Chai-Apple Coffee Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 7 to 9-inch baking dish, 7 to 9-inch cake pan or a small bundt pan. I used a 9-inch round pan but I think a smaller one would work better. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add slightly melted butter and mix until crumbly, with your fingers or a pastry blender. In another bowl, mix chai concentrate, egg and vanilla. Blend into flour mixture, spoon the mixture into the pan, and spread it. Again, I recommend doubling the batter ingredients for a thicker bottom.

For the streusel, place 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 3 tablespoons butter in a small bowl. Pinch together with your fingers until crumbly. Place over the batter.

For the apple topping, sauté apples in 2 tablespoons butter for a few minutes in a small saucepan. Add chai concentrate, cover and continue to cook for 2 more minutes to thicken sauce. Spoon apples over the streusel (my sauce wasn’t very thick so I only used the apples over the top but if you doubled the batter, I would add some or all of the sauce), and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Bake for 50 minutes to an hour or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. I had to cover the cake with foil because the sides were cooking much faster after about 30 minutes so keep an eye on that. Cool cake a little, I think it’s better slightly warm. A cinnamon whipped cream would be nice to top it off.