Coffee and Cardamom Pound Cake

When I first saw this recipe, I was curious about the combination of coffee and cardamom. I love both coffee and cardamom but have never tried them together in a bake before. I'm so glad I did. This cake is a winner!

I made half a recipe, using a half-bundt pan. I halved all of the ingredients, except for the sugar, which I've further reduced to 100gm. The cake smells amazing while baking. I skipped the icing as we are not fond of frosting, we prefer our cakes plain. I let the baked cake sit overnight and sliced it the next day.

It was moist with soft tender crumbs. A winner! I love the combination of coffee and cardamom, balances really well together. This is one cake that I would make again.

I made half of the recipe and baked in a half-size bundt pan (6-cup capacity). The recipe below is the full recipe to be baked in a 23cm bundt pan.

Coffee and Cardamom Pound Cake
(Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh)
90ml full-fat milk, at room temperature plus an extra 20ml for the coffee
6 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
200gm self-raising flour
100gm plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
300gm caster sugar
300gm unsalted butter, soft but not oily, diced, plus extra for greasing
1-1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom
1-1/2 tbsp instant coffee granules
2 tsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder

Icing :
1-1/2 tbsp instant coffee granules
45ml full-fat milk, warmed
240gm icing sugar, sifted
30gm unsalted butter, softened

1. Preheat the oven to 195C/175C Fan/Gas Mark 5. Grease and flour a 23-cm bundt tin and set aside.
2. For the cake : Place the milk, eggs and vanilla extract in a medium bowl and lightly whisk, just to combine.
3. Sift the flours and salt directly into the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment in place, then add the sugar and mix on a low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and half of the egg mixture and continue to mix until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. then gradually add the remaining egg mixture, in two batches, making sure the first batch is fully incorporated before adding the next. Don't worry if your batter looks slightly split ; it's due to the large proportion of eggs in the mix, but it won't affect the final result.
4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and divide the mixture between two bowls. Add the ground cardamom to one bowl and fold to combine. Warm the extra 20ml of milk in a small saucepan, then place in a small bowl with the coffee granules and cocoa powder. Stir until the coffee dissolves and the consistency is that of thick but pourable milk. Combine this with the cake mixture in the second bowl.
5. Spoon the two mixtures into the prepared tin in four alternate blocks, two of each colour, then use a skewer or small knife to make a zigzag-shaped swirl once through the mix, to create a marble effect. Do not be tempted to overdo the swirling as you will lose the effect of the marbling.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside for 10 minutes. The cake tends to dome in the oven, so if this happens and you want a perfectly flat base (the top will become the bottom once it's inverted), just slice off the top to flatten it out before turning the cake out on a wire rack to cool completely.
7. To make the icing : Combine the coffee and warm milk in a small mixing bowl. Add the icing sugar to the coffee mixture, together with the soft butter. Whisk until smooth and thick, then spoon over the cooled cake, so that it drips unevenly down the sides. Allow the icing to set slightly before serving.

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Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray