Chai Glazed Banana Bread
A banana bread under a satin chai glaze, the chai infused into warm milk first for real flavour, not just colour. Sets soft, slices clean.
This is a banana bread finished with a chai glaze, where the chai flavour comes from steeping Pukka Organic Vanilla Chai bags in warm milk before the glaze is made. Infusing the milk first is what gives the glaze a real chai taste rather than just a tan colour, and the glaze sets to a soft satin that sits on the loaf without cracking when you slice it.
Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the Chai Glazed Banana Bread recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/Biscuits/chai glazed banana bread/
Warm the milk gently to about 60C, no hotter, so it does not scald and turn bitter, then infuse the bags off the heat for ten minutes. Whisk the strained milk into sifted icing sugar and a little softened butter, and pour it over a fully cooled loaf. A banana bread with a cinnamon echo is given below, but the glaze works on any plain loaf or bundt.
You'll need
- For the glaze:
- 2 Pukka Organic Vanilla Chai tea bags
- 60ml full fat dairy milk (the fat is essential to carry the chai oils; semi skimmed gives a thin glaze)
- 150g icing sugar, sifted (sifting matters; lumpy sugar gives lumpy glaze)
- 30g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (Madagascan; the chai bag also has vanilla, this doubles the note)
- 1 small pinch of fine sea salt
- For the suggested banana bread to glaze (optional, makes 1 small loaf):
- 3 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 300g flesh)
- 110g soft light brown sugar
- 90g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 200g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (a small chai echo through the cake itself)
Method
- Make the chai milk first. Warm 60ml of full fat milk in a small pan to about 60C, just hot to the touch with no bubbles, then take it off the heat. Drop in both Vanilla Chai bags, cover and infuse for ten minutes; the milk will turn tan and smell of cinnamon and vanilla.
- Lift out the bags, pressing them gently against the pan, and discard. You should have around 50ml; top up with a splash of milk if you have less. Set aside to cool.
- For the banana bread, heat the oven to 170C fan (190 conventional) and line a 900g loaf tin. Mash the bananas, then whisk in the brown sugar, melted butter, eggs and vanilla. Fold in the flour, bicarbonate, salt and cinnamon until just combined.
- Pour into the tin and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool ten minutes in the tin, then turn out and cool completely; glaze slides off a warm cake.
- For the glaze, beat the softened butter with the vanilla paste and a pinch of salt, then beat in the sifted icing sugar until sandy.
- Beat in the chai milk a tablespoon at a time until the glaze is smooth, glossy and ribbons slowly off a spoon. You may not need it all.
- Pour over the cooled loaf from a little height, working from the centre out, and let it run down the sides; do not spread it with a knife, which breaks the satin.
- Leave for twenty minutes to set to a soft satin. It keeps under a dome for a couple of days; do not refrigerate, which dulls the glaze.
Want the background, not just the brew?
Brewed with: Pukka Organic Vanilla Chai, 20 Tea Bags 40g
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