Cardamom Drizzle Cake

Cardamom Drizzle Cake

This marvelous spiced cake – gluten-free and potentially dairy-free – is adapted from Anna Jones, a food writer for the UK Guardian. I have adjusted it for American measurements and gluten-free requirements. This cake is quite rich, so you’ll get a lot of slices out of it.

Prep time is 10 min; cook time is one hour; this quantity makes one large loaf.

Ingredients

For the cake

8 oz gluten-free flour, sifted
6 oz finely ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
Sea salt
8 oz (two sticks) unsalted butter OR two sticks Earth Balance vegan spread, at room temp.
8 oz demerara sugar OR organic soft brown sugar OR Lakanto/erithrytol
6 oz honey
Zest of one orange
Zest of one lemon
4 medium eggs

For the drizzle

4 Tbsp honey
1 tsp orange blossom water
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
4 cardamom pods
1 tsp coriander seeds

Optional: Serve with plain thick yogurt with honey

Method:

  1. Heat the oven to 325°F. Grease and line a large (2lb) loaf tin with baking paper.
  2. Sift the flour, almonds, baking powder and a generous pinch of salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk until there are no lumps of baking powder.
  3. In a stand-up mixer fitted with a cake paddle, or with an electric beater, beat the butter, sugar, and honey until creamy. Add the orange and lemon zests, then add the eggs one by one, mixing well between each one.
  4. Add the dry ingredients a large spoonful at a time, mixing between each one. Do not overbeat; add a little plant milk if necessary.
  5. Tip the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top with the back of a spoon. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until the cake is dark golden on top, and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. The cake will sink a little in the middle.
  6. Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool in the pan. Blend the drizzle ingredients in a small saucepan, simmer, and reduce to a thin syrup – it will thicken a little more as it cools.
  7. Leaving the cake in the tin, prick with a skewer and pour over the syrup, then leave the cake in the loaf pan until cooled completely.
  8. Serve in slices.
  9. Optionally, stir 2-3 Tbsp honey through the plain yogurt, decorated with fresh mint.

As usual, the printer-friendly .pdf file is HERE.