Masala chai baked pudding

Now I made this recipe thinking I was going to end up with a moist, dense masala chai-infused cake, but I was deliciously wrong. I'm not really too sure what I made lol but I ended up with a dessert that's very similar to Goan bebinca, which is a traditional Indian-Portuguese dessert made from 7 layers of pudding, typically a Christmas dessert. For those of you who may know, it looks kinda like moon cake:) It still tasted great (low sugar, high flavour) and looked interesting, so I thought I'd share anyways!

Ingredients

Chai (did you know chai means tea? so to call it chai tea is like saying tea tea or chai chai:)

• 3 masala chai teabags (sorry I cheated!)

• 3 cardamom pods, opened and slightly crushed

• 2 whole cloves

• 1 tbsp thin sliced ginger

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 tbsp vanilla extract (yes, one WHOLE tablespoon, trust me!)

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1/3 cup water

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

"Cake"

• 1 3/4 cup AP flour

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 3 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 3/4 cup veg oil

• 4 medium eggs (or 3 large)

Directions

Chai

1. Add all chai ingredients except sugar into a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

2. Once boiling, reduce to lowest flame and add sugar. Let simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Take off heat and let steep for 2 hours.

"Cake"

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line the bottom of a 9x13x2.5 inch rectangle pan with parchment.

2. Mix "cake" ingredients except eggs.

3. Add cooled chai and mix well.

4. Add eggs and mix batter on high until all ingredients are well incorporated. If the top seems too oily, just keep mixing it. Batter will seem very liquidy, with lots of small bubbles at the surface.

5. Pour batter into pan. Place a towel on counter and slam the pan onto it to remove any lingering air bubbles from the batter. (ps this tip can be used for any cake you're baking!)

6. Bake for 20-25 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.