Thai iced tea cupcakes with condensed milk buttercream
These cupcakes easy to make, and a little confusing to eat. (In a very, very, very good way.)
See, they taste exactly like Thai iced tea – you know, the delicious kind you order at Thai restaurants to calm down fiery curries and noodles packed with chili. (The one you inevitably end up drinking most of before your food even arrives …) You’d swear you were drinking a big glass of creamy, sweet, orange-colored Thai iced tea – but it’s a cupcake.
I co-hosted a bridal shower for one of my best friends this weekend, and developed a Thai iced tea cupcake to go along with a fresh, flavorful Thai barbeque-type menu (think: satays, spring rolls, larb lettuce wraps, Thai-inspired cole slaw). This is another in a line of recipes I’ve developed as I’ve been playing with basic recipes and adding new flavors and interesting combinations of things. I’ve been experimenting in particular with steeping flavoring elements in the milk that goes into a basic yellow cake, and have been very pleased with the tasty items that follow. I steeped saffron in buttermilk to make this Persian birthday cake, and this time I steeped Thai tea in a mixture of milk and sweet condensed milk to make a cupcake that tastes shockingly like its inspiration.
A tasty, easy condensed milk buttercream pulls together the flavor ruse even further and helps to mimic that layer of milk that often comes on top of the tea.
One of my favorite parts about making these cupcakes is handing one to someone without telling them what the flavor is and seeing their excitement as they recognize the flavor.
Any suggestions for my next cake experiment?
Thai iced tea cake with condensed milk buttercream
Makes 24 cupcakes, two 8- or 9-inch round cakes, or one 9×13-inch sheet cake
Cupcakes:
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/4 cup condensed milk
- 3/4 cup Thai iced tea mix (see note, below)
- 2 3/4 cups cake flour (unsifted)
- 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 16 Tbsp. (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla
- One batch condensed milk buttercream, recipe below
Note: I purchased this Thai iced tea mix from a Thai grocery store in Los Angeles. This recipe will work with any dry Thai iced tea mix that instructs you to steep in hot water and then drain (i.e. not an instant tea powder), whether you purchase it or make it from dry ingredients. Most mixes I’ve seen seem to contain food coloring, which I like to avoid – but I haven’t yet tried making my own mix at home. These two sites (here and here) seem to have good information about making Thai iced tea from scratch.
Another note: The tea flavor develops as the cupcakes sit, so they’re best if you make them 24 hours or so before eating. Finished and frosted cupcakes can be refrigerated for 48 hours before eating (bring to room temperature before serving), and unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen for up to three months (you can even frost them without thawing, if you want).
– Preheat oven to 350F. For cupcakes, grease and flour or line with paper liners 24 cups in muffin pans. For cakes, grease and flour two 8- or 9-inch round pans or one 9×13-inch rectangular pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
– Whisk together the milk and 1/4 cup condensed milk in a medium pot. Heat over medium or medium-high heat until scalded – steaming with bubbles forming around the edge – stirring occasionally. Add the tea mix, remove from heat, cover, and let sit 10 minutes. Pour through a sieve, coffee filter, or tea screen to strain out the tea. Let the mixture cool to somewhere between room temperature (a bit warmer is okay, too), using the refrigerator or freezer to cool down quickly if necessary. You can work on the next few steps while you’re waiting for the milk mixture to cool down.
– Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
– Using an electric mixer (stand or handheld) on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (4-6 minutes). Beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla. Scrape down the beaters and the sides of the bowl as needed.
– Reduce speed to low and beat in one-third of the flour mixture. As soon as the flour is almost incorporated, add half the milk mixture. Repeat with a second third of the flour mixture, the rest of the milk, then the rest of the flour, making sure not to overmix after each addition.
– Use a rubber spatula to give the batter a final stir, scraping along the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure all lumps are incorporated and that there are no pockets of dry ingredients hiding in the batter.
– Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s), filling cupcake cups about 3/4 full. Bake 20-30 minutes (shorter end for cupcakes and rounds, longer end for sheet cake), rotating pans halfway through baking. When done, the middle of the cake will spring back when lightly pressed with a fingertip and a toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake should come back with a few crumbs attached.
