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Chocolate Bourbon Chai Latte Cupcakes with Butter Pecan Frosting. Extra chocolatey cupcakes made with bourbon, chai spice, and rich chocolate pieces. Each cupcake is frosted with the most delicious creamy butter pecan frosting and finished with a sprinkling of toasted brown sugar pecans. Soo much here to love! You can’t beat these cute little bite-size pecan pie cupcakes. They’ll be the hit of your Thanksgiving dessert table!
Yes, you can make a pecan pie this Thanksgiving – OR, you can step outside of the norm with these fun chocolate pecan pie cupcakes. Both are good, but cute cupcakes are so much more fun.
Plus, I personally think these are actually better than pie. These have a lot of yummy elements that all work so well together – they’re delicious!
When it comes to the Thanksgiving dessert table, I like to have classic dessert flavors, but something besides just pies. I have fun every year coming up with new desserts. Desserts with similar-ish flavors to the classics, but with different twists, or in different forms.
It’s fun! Years ago I made pecan pie cupcakes that to this day are one of my favorite desserts on the site. But they’re involved. So this year I wanted to try a fresh idea, but still with pecan pie as the inspiration.
And then I came up with these. They’re kind of like chai cupcake meets yummy chocolate pecan pie. And the frosting just makes them even better.
The details
You need vanilla, chai, and a good amount of warming autumn spices, plus butter and chocolate. And then, of course, the pecans and bourbon too!
For the cupcakes, I knew I really wanted the chai flavor to shine. To achieve this, I used a mix of steeped chai milk and my homemade chai spice. The chai spice mix is key, it really brings the aromas of fall into the kitchen and into each cupcake.
Before you start the cupcake batter, make the chai spice mix. It’s a blend of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, all-spice, cloves, and the tiniest bit of black pepper. You’ll be using half of the spice mix in the cupcake batter, and the remainder to decorate.
Next, make the batter. Bring some milk to a gentle boil, then add a few chai tea bags and allow the tea to steep in the warm milk.
While the tea cools, mix up the batter using an electric mixer, then stream the chai milk into the cupcake batter until just combined. Divide the batter up between the cupcake molds and bake.
The smells coming from the oven will have you so excited. It’s like fall in the air, with cozy scents of chai mixed with hints of bourbon, sweet chocolate, and brown sugar – all wafting throughout your kitchen.
Now the frosting
It’s my go-to brown sugar frosting with bourbon-toasted pecans.
First, melt the brown sugar together with butter and cream, then mix with powdered sugar and vanilla. Next, toast the pecans with brown sugar, bourbon, and salt, chop, and sprinkle over each cupcake.
You can also stir the pecans into the frosting.
The frosting makes it hard to say no to a second cupcake. Each bite is filled with sweet chocolate bourbon chai-spiced cupcake and light, fluffy frosting with a crunch from the pecans on top.
Oh my gooosssh, SO amazing.
These are the perfect Thanksgiving cupcakes! My best advice is to bake these up this weekend. Because, of course, you’ll need to test out the recipe before Thanksgiving Day. Take any extras to neighbors to share and then make these again for Thanksgiving. This weekend can be a little pre-taste test party!
Looking for other Thanksgiving desserts?? Here are my favorites:
Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
Lastly, if you make these Chocolate Bourbon Chai Latte Cupcakes with Butter Pecan Frosting, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Chocolate Bourbon Chai Latte Cupcakes with Butter Pecan Frosting
Servings: 15 cupcakes
Calories Per Serving: 380 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Chai Spice
- 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon all-spice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
Cupcakes
- 1 cup milk
- 2 bags chai tea
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons bourbon
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup raw pecans
Butter Pecan Frosting
- 2 sticks salted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- 1. To make the chai spice. In a shallow bowl, combine the cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, all-spice, cloves, and pepper. Reserve the chai spice blend for the cupcake batter. 2. To make the cupcakes. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line 15 cupcake molds with paper liners. Bring the milk to a gentle boil in a small pot. Remove from the heat and add the tea bags, cover, and steep 10 minutes.3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the coconut oil, brown sugar, vanilla, bourbon, and eggs until combined. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 3 teaspoons of the chai spice mix (or more to your taste). Stream in the chai milk, beating until just combined.4. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pan. Transfer to the oven and bake 22-25 minutes, until the tops are just set, and no longer wiggly in the center. Remove and let cool.5. During the same time, line a baking sheet with parchment. Toss the pecans with 1 tablespoon bourbon, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 -2 teaspoons chai spice, and a pinch of salt. Bake 8-10 minutes, until toasted. Once cool, chop. 6. To make the frosting. Melt together 1 stick butter, brown sugar, and cream in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved. Add a pinch of salt. Remove from the heat and add to the bowl of a stand mixer. Place the bowl in the freezer (or fridge for longer) for 15 minutes or until cool to touch.7. Grab the cooled butter mixture from the freezer and add the remaining 1 stick butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar to the bowl. Beat together until well combined, adding more sugar as needed.9. Frost each cupcake and sprinkle with pecans.
