Pink Chai Cream Cake Recipe

There's something about Pink Chai that I can't get enough of-- it inspires a world of ideas within me and this is one of my latest addictions that I've whipped up as a result.

What is Pink Chai? Traditionally called Sheer Chai in Dari/Farsi, it's a particular tea leaf from the Himalayan mountain region surrounding Afghanistan. This green tea leaf oxidizes in the cooking process and slowly becomes a deepened pink color. Added to a piping hot cup of milk and some sugar and you have the traditional Afghan Sheer Chai, which I call Pink Chai for accessibility and ease of understanding in translation to English.

I personally have never been a coffee person, even though I come from a family of coffee addicts. Rather, tea is my all time weakness. I've stared longingly at tiramisu cakes wondering about the potentials of the taste, but my aversion to the taste of coffee has kept me far. I then discovered a phenomenon known as Nescafe cake, a tea biscuit based layered cake using Nescafe coffee. This inspired my experimentation in the kitchen and thus I came up with Pink Chai Cream Cake-- the chai iteration inspired by the above desserts. I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does!

As always, please share your photos of your recreations with me, and if you're not following along on instagram yet, check me out @imanistan for the step by step video process saved in my highlights.

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Pink Chai Cream Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

• 14 oz Sweetened Condensed milk

• 1 pint (2 cups) Heavy Whipping Cream

• 1/4 cup Pink Chai concentrate

• 3/4 cup Milk

• 2 packets tea biscuits

• 1/4 cup Pink Chai Concentrate

Instructions:

1. Place a metal bowl and the whisk of an electric whisk in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes

2. In a glass measuring cup, add your pink chai concentrate and milk. mix well, set aside

3. In a square or 9x13 serving dish, place a layer of tea biscuits covering the entire surface from end to end

4. Slowly pour your pink chai milk mixture over the tea biscuits, just enough so that they are covered in the liquid to soak it up

5. Remove your bowl and whisk from the refrigerator. Add your 1/4 cup pink chai concentrate, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy whipping cream into the bowl. Using an electric whisk, mix ingredients together until it has formed a thickened whip cream like more solid texture. This may take a few minutes

6. Using a flat spatula, place a thin layer of your whip cream mixture on top of the soaked tea biscuits, just enough to cover to not be able to see the biscuits, but not too thick as thinner cream layers will create a more balanced cake

7. Then start with another layer of tea biscuits on top of this whip cream, making sure to cover the entire surface. Pour your milk chai until it soaks the biscuits, then another layer of whip cream on top as done before. Repeat the steps of a layer of tea biscuits and a layer of whip cream until you've utilized all of your whip cream. You will likely have 4 layers of tea biscuits.

8. Optional: Garnish with crushed pistachios, shredded white chocolate chunks, and edible rose petals.

9. Once completed, cover the dish and refrigerate it for 4 hours minimum, or best done overnight. Serve by cutting into squares.