Food & Drink

Swe-Dishes: SwedishFood.com’s Cardamom cake (Kardemummakaka)

Perfect for your afternoon fika, John Duxbury of SwedishFood.com brings us a recipe for a simple Swedish cardamom cake.

Ingredients

• Butter for greasing
• 1 tbsp. dried breadcrumbs
• 1⅓ c. butter, softened
• 1⅔ c. caster (superfine) sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2½ c. plain flour
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 5 tsp. freshly ground cardamom
• 1 c. (minus two tbsp.) milk

*1 cup with two tablespoons of milk removed

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 10 cup Bundt pan with butter and sprinkle the inside with dried breadcrumbs.

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes on a moderate speed using an electric beater. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and ground cardamom and then fold into the wet mixture.

Mix in the milk ,and then carefully pour into the prepared Bundt pan, traying to avoid creating any air pockets. Tap the pan to remove any air bubbles and then tilt the pan gently, so that the batter runs up the sides.

Bake for about an hour or until it is golden brown, just beginning to pull away from the side of the pan and a skewer poked into the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the Bundt pan for 10 minutes and then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

Kardemummakaka is normally served plain with a good cup of coffee, but occasionally it is accompanied by a little whipped cream and some fresh fruit. Enjoy!

Makes 12+ slices.

Tips

• Ground cardamom has a short shelf life, so for the best aroma and flavor, buy cardamom pods and grind the seeds yourself. It is hard work and takes 10-15 minutes, but it is worth the effort.
• This version uses a large 10 cup Bundt pan, but if you prefer you can use a 2 lb. loaf tin or an 8” cake tin, in which case, halve the quantities below and bake for about 45 minutes.
• If using a round or oblong tin, sprinkle a tablespoon of pearl sugar over the batter just before baking the cake.
• Swedes normally grease the inside of the Bundt with butter and then dust it with dried breadcrumbs, but you can use baking spray (NOT cooking spray) or butter and flour if you prefer.
• The cake freezes well, which is why John recommends using a large tin and freezing any leftovers.

John Duxbury enjoys cooking Swedish food and went to the trouble of learning Swedish so he could read Swedish cookbooks. The love affair with Swedish food started as a result of numerous visits to Sweden when he was working with Swedish students. When he retired from teaching he decided to set up http://www.swedishfood.com so other people with an interest in Swedish cooking could benefit from his work.