Cardamom Coffee Cake
This aromatic light, fat free cake is delightful with coffee or as an afternoon delight when accompanied by a fresh pot of tea. Also delicious enough to share with friends as a sweet dinner treat.
Ingredients
-
Cake
-
100g caster sugar
-
12 cardamon pods
-
100g plain flour
-
½ tsp baking powder
-
4 large eggs- separated
-
Coffee soak
-
150ml strong black coffee- sweetened to taste with honey
-
Decoration
-
75g flaked almonds- oven toasted
-
75g yoghurt chocolate coated raisins
-
Honey cream
-
600mls whipping cream
-
1 tsp honey or date syrup- runny
Instructions
-
Prepare cake tin:
-
01 Brush generously with oil the inside of a 1.75 litres capacity kugelhopf cake tin or 24cm ring mould cake tin. Dust with flour, invert it and tap to release excess flour.
-
Make cake:
-
02 Split the cardamom pods, extract the seeds and whiz them in a coffee grinder or spice mill with 1 dessert spoon of the sugar.
-
03 Tip the aromatic sweetener into a large mixing bowl; add the remaining sugar and the egg yolks. Beat with an electric whisk for a full 5 minutes until increased in volume and light and pale in texture.
-
04 In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until firm. Sift the flour and baking powder.
-
05 Alternatively spoon egg whites and flour into egg yolk mixture – folding gently, remembering to start and finish with egg whites.
-
Bake:
-
06 Spoon or pour the mixture gently into the prepared tin and bake at 180º C for 20 minutes. Afterwards reduce oven to 150º C and bake for a further 15-20 minutes. The cake will be ready when it is firm and springy to the touch and beginning to shrink away from the sides of the tin.
-
07 Cool for 5 minutes, and then gently pull the sides of the cake away from the edges of the tin with your finger tips. If cake sticks leave until cool. Invert onto a cake stand or serving plate.
-
08 Spoon the sweetened coffee slowly all over the cake. Once cold cover the cake with cling film to prevent drying out. Leave garnishing until the last minute.
-
Serve:
-
09 Just before serving fill the centre of the cake with whipped cream sweetened with honey or date syrup. To decorate scatter liberally all over a mixture of toasted flaked almonds and the yoghurt chocolate raisins.
Notes
As this is a fat-less cake it will tend to stale quickly – so consume within 24 hours of making. The plain cake can be frozen after baking but it is best if eaten the day it is made. If you do freeze, freeze plain, defrost and then pour over warm coffee syrup. Important - prepare the baking tin well prior to cooking. This cake is very delicate and can be tricky to remove. I find it helps to use the finger tips to gently pull the top of the cake away from the sides of the tin when the cake is warm, and to push a blunt plastic knife down the sides when it is cool. It can be a difficult task, especially if baking in a kuglehopf tin but the end result will definitely be worth all the effort – your guests will certainly be impressed.