– Let the cakes cool in the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. For cupcakes, remove each one and let cool on wire racks until completely cool. For cakes, run a small, sharp knife around the edge to loosen the cake from the pan, then flip onto wire racks. Remove the parchment paper and flip upright. Let cool on wire racks until completely cool. Frost!
Condensed milk buttercream
- 2 cups (4 sticks) butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups condensed milk
- 1 2/3 cups powdered sugar, sifted or whisked to remove lumps
- 2 tsp. vanilla
– Beat butter with an electric mixer until completely smooth, about 1-2 minutes. With the mixer on low, pour in the condensed milk. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar in a few batches. Add vanilla. Beat until completely incorporated.
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This is truly AMAZING, Bowen! Commence rampant sharing now!
I saw your post on Honest Cooking. I’m completely intrigued by these cupcakes – what a great idea!
These were SO CRAZY GOOD. I’m not even a buttercream girl, but this one with condensed milk? To die for.
Wow.. sounds so good! thanks for sharing your custom recipes.
My son asked for Thai Iced Tea cupcakes for his birthday. I came upon your recipe while researching ideas and wanted to say Thank You for sharing your recipe! They taste just like the wonderful Thai ice tea I used to get off the cart during my high school days in Bangkok. Delicious!
Hi Dawn – So glad you liked them!
hi bowen,i absolutely love your butter cream recipe. i would like to know how long it would last on a cake b4 it goes sour?
Hi Gloria! I would confidently keep the frosting at room temperature (as long as it’s not too warm in the room) for up to two days, in the fridge for five or so. I don’t know that it would go bad after that, but that’s when I find it starts to taste a bit stale or pick up other flavors from the fridge (if you have potent stuff in your fridge, it might pick up flavors after a couple of days). I like it best at room temp (leaving it out for about 30 minutes after removing from the fridge), but it’s lovely when cold, too!
Any ideas about bagged Thai Iced Tea? I have some and would like to use it, but 3/4c is a lot of bags.
Hi Charmaine – If the tea is bagged, you wouldn’t need to deal with straining it at the end, which is great. I’d say steep 3 or 4 bags in the milk mixture. If the flavor isn’t strong enough, next time you could use more bags or steep for longer (maybe 15 minutes instead of 10). Let me know how it turns out!
Oh wow amazing! I can’t wait to try this! Thank you so much for sharing!
Hello,
i would like to know how much liquid will be the tea in that case about 2 cups? thanks for sharing
Hi there – It’s just about 2 cups, maybe a little under. You start with 2 cups of milk and 1/4 cup condensed milk, but it’s hard to get it all back after straining. Hope that helps!
Thanks for your reply will try it out tomorrow
Sorry to burst your bubble, this cake originated in Thailand. We’ve been eating it for decades!
Hi, I was wondering if I would like to substitute Thai Tea Mix with Thai Tea Leaves, how much should I use? Thank you! 🙂
Hi Joanne, Unfortunately I’m not familiar with Thai tea leaves and if they have the same flavoring. But the basic idea is to infuse the milk with the tea, so you may need to experiment with how much to use to make the milk really taste like the tea. You can always infuse more than once if the first go-around isn’t flavorful enough. Good luck!
Hi Bowen, I’m super excited to make this. After I strain the tea how much liquid should be left?
Hi NaTasha – Great question! Should be just about 2 cups, maybe a little under. It’s hard to get back all of the liquid when you strain the tea. – Bowen
Ok great thank you. I made them and they came out great 🙂
I am going to definitely make this. I have the tea! My favorite Thai restaurant has a Thai tea cake with a yummy butter cream frosting then topped with coconut. I have been wanting to try to recreate the cake. It is my favorite cake. Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Hi Bowen,
I would just like to thank you for this awesome recipe. I tried this with Thai Green milk tea instead (which is the current craze in this region now) and they tasted exactly like the actual tea in a form of a cupcake! Thank you so much!
Great flavor! Loved it. I’ll be baking this every time I miss cha yen! The buttercream is too sweet even though I’ve reduced the sugar. Will be looking for another recipe 🙂
Hi, did you use sweetened condensed milk or is there an unsweetened version?
“Condensed milk” is actually always sweetened – “evaporated milk” is the unsweetened version.
How much liquid should you have after the milk the tea has been strained?
Hi Allison – should be just under 2 cups; a little stays back with the tea but you should get most of what you put in after straining.