Cardamom Tea Loaf

Rita~'s Note:

This scented Finnish recipe is spiced with cardamom and cinnamon. Made rich from the eggs, butter and sour cream. This is more a bread then a sweet cake. Enjoy it for breakfast or dessert with a nice cup of coffee or tea.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 10

• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 2 teaspoons cardamom , freshly ground
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 10 tablespoons butter , melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease and flour a loaf pan.
3. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
4. Beat eggs and sugar together until creamy. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Mix in sour cream and melted butter.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan, baking until done, about an hour.
6. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto rack and finish cooling.
7. Dust with powdered sugar.

Reviews

[FloridaNative]

This is a wonderful tea bread. We had some right out to the oven with a bit of butter ~ YUM! Easy to make and came out moist on the inside with a nice outer crust. I made this gluten-free, using Pamela's baking mix. I might add some nuts next time I make it - only because I love nuts. Thanks for posting ~Rita~ Made for ZWT6 ~ SCANDANAVIA Region for the Queens of Quisine.

[Mama Cee Jay]

Well, it smelled great and looked great coming out of the oven. But after cooling, it was crumbly and the flavor was too salty and not sweet enough for our tastes.

[free-free]

I did some experimentation to this recipe...I was very low on some of the items called for...the butter and eggs - so I improvised. I used a flour combo of 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all-purpose, 4 tablespoons of butter and 6 of applesauce and a liquid egg substitute measured equivalent to the real thing. Once I had gone that far I continued on a lighter approach and used splenda and a mix of low/fat yogurt and low/fat sour cream. I added an extra 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and cardamom each to make sure the spices that I love so much would be pronounced. I messed so much with the recipe I feared that I would have issues with the results, however I was thrilled. The flavors were lovely, and the bread was surprisingly moist - even rich in texture. Quite "buttery" tasting despite my stinginess!!! My only disappointment was that my loaf did not rise very prettily...most definitely from all my messing around...it had nice form but a "crackled" look to the top and truth be told I like that homey look!! Then I took note of some of the photos that others had taken and thought that perhaps that is the nature of this recipe. I added some powdered sugar (the real thing!!) to dress up its appearance and liked the touch of extra sweetness that it added on just the crust part...with the rest being not sweet, but more of a sensually spiced quality. I love this type of bread with my "cuppa", really enjoyable at any time of the day. I plan to make it again probably with my healthier cheating ways but also plan to try it with all the fat and calories at some point too!!