Fluffy and light vegan chai cake that's packed with vanilla flavor and warming chai spices. Best served with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting. This cake makes the perfect snack for a cosy fall afternoon tea!
Line an 8x8" square pan with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F).
Add the loose chai to a saucepan with the oat milk and water. If using teabags, cut them open and empty the contents into the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer on medium heat and continue to heat for 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the hob and allow it to steep for another 5 minutes before passing through a sieve to remove the loose tea.
Add the chai mixture to a large bowl along with the cashew butter, maple syrup, apple sauce, and vanilla extract. Whisk until evenly mixed.
Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and gently fold them in using a spatula. Be careful not to over-mix, a few pockets of flour visible in the batter is ok.
Add the cake batter to the prepared loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes. Check the cake is ready by inserting a knife or toothpick into it, which should come out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 20 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack.
Meanwhile, make the vegan cream cheese frosting if you're using it. Once the cake has cooled, frost as desired.
Storage
This cake will store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. If refrigerated, allow it to come back to room temperature before serving to allow the frosting to soften.
Notes
Nutrition calculation is based on one serving without cream cheese frosting.
If you want to take it to the next level, I highly recommend whipping up some vanilla cream cheese frosting to smother on top of it.
All-purpose flour: You can use almond flour, however it significantly changes the consistency of this cake. The cake turns out more fudge-y, more so like vanilla chai blondies than a fluffy sheet cake.
Cashew butter: Feel free to swap this out with almond butter or tahini.
Apple sauce: Make this a chai pumpkin spice cake by swapping out the apple sauce for pumpkin puree.