’t you think?), but this warm and cozy Chai Caramel Spice Cake seemed perfect for this chilly month. 

I was inspired by everyone’s favorite London Fog Cake from my first cookbook, Layered. It is by far the most popular recipe to come out of that book. It has layers of moist chocolate cake filled and frosted with an Earl Grey buttercream then drizzled with caramel sauce. It is so good! If you haven’t tried it yet, please do yourself a favor and find the recipe here.

I love how easily the Earl Grey tea adds loads of flavor to my favorite Swiss meringue buttercream, so switching it up with Chai felt like a winning idea. Chai translates to “tea.” What we typically find in the grocery store or at a coffee shop is spiced black tea. It is usually flavored with bold aromatics like cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, star anise, and cloves. Sometimes chai may include black pepper as well.

This cake is super cozy and full of flavor. It has three layers of spice cake made tender with kefir yogurt, butter, and oil. Between the layers is crushed up shortbread cookies and thick caramel sauce. The star of the cake is truly the chai buttercream - I hope you like it as much as I do!