Cardamom cake
Makes 1 x large 22 cm cake or 2 x 18 cm cakes
Easy
15 minutes
35 minutes“Apparently, this is Alice Waters’ favourite cake. This great food legend knows about delicious things. What she says, we do! The rewards are everything you hope they will be. Plus, removing the cardamom seeds from their pods is the only schleppy thing you will need to do when making it. Bruise them on a board or in a mortar and remove the seeds, all the while considering the crispy almond topping that will follow. I find that this is the perfect gift cake, since it can be wrapped beautifully with baking paper and then wrapping paper. Edible gifts are always the best!” – Karen Dudley
Ingredients
Method
- 150 g butter, plus extra for greasing
- 264 g white sugar, plus 3 T for the tin
- 65 g flaked almonds
- 4 large free-range eggs
- 160 g cake flour
- 2 salt pinches
- 1 T cardamom seeds, bruised in a mortar
Method
Ingredients
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. I like to use a 22 cm cake tin with a removeable base for this cake, or 2 x 18 cm cake tins. (This way there’s one for you and one to give away!)
2. Line the tin(s) with a circle of baking paper. Butter the baking paper liberally and sprinkle 3 T sugar all over the base and sides, shaking the tin to make sure it’s well coated with the sugar. Do not be alarmed by the amount of sugar that might be left at the base – this will make for the crispy topping we want. Cover the base of the tin with the flaked almonds.
3. Using a stand mixer, cream the eggs and sugar for 4–5 minutes, until thick and pale, and tripled in volume.
4. Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
5. Using a rubber spatula, quickly fold the flour and salt into the creamed egg-and-sugar mixture, followed by the melted butter and cardamom seeds. Stir the batter thoroughly before tipping it into the prepared cake tin(s).
6. Bake the cake for 30–35 minutes if making one large cake, and for 22–25 minutes for two smaller cakes, until the top springs back when lightly pressed and a skewer inserted into
the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for about 5 minutes.
7. Run a knife around the sides of the tin before inverting the cake onto a wire rack to cool. Carefully remove the base of the pan and its baking paper while the cake is still very warm.
Extracted with permission from Upwards by Karen Dudley, published by Penguin Random House. Photographer: Claire Gunn
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