This isn’t a receipe I initially planned to post in the summer.

Chai spices with the warming cinnamon and ginger are usually my go to comforter in colder months – but we’ve had some really rainy and grey days and a chai spice mix that my friend Anne gave me recently was waiting to be used, so here we go.

The spice mix she gave me was from The Spice Shop in London’s Notting Hill.
If you can’t get a good quality ready mixed chai spice near you, you can make your own by combining the following:
1 tbsp ground cinnamon, 
2 tsp of ginger and also of cardamon, 
3/4 tsp nutmeg as well as of clove and
1/4 tsp coriander.

The receipe here is based on an American pound cake and therefore has a rather huge amount of sugar in it, I’m afraid. It does give you super tasty and crispy crust though – enjoy!

For a 25cm ring or bundt cake tin you will need:

• 230g butter
• 650g caster sugar (I know!)
• 5 eggs
• 240ml milk
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp lemon extract 
• 1 1/2 tsp of chai spice
• 400g plain flour (plus a little extra for the cake tin)
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp of salt 

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius/ gas mark 3 and prepare the ring mood by greasing it really well, into all the creases – I use a brush for this – and dusting the greased cake tin with flour. 

Whisk the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. 

Add one egg at a time, whisking it in with the other ingredients after each addition, again with your electric whisk.

In a separate bowl combine the spices, flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt then add to the butter mixture. Add the vanilla and lemon extract and beat everything together until well combined.

Pour the mixture into the prepared ring mould and smooth over with a palette knife. 

Bake for around 60 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Now, comes the most difficult part of the whole process if you ask me – getting it out of the tin! 

Providing you greased and floured it may come out just fine but I have had a few sticky situations so now use the following method: As soon as the cake is ready, pour some hot water over a tea towel in your kitchen sink. The tea towel should be soaked but not dripping. Let the cake tin sit on this towel for 10 minutes before turning it out on a wire rack, hopefully all being well, in one piece.