Carrot Cake. Yogurt. Chai. Pound Cake. Yes, that’s a mouthful. And yes, all of that belongs in one sentence. C’mon, admit it–you want all of those things, don’t you. And as such, your new wish is my command.
Now admittedly, if you want this exact recipe, you may have to have a connection here in San Antonio. See, the first part of that recipe title–Carrot Cake Yogurt–is a treat of monumental proportions, courtesy of an awesome local business called Mother Culture. They sell their locally-sourced and produced yogurt and other products at farmers markets around town. Each week when I wander my favorite farmer’s market (The Pearl Market), I have to stop and see what they have on the tasting table. So many flavors to choose from! It’s hard not to stand there and just eat my way through the samples. But that would be bad. At least for the line of people behind me.
A couple weeks ago I was fortunate to try a new flavor they had available–Carrot Cake. Um, seriously? Carrot cake in yogurt form? You mean I can get the luscious and rich flavors of this normally heavy dessert in a healthy format? Yes, please. I immediately knew I had to do something with it other than stand at my kitchen counter and eat it with a plastic spoon. Yes, that was my first inclination, but I restrained myself enough to find a way to share this new favorite flavor with others. I’m like that; I’m a giver.
So how could I possibly make this delectable and healthy treat even better? I’m glad you asked. Well, I’m glad you kept reading. I decided that the texture of this incredible, probiotic-filled yogurt would work well as a filling and frosting for something with a little more decadence. Pound cake! And yes, I cheated and used a boxed version. This one is particularly good, so why make my life harder, right?
But then because I cannot simply leave well enough alone, I decided to take the whole thing up yet another food-craze filled notch. I added Chai to the cake batter.
WHAT? Yes, you read right. Get ready for this, boys and girls. You will be adding this to every baked good that comes out of your kitchen for the foreseeable future.
I recently tried out a new service called Wildtree (more on this whole thing in coming posts), and one of the items I received was a jar of Chai Tea Mix. Now I have to admit right here that I am not a tea drinker, so I was pretty skeptical about this. I got over it, fast. The first thing I did was put a little of the mix in with my brewed coffee. Zing! And I was hooked. I knew that those rich flavors of cardamom, ginger, vanilla, cinnamon and other delicious ingredients were meant for so much more. And into the cake batter it went.
BAM. This was a revelation, folks. Putting the Chai Tea flavors with those in the Carrot Cake Yogurt was heaven. Don’t believe me? I took a sample to the lovely folks at Mother Culture to show off what I’d done. The one sales person stopped in her tracks. I think she needed to be alone for a moment. I left the rest of the sample with them and I got a message later giving it many thumbs up. Score!
Of course, if you aren’t lucky enough to be in the area to get some of this awesome yogurt, you can certainly use whatever flavors you want to produce an easy, pretty, and scrumptious treat. But I’d look into an overnight shipping options if I were you. You will be addicted!
In the meantime, enjoy the drool-worthy descriptions and photos of this Carrot Cake Yogurt-Topped Chai Pound Cake, and get thee to San Antonio for a taste of this stuff yourself.
* My Midlife Kitchen was not compensated for this post. I just really, really like this yogurt! *
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 8 servings | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 75 minutes | 30 minutes |
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When I first tasted this yogurt, I knew we were a match made in heaven. And the addition to a simple boxed pound cake elevated the whole thing in ways that cannot be described enough here. You really need to try this easy boxed-cake hack for yourself. You, and anyone you serve it to, will be in love!
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- 1 box pound cake mix
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup 2% milk
- 1 tbsp. Wildtree Chai Tea Mix
- 8 oz. Mother Culture Carrot Cake Yogurt
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and finely shredded
- Preheat oven to 325. Mix ingredients for pound cake as indicated in instructions, smoothly mixing together dry mix, eggs & milk. Add 1 tbsp. Chai Tea Mix. Mix to incorporate.
- Pour batter into cooking-spray coated loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until edges begin to brown and pull away from sides of baking pan (every oven will vary, so keep an eye on it at about the one hour mark). Allow to cool completely prior to turning cake out onto baking sheet.
- Slice cake down the middle, length-wise. Spread 6 oz. of the yogurt on the bottom portion of the cake.
- Place top of cake carefully on yogurt-coated layer. Spread remaining yogurt on top of the cake.
- Sprinkle shredded carrot on top of cake, and on sides of cake where yogurt is visible. Chill at least one hour, or overnight. Slice, serve, and enjoy!
While I am clearly in love with this particular flavor profile, there are so many other ways to dress up a basic cake mix like this one. Add berries to the batter and then layer/top with a mixed berry yogurt. Or amp up the vanilla in the batter and slather with a rich vanilla yogurt. Mix it up and add coffee to the batter and then use espresso to pour over the cake. Whoa! Now the ideas are really coming to me.
What flavor combination would you use with this basic cake mix?
Chai is my favorite flavor, you are a genius to mix it into a cake! This looks delicious!
I love using yogurt in desserts! It adds such a great savory flavor!
Holyyyy yum I love this combination! Chai and carrot sounds really good together.
It has been so long since I have made a carrot cake! This looks soooo good!
I totally believe you on the chai addition – sounds SO GOOD.