Chai Cupcakes with a Nutella Buttercream

I don't usually make cupcakes (I leave that to Steph) but these Chai cupcakes are good enough to make me put in the effort! The original recipe is actually vegan, so they are nice and dense. 

Chai Cupcake

1 cup milk

4 black teabags or 2 tablespoons loose black tea

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup plain yogurt (I actually used apple sauce instead and it turned out great!)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

pinch of ground white or black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line tin with cupcake liners. In a small saucepan heat milk till almost boiling, add tea bags, cover and remove from heat. Let sit for 10 minutes. When ready to use stir teabags and thoroughly squeeze to insure as much tea is dissolved in milk as possible.

In a large bowl whisk together oil, yogurt, sugar, vanilla and tea mixture until all yogurt lumps disappear. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, and pepper into wet ingredients. Mix until large lumps disappear; some small lumps are okay. Fill tins full and bake about 20 to 22 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

I topped these little cakes with a fluffy Nutella Buttercream. This recipe will probably top 2 recipes of the chai cupcakes unless you love a lot of icing.

Nutella Buttercream

3/4 cup unsalted butter (room temp)

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup very soft nutella

Mix ingredients in a mixer. Top cupcakes!