Cardamom Date Cake Food

CARDAMOM CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180c fan.
• Grease and flour a 23cm round cake tin.
• Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
• Add butter, egg, and milk and stir to a smooth batter.
• Pour batter into tin, smoothing the surface with a spatula.
• Bake in the lower half of the oven for approx 30 minutes.
• Let cool before removing from tin.

DATE, PISTACHIO AND CARDAMOM CAKE

Steps:

• Coarsely chop the dates in a food processor. Transfer to a 32-ounce jar. Add the brandy, pistachios and ginger. Seal, and then shake until well combined. Store the mixture in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight for 3 days, shaking once a day. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Spray an 8- by 3-inch round springform pan with cooking spray and line the bottom and sides with wax paper. Have the wax paper go a little taller than the sides of the pan.
• In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cardamom and coriander (if using), and reserve. In a stand mixer, or using a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Gradually whisk in the eggs, one at a time, beating in between additions, until combined. Add the molasses, vanilla extract, salt and brandied fruit mixture, and gently beat until well combined. Add the sifted flour mixture, a little at a time. When it is all mixed in, beat at high speed for about 10 seconds. Pour into the prepared springform pan. Place a metal brownie pan on the floor of your oven. Fill with water; this will keep your cake moist. Pop the cake into the middle of your oven, and cook for 3 to 3 1/4 hours, turning once halfway through. You'll know the cake is cooked when a skewer pushed into the center of the cake, all the way to the bottom, comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and allow to rest in the pan on a cooling rack. Once completely cool, remove the cake from the pan, but keep covered in the wax paper to keep moist.
• To serve: Make a snowflake out of a piece of paper like you did in primary school (you can also use a doily for this). Place it gently on top of the cake. Spoon a little powdered sugar in a strainer and dust the surface of the cake. Remove the paper to reveal a powdered sugar snowflake. You can serve with a dollop of whipped cream and minced pistachios too if you like.

CARDAMOM DATE CAKE

Steps:

• preheat oven to 350.
• spray a 9x9" pan with cooking spray.
• combine flour and the next 5 ingredientsin a large bowl, make a well in center.
• in a medium bowl combine melted butter and the next 5 ingredients, mixing well.
• add to the flour mixture, stirring until moist.
• spoon batter into pan.
• mix the topping ingredients, sprinkle evenly over batter.
• bake for 35 minutes until pick inserted in center comes out clean.
• cool in pan.

MOROCCAN ORANGE & CARDAMOM CAKE

Steps:

• Put the whole oranges in a pan, cover with water and boil, covered, for 1 hr until a knife easily pierces them. If the oranges won't stay under the water, place a small saucepan lid directly on top to keep them submerged. Remove the oranges from the water and cool, then quarter and remove any seeds and obvious pith where the stalk was. Blitz the oranges to a rough purée with a hand blender or in a food processor and put in a large bowl.
• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and line the base and sides of a 21cm loose-bottomed cake tin with baking parchment. Beat the cardamom, xylitol and eggs into the orange purée, then mix the ground almonds with the polenta, flour and baking powder, and fold in until well blended. Scrape the mixture into the tin, level the top and bake for 40 mins.
• After 40 minutes, scatter over the almonds, quickly return to the oven and bake 20-25 mins more until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the tin and leave to cool. Serve sliced as a cake, or with Greek yogurt or cream as a dessert.

MARGARETA'S CARDAMOM CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a fluted tube pan (such as Bundt®) with 1/4 cup butter and dust with bread crumbs.
• Mix 3/4 cup butter, flour, sugar, milk, cardamom, and baking powder together lightly in a bowl to form a moderately stiff and lumpy dough; transfer dough to the prepared tube pan. Sprinkle cinnamon and pearl sugar over the top of the dough, respectively.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

CARDAMOM CREAM CAKE

Steps:

• Drain the ricotta in a fine mesh sieve placed in a large bowl for 1 to 2 hours until very thick. If you've bought very thick, very freshly made ricotta from a specialty shop (not the kind from the supermarket), you can skip this step.
• Meanwhile, make the milk syrup: In a small saucepan, combine the milk and cardamom pods. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer the milk until it reduces by half, 30 to 45 minutes. Stir in the sugar until it dissolves, then continue to simmer until the mixture thickens to the texture of half and half, about 10 minutes longer. Let cool, strain the mixture to get rid of the cardamom and any coagulated milk, then stir in the rose water. (Syrup can be prepared up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated.)
• Make the cake: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper, then grease the parchment. Flour the entire pan and parchment, tapping out any excess.
• In a medium bowl, lightly whisk together the egg whites, milk, vanilla and rose water.
• Using an electric mixer, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom and salt, and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add the butter and about a third of the milk-egg white mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed and beat for a minute or so until everything is very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
• Add the remaining milk mixture in 3 batches, beating well between additions. Scrape down the sides.
• Transfer the batter to the prepared pans and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center, 25 to 35 minutes. The cakes should start to shrink from the sides of the pans only after removal from the oven. Let the cakes cool in the pans on racks for 20 minutes, then unmold and cool completely.
• Make the ricotta filling: Using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the ricotta, cream and confectioners' sugar until quite smooth, about 30 seconds. Beat in rose water to taste. Beat on medium-high speed for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. The mixture will thicken.
• Make the mascarpone frosting: Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, confectioners' sugar, rose water and cardamom until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On low speed, beat in mascarpone and yogurt until the mixture is just combined and looks smooth. Do not overbeat or the mixture may curdle.
• When the cakes have cooled, use a long serrated knife to trim the tops of the cakes, so the tops are flat and even. Then cut each cake in half into 2 layers, to make a 4-layer cake. Brush cake layers on all sides with milk syrup. Place one cake round on a cake stand or serving platter, then top with one third of the ricotta filling, leaving a small border around the edge of the cake. Repeat with the remaining cake layers and ricotta filling.
• Frost top and sides of the cake with the mascarpone frosting. Top with chopped pistachios and candied rose petals, if using; chill until ready to serve.