Spicy Cardamom Coffee Cake

Gay Gilmore's Note:

This is a recipe my friend Jen served at Easter brunch that I had to have the recipe for. It is very spicy (2 Tablespoons of cardamom!) and yummy. It is wonderful served with strawberries, but just fine on its own.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

Cake

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cardamom
• 1 cup sour cream
• ½ cup milk or ½ cup cream

Topping

• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• ½ cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans would work well)

Directions:

1. Cake: Cream together sugar and butter until fluffy.
2. Beat eggs in one at a time.
3. Add vanilla.
4. Stir in the baking powder, soda, salt, and Cardamom.
5. Stir in the floor one cup at a time, adding sour cream and milk as you go along.
6. Topping: In a separate bowl mix together the"topping" ingredients.
7. To Assemble: You can bake this in a few different style pans.
8. A bundt cake pan would work well.
9. I used two tall round 8" cake pans.
10. Oil your pans well.
11. Pour the batter in your pans- be sure to leave some room at the top as these cakes should rise.
12. Sprinkle the top with your topping.
13. Alteration: Instead of sprinkling the topping over the cake, you might prefer to pour half your batter in the pan, create an inside layer by sprinkling in some of your topping and then pour the remaining batter in your pan and sprinkle the rest of the nut mixture over the top.
14. You can always whip up some more topping if you need to!
15. To Bake: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
16. This is a dense cake and will bake for about an hour (in a bundt cake pan).
17. Keep checking on it by inserting a knife in the top.
18. If it comes out clean, it's done.
19. To Serve: Let the cake cool for a while (at least half an hour).
20. Turn the cake over and slide onto a plate (if you have used a bundt cake pan).
21. If you used a cake pan, loosen the edges of the cake pan with a knife, gently easing the cake up out of the pan.
22. If you need to, turn the cake over and gently tap it out of the pan, once the cake is out of the pan you can turn it back over onto a plate for presentation.

Reviews

[Charishma_Ramchandani]

This cake is WONDERFUL and the BEST green cardamom cake I have ever ever had! I halved the recipe and made just one 8-inch cake in honour of having completed 2 years today of my battle against obesity:) I did use low-fat plain yoghurt as a substitute for sour cream. I used low-fat milk for the milk/cream option. For the cake, I used 1 1/4 tbsps. of green cardamom(powdered). As for the topping, I used a little over 1/2 tbsp. of green cardamom(powdered). Also, I used almonds for the nuts. My friends' loved this cake to the core! Everyone jumped for the cake as soon as it was on the table;) I was told that it looked store-bought and tasted divine! Thank YOU so much for a fantastic recipe! I will, ofcourse, repeat this as often as I can:)

[Rita~]

Rita L (see my other recipe reviews) posted Nov 27, 2003 I made this in my first time used silicone bundt pan. Love it! I buttered the pan then I Mixed the topping with 3 tablespoons butter placed it in the bottom of the pan. Place the dough on top which I loaded with fresh ground cardamom Yummy! I used vanilla flavored yogurt in place of the sour cream. I baked for 70 minutes. Came out dark and dense. I left my husband alone with it and a 1/4 of it was gone yes he ate 1/4 of it in one seating and thats after a big meal! My Thanks to Gay for posting this and Jen for serving it to Gay! Loved it!

[L. Duch]

Goodt cake, the flavor and aroma is wonderful although 2 tbsp of cardamom was a bit strong. Next time I will decrease the amount of it and make a cream cheese frosting to top it off. This is definatly a keeper. LeeAnn