Hello. My daughter and I made these tonight and we also had the same dry, dense issue as the other commenters. We noticed the batter was thick like a brownie batter so we added more milk and baked for 15 mins. The flavors were totally on point, especially the frosting—YUM! 😋 We absolutely love your recipes, but something was just a little off with this one. Still a wonderful dessert. Thank you ❤️
Hi Tanya,
Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for making this recipe and your comment, so glad to hear it was a hit! Sorry to hear it was dense, I’m not sure why that is happening for some people! xx
Hello. Are these for mini bite sized cupcakes or full sized? I have pans for both but not sure which to use. It says the recipe is for 15 cupcakes, but then says they are bite sized and my mini cupcake pan holds 24….. I just want to make sure to get these right. thank you!!!
Hi Shannon,
These are full sized cupcakes. Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love this recipe! xT
Made these yesterday & as always with Tieghan- the flavors are BOMB! But, like the rest of the commenters, I felt the cake was dry or perhaps just not the light and airy cupcake I wanted. After reading comments, I set a timer for 10 minutes at first, but when tested they were quite gooey. Set it for 5 more minutes and they were done (15 min total- I live in Missouri). Next time I might even test again after 3 minutes. I brought them to my small group and they were well received!
The more I think about it, it more I wonder if perhaps the texture difference comes from the use of coconut oil over vegetable oil. Or an argument could be made for whipping the butter and sugar for more light and fluffy? I honestly don’t make cupcakes often enough, but just blindly trust recipes. haha
Overall, I would make them again (unlikely, since I love making all the different ones on this website), but I might experiment with different fat source and possibly even the sugar/cocoa ratio.
Hey Jamie,
Happy Monday!! Love to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks for trying and your feedback! Thanks for all of your handy notes! xT
Hello! Made these today and flavor is bomb! But, I may have overlooked the cupcakes. They came out dry, would that be the case? I cooked them for 21 minutes, but what’s the best way to see they are done? My oven maybe hotter- who knows.
The chai and the icing – such an unexpected great combo!
Hey Melissa,
Happy Monday!!⛅️ Thanks a bunch for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it turned out well for you:) So sorry to hear they were dry, I would reduce the bake time next time, all ovens can cook a little differently! xx
So I had the same experience as Kayla. The icing is on point! So good! Usually any recipe I make of yours Tieghan are amazing. But these cupcakes were super dry. I cooked them for 22 mins and they were over cooked already. Which is weird cause my oven usually runs cold so things take longer to bake in my oven. I brushed a little bit of milk over these to moisten them and it helped some but you can still tell they were over baked. 😢 your flavors combo sounded so amazing I really wanted it to work
Hey Hannah,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback! So sorry to hear the cupcakes came out dry! I really don’t know why this is happening! xx
I tried baking these cupcakes twice and they did not turn out for me. The frosting was amazing, but the texture was dry and crumbly both times. I made sure the second time that I did not overbake it or overmix it, and it still came out dry and crumbly.
Hi Kayla,
So sorry to hear the cupcake did not turn out for you! Please let me know if there is anything that I can help with! I appreciate you making this! xx
Icing is perfect but same as others the cupcakes were dry. They taste really good but too dry. Not sure why.
Hey Danielle,
So sorry about this!! I would try reducing the bake time next time around and see if that helps! xx