Chai Spiced Coffee Cake
This Chai-Spiced Coffee Cake tastes like your favorite morning latte turned into dessert. A buttery, tender crumb is laced with warm cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger, layered with a crunchy streusel that melts into golden pockets of spice. It’s the kind of bake that fills your kitchen with the scent of a chai café — perfect alongside your first cup (or your third).
Whether you’re hosting brunch or just need something special with your morning coffee, this recipe nails that sweet-spice balance — not too sugary, not too heavy. It’s inspired by the classic sour-cream coffee cakes we grew up on, but with PantryJoy’s signature chai twist. Once you taste it, you’ll wonder why coffee cake wasn’t always made this way.
Chai-Spiced Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground allspice (optional)
- ⅛ tsp finely ground black pepper (optional)
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp strong brewed chai or milk (to loosen batter if needed)
Streusel Topping
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 3 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cubed
Optional Vanilla Glaze
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1–2 tbsp milk
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prep: Heat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and line an 8×8 or 9×9-inch pan with parchment.
- Streusel: Combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Cut in butter until sandy clumps form; chill.
- Dry mix: Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chai spices (cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, allspice, pepper).
- Cream: Beat butter with sugars until fluffy, 2–3 min. Beat in eggs one at a time, then vanilla.
- Combine: Mix in half the dry mix, then sour cream, then remaining dry mix. If thick, stir in 1–2 tbsp brewed chai or milk to a thick, spreadable batter.
- Assemble: Spread batter in pan; sprinkle streusel evenly.
- Bake: 45–50 min until a toothpick in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool 20 min.
- Glaze (optional): Whisk powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla; drizzle over cooled cake.
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Perfect Drink Pairing
Serve a warm mug of our Bourbon Apple Cider alongside your slice of Chai Coffee Cake for a spiced-apple kick that perfectly complements the chai.