Today, I made this chai pound cake recipe from the King Arthur flour baking site instead of the chai cupcake recipe I posted last night. I made the cake in a bundt pan and frosted it with honey-sweetened cream cheese frosting and added fresh strawberries as a decorative garnish. The cake received a big thumbs-up from my family, and daughter Liz said, “This may have just become my new favorite cake.

The primary difference in this recipe and the one from last night is that this one uses actual spices, such as cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice, and black pepper to create a chai spice mix instead of the distilled liquid from several chai teabags. I decided I liked the idea of using spices and also every recipe I’ve ever used from King Arthur Flour has been excellent. This one proved to be as well.

I can highly recommend trying this one!

Ingredients

• 16 tablespoons (227g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, at least 65°F (I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup coconut oil.)
• 1 cup (213g) light brown sugar, packed (I used maple sugar)
• 1/4 cup (85g) honey
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons (21g) King Arthur Chai Spice, or 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ginger, 2 teaspoons cardamom, 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cups (240g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 cup (227g) sour cream or yogurt, full-fat preferred, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons King Arthur Pure Vanilla Extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and honey until smooth and somewhat lightened in color; this will take about 2 minutes at medium speed of an electric hand or stand mixer.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute or two and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl between additions.
4. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chai spice blend (or spices).
5. Measure the flour by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Gently but thoroughly stir half the flour into the butter/egg mixture. Add the sour cream (or yogurt) and vanilla, stirring to combine. Finally, stir in the remaining flour. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat briefly, to incorporate any sticky residue.
6. Thoroughly grease a 9- or 10-cup Bundt pan. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a cake tester, bamboo skewer, or long toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Remove the cake from the oven, and cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning it out onto a rack to finish cooling.
8. Cool completely before slicing. Store any leftovers, tightly wrapped in plastic, at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.

Honey-Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting

1 block of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

Place all ingredients in a mixer, whip on high speed for about one minute or until creamy. It is then ready to frost the cake