We decided to surprise Shiv and Simon with a special cupcake treat in honor of both of their graduations (medical school and grad school) this weekend. When we first discussed it we had lofty ambitions of making two different kinds of cupcakes. However, we realized that would take far too long if we were to make them both entirely from scratch. Dahlia found a recipe for chocolate chai cupcakes with a chai spice buttercream frosting. We wanted a less sweet frosting so we used a base of chocolate ganache with the buttercream for decoration.
There were some hilarious mishaps in the cupcake process beginning with the chai spice mix. We didn't have ground cardamom so Dahlia peeled and crushed whole pods before adding them to the other spices and grinding them in a coffee grinder. The double boiler also proved a bit tricky. I used far too much water and bowl that was much too small, this combination resulted in a near ship wreck spilling precious chocolate and butter cargo.
Despite our multiple near defeats in the kitchen, the results were fantastic. The cupcakes were light and not overwhelmingly spiced; the ganache was a perfect compliment. Five hours and 32 cupcakes later, Shiv and Simon joined the party and we toasted cupcakes to the end of student life.
recipe for Chocolate Chai Cupcakes
