White Chocolate Cake with Chai Frosting

This is my second attempt at a Chai-flavored Cake.

I used Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe for White Chocolate Whisper Cake from The Cake Bible for the layers. I knew I wanted to used chai latte mix for the frosting, and I was inspired by this blog to add french vanilla instant pudding mix too. It changed the texture a bit- made thicker and it seemed to cling to itself. This was plus, as so many frostings just want to creep down the sides of your cake.

Rose is pretty much a scientist when it comes to cakes- all her recipes are very exact and must be followed exactly or they won't work. The Cake Bible is a great resource, but alas there are no pictures. I find it hard to work from a book with absolutely no pictures. Is this bad?

Grease and flour (or line with parchment paper) 2 9-in cake pans. As you can see, my cake has three layers. This is because I tripled the recipe and made two cakes with three layers each.

Preheat to 350.

Ingredients:

6 oz white chocolate

3/4 t salt

1 T plus 1 1/2 t baking powder

1 cup plus 3 T sugar

3 cups cake flour, sifted

1 1/2 t vanilla

1 c milk, divided

4 1/2 large egg whites

9 T unsalted butter, softened

Melt the white chocolate (in either the microwave or in a double boiler- careful not to burn) and set aside.

Whisk together 1/4 cup milk, egg whites and vanilla. In your mixer bowl, sift together the sugar, cake flur, baking powder and salt. Mix on low for 30 seconds.

Add the butter and the remaining 3/4 cup milk. Mix on low until all the ingredients are moistened. Then, mix on medium for a minute and a half to develop the batter's structure.

Gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition and scraping down the bowl.

Add the melted chocolate and beat to incorporate.

Divide the batter into your two pans and smooth the surface. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a cake tested inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool on racks in pans for 10 minutes before inverting cakes onto the racks to cool completely. If the tops are overly rounded, you might want to let them cool right side up so that the bottom isn't put under stress, which may cause splitting.

Frosting:

1 lb unsalted butter

Most of a small package of instant french vanilla pudding

1/2-1 cup chai latte mix (start with less and adjust along with the powdered sugar for taste and consistency)

2-4 cups powdered sugar

Cream the butter. Slowly add the pudding mix, then the chai and finally the powdered sugar. Adjust as your taste requires.

Next time, I think I will infuse the chai flavors into a plain white or vanilla cake by soaking tea bags in the milk, and then use white chocolate frosting. I think in general I prefer spicy cakes with light, creamy frostings playing a supporting role, rather than this cake, where the frosting took center stage.