Chai Spiced Tres Leches Cupcakes with Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting

Chai Spiced Tres Leches Cupcakes with Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting
A delightful dessert of Indian/Mexican fusion

After making these again this past weekend, I've decided that they deserve their own blog post. They're that good. 

To make a Chai spice mix, combine 2 Tbsp each of ginger, cloves, cinnamon and fennel and 1 Tbsp of cardamom in a small food processor or clean coffee grinder and pulverize the hell out of it. Grind until smooth and store in an airtight container at room temp. I suggest you make a decent sized batch of this, as it is highly addictive. Use it in pancakes, lattes, hot chocolate, oatmeal, pumpkin pie (or bread, muffins, anything pumpkin), or oatmeal cookies. 

Ingredients:





Cake: (lazy girl substitute - white cake mix with a little extra vanilla and Chai spice added)

1/2 cup unsalted butter (at room temp)
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 1/2 cup sugar

4 eggs (at room temp)

1 Tbsp vanilla extract 

3 cups all purpose flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp Chai spice

1 1/4 c buttermilk (I use buttermilk powder mix since I never have buttermilk in my house. You add water to it and viola! Buttermilk for baking) 

To pour into the cupcakes:

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup whipping cream

Frosting:

8 oz mascarpone cheese
2 1/2 cups of heavy cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Fresh mango for garnish

Preparation: 
Cake:

Cream oil, butter and sugar with a mixer until very creamy and then add the eggs one at a time, mixing between each addition. Add vanilla. 

In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add Chai spice. Alternate adding buttermilk and flour mixture to your original mixture as you continue to mix. Don't overmix, but make sure the ingredients are well combined and smooth. 

Pour into cupcake liners in a cupcake pan and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, until done. Let the cupcakes cool completely. 

Whisk together 1 cup each of whipping cream, evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. At this point, you will probably need to either A) remove the cupcake liner and place the cupcake into a small ramekin or cup, or B) leave it in it's liner, but add a second liner, preferably a silver or gold foil one to hold up to the moisture. Poke about 12-15 holes in each cupcake with a wooden skewer. Be careful not to poke all the way through to the bottom of the cupcake and vary the depth of your pokes or all of the milky goodness with sink directly to the bottom of the cupcake. 

Pour the milk mixture into a plastic squeeze bottle (usually you can find these at your local supermarket for a couple of bucks) and squirt a bit of the milk mixture down into the holes that you have just poked in the cakes. Yes, this is tedious, but well worth it. Your goal is to infuse 1 - 2 tablespoons into each cake. Refrigerate the cupcakes in an airtight container for at least 4 hours, but overnight if possible prior to frosting and eating.

Frosting:
Whip the cream with vanilla and sugar until stiff peaks form. Add mascarpone cheese and blend in until smooth. Chill prior to frosting.  Garnish with a bit of mango and a sprinkle of toasted chai spice (optional).  Refrigerate any that aren't eaten immediately.

Searching for more wonderful Mexican recipes? Check out my cookbook! 
Ixchel's Kitchen Cookbook