Mom's birthday cake!

I got this really cool cake book from the library the other day and have been dying to try to make one. Today is my mom's birthday and I knew that this would be the perfect chance. The recipe is a little fancier than what I normally make. This one called for cake flour, whereas I normally use just good old all purpose. I felt so sophisticated buying cake flour, that I think I will try some more of these cakes in the book. Yes I know it looks a little lopsided, and as I was typing up the recipe down below I realized that I think I used baking soda instead of baking powder! Oops!! I'll let you know how it tastes! So here it is...

Update: It was actually really tasty even though I made that little mistake. Everyone was oooohing and aaaaaahing over it, maybe they were just being nice.

Chai cake with honey-ginger cream


1 1/3 cups milk
6 chai tea bags
4 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 3/4 cup cake flour
2 cups sugar
4 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
honey-ginger cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Butter the bottoms and sides of 3 8" round cake pans. Line the bottoms with rounds of parchment or waxed paper.
2. In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a simmer over med.-low heat. Add the tea bags, being careful not to let the paper tags dip into the milk. Remove from heat and allow the tea bags to steep for about 5 min. Remove the tea bags, carefully squeezing the milk from them back into the pan. Let the chai milk cool completely.
3. In a med bowl, combine the whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and 1/3 cup chai milk. Whisk to blend.
4. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt in a large mixer. Beat on low speed for about 30 sec to blend the dry ingredients. Add the butter, and the remaining chai milk and with the mixer on med.-low, beat to blend well. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing only to incorporate after each addition. Divide the batter evenly amoung the 3 prepared pans.
5. Bake the cakes for 26-28 min. , or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool in the pan for 10 min., then turn out onto wire racks. Peel off the paper and let cool completely.
6. To assemble, place one layer, flat side up on a cake stand, or serving platter. Top with 2/3 cup of the honey-ginger cream. Spread to the edge. Repeat with the next layer. Finally top the third layer with the rest of the cream. Spread all the way to the edge and allow to drizzle down the sides.

Honey-ginger cream

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
6 ounces softened cream cheese
6 tbsp. unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup honey (liquid)
1/2 tsp. freshly grated ginger

Place all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse to incorporate, then scrape down the bowl and process until smooth and well blended.

Sky High: Irresistable triple-layer cakes
by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne