Name: Chai Cake With Brown-Butter-Ghee Streusel
Yield: 10 - 12 Servings
Ingredients: 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter; ½ cup (63 g) all-purpose flour; 1 cup (packed; 200 g) dark brown sugar; ½ tsp. ground cardamom; ½ tsp. ground cinnamon; ½ tsp. ground ginger; ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg; ¼ tsp. ground cloves (optional); ¼ tsp. ground star anise (optional); ¼ tsp. kosher salt; 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour; ½ tsp. baking powder; ¼ tsp. baking soda; ½ tsp. kosher salt; 2 large eggs, room temperature; 1 large egg yolk, room temperature; ¾ cup plain yogurt, room temperature; ½ cup milk; ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar; 5 Tbsp. (packed; 63 g) dark brown sugar; 1 tsp. vanilla extract; 3 layers of cheesecloth

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Photograph by Laura Murray, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich

For Milk & Cardamom author Hetal Vasavada, discovering brown-butter ghee was a happy accident, the result of leaving butter on the stove to simmer for too long. Cooking the milk solids until they’re just this side of burnt yields a deep toasted flavor that stands up perfectly to the aromatic chai spices in this play on coffee cake. The streusel incorporates the caramelized milk solids left behind after you strain the brown-butter ghee, giving the cake an extra boost of flavor. Make sure your spices are fresh; you want the flavors in the streusel topping to really pop.

Recipe notes