This recipe was inspired by Nigella Lawson’s Guinness Chocolate Cake, which is my all time favorite cake.

I think Nigella is the bee’s knees. The cat’s pajamas. The finch’s fedora…ok I just made that one up. I would love to share this cake with her one day and just express my gratitude for being a muse.

Chocolate Chai Cake

A Nigella Lawson inspired dream cake

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Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 1 20

Cooling Time: 2

Total Time: 3 35

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: English

Keyword: anoldiebutafoodie, basking ridge, bedminster, bernardsville, Chicago Metallic, far hills, Grand Marnier, mascarpone, morris county, morristown, new jersey, new recipe, Nigella Lawson, peapack-gladstone, somerset county, somerville

Servings: slices

Calories: 558kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

1 cup Tazo Tea decaf chai tea concentrate
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 pat unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 eggs large
2 1/2 tsp baking soda

Icing

1 cup mascarpone cheese softened
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 tsp Grand Marnier
2/3 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup confectioner sugar

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Cake

Preheat oven to 350°
Use pat of butter to grease the bottom and sides of an eight inch cake pan. Place parchment round on the bottom of pan and set aside until ready.
Melt stick of butter over medium heat. Add the chai concentrate. Once melted, add the brown sugar, caster sugar and cocoa powder. Remove from heat for a couple of minutes before the next step.
In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sour cream, vanilla and mascarpone cheese. Beat until smooth. Add the cocoa/chai mixture to the sour cream in a slow but steady stream, whisking constantly.
In another bowl, mix cake flour and baking soda. Add to the rest of the batter and whisk until lumps are gone and the batter is smooth.
Pour batter into pan and bake at 350 for 45 to 55 minutes or until pick comes out clean.
Cool completely before icing

Icing

Melt the bakers chocolate along with the Grand Marnier over low heat in a heavy bottomed pot, stirring occasionally. I found that slowly adding the 2 tablespoons of whipping cream helped with the melting. In a medium bowl, blend the mascarpone cheese and the vanilla with the confectioners sugar. Add the melted chocolate and whip at high speed, slowly adding the whipping cream until the frosting is thick and glossy.