A RECIPE INSPIRED BY GREEN CEDAR
CARDAMOM CAKE
Clementine Day is a self-taught cook who lives and works in Melbourne, Australia. Her approach to cooking is unfussy and unpretentious — encouraging even the least confident in the kitchen to have fun and use their intuition. She collaborates with a number of different creatives through her ongoing project SOME THINGS I LIKE TO COOK, and released her first cookbook Coming Together in 2020.
'This simple cardamom cake was inspired by the beautiful cardamom notes in Abel’s Green Cedar perfume, my favourite of their range. Cardamom is beautifully warming and when used as the main flavour in an otherwise very simple cake, you really get to appreciate the pure pleasure of its flavour and scent. I’ve created this recipe to be easy to make, it requires no fancy equipment and pulls together pretty quickly.'
YOU'LL NEED —
200g caster sugar
3 large eggs
50g olive oil
100g Greek yoghurt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
220g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
80g unsalted butter, melted
300ml thickened cream
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
A sprinkle of ground cardamom, optional
TO MAKE —
1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a 22cm spring form cake tin.
2. Add the sugar, eggs and oil to a large mixing bowl and whisk well. Add in the Greek yoghurt, ground cardamom and vanilla paste and whisk again until well incorporated.
3. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Using a spatula, gently fold until incorporated. Add the melted butter and continue to fold until no streaks of butter remain in the batter.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45-50 minutes until the cake is risen and a knife or cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before serving.
5. When ready to serve, whip cream and vanilla in a medium bowl with a whisk until medium/firm peaks form. The cream will hold its shape well but should not have started to become grainy.
6. Plonk your cream onto your cake and use an offset spatula or a spoon to spread the cream into a thick layer on the top of your cake. Dust with a little extra ground cardamom if you'd like to.