Coconut Chai Cupcakes

My life has changed a lot since I last posted in August.  Most notably, I moved to Greenpoint, Brooklyn! Anyone who's ever moved knows that the process will likely take over your life for at least a month.  First it was apartment hunting and viewing, then packing and driving and moving and sweating.  Now it's furniture shopping and cleaning and organizing. 

chai infused coconut milk. mm mmm

I've only been in my apartment for about two weeks and things are slowly coming together.  My walls are freshly painted, my clothes are hung in the closet, I have a bed, a dresser, and an organized shoe collection (!).  I've been cooking a lot (of course), but my meals have been much simpler and much less photogenic.  If you can believe it, I haven't baked a thing yet! I just haven't had the time or energy, but I'm hoping to change that very soon.

For now, I'll leave you with the last thing I baked before I moved out: Coconut Chai Cupcakes for my friend Ashley's birthday.  I used the Chai Cake recipe from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes, but modified it by using light coconut milk instead of whole milk, Celestial Seasonings' Sweet Coconut Thai tea for steeping, and changing the spice mixture up a bit.

The cupcakes came out beautifully.  They tasted like fall and had a tender crumb, a light sweetness, and a pleasant spice.  I made my own frosting using coconut oil, coconut flour, a bit of light coconut milk, agave nectar and powdered sugar.  It came out pretty well (and was my first time using coconut oil and flour for frosting), but was nothing to write home about.  The cake is definitely worth it though and just right for this time of year.

I'll leave you with a link to the recipe in case you don't have a copy of Sky High: http://tendercrumb.blogspot.com/2009/04/chai-cake-w-honey-ginger-cream-tcs.html