American

Cardamom, almond, and vanilla pound cake

by:
December  1, 2020
5
1 Ratings
Cardamom, almond, and vanilla pound cake
Photo by célineismoi
  • Prep time 20 minutes
  • Cook time 1 hour
  • makes 1 loaf cake
Author Notes

This recipe combines some of my favorite flavors into an easily prepared and even-more-easily consumed loaf cake. As it is oil based, it comes together super quickly (no waiting for butter to come to room temperature), and maintains its moisture for several days, though it never lasts that long in my house. I've included a frosting recipe, but you can use any cream cheese frosting that you like, or omit it completely. I also suspect it would be nice with buttercream, though I haven't tried, as I cannot say no to cream cheese. —célineismoi

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Cardamom, vanilla, and almond cake
  • 3/4 cup neutral flavored oil
  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom (grind your own from pods - reduce to 3/4 teaspoon if using pre-ground cardamom)
  • 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk (or whole milk with a splash of vinegar, which is what I do)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup almond flour
  • Vanilla cream cheese frosting
  • 8 ounces full fat cream cheese at room temperature
  • 4 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 splash vanilla
  • 1 pinch salt
Directions
  1. Butter and flour a loaf pan. Preheat your oven to 350F.
  2. Grind your cardamom and add it along with the sugar and oil to the bowl of your stand mixer (you could also use a hand mixer). Beat the mixture for 30 seconds until it is well combined.
  3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically.
  4. Add the salt, vanilla, and almond extracts to the bowl.
  5. Add the remaining dry ingredients followed by the buttermilk and mix until just combined.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 45 to 60 minutes. Depending on the size of your pan (I prefer to use a longer, narrower loaf pan), you may want to start checking for doneness at closer to 40 minutes. If the outside of your cake starts browning too quickly, cover the top with foil and continue baking.
  7. While the cake is cooling, make the cream cheese frosting by creaming together the butter and cream cheese (make sure they're roughly the same temperature before you start mixing). Add a splash of vanilla and a pinch of salt and stir to mix. Feel free to add more flavoring agents - orange zest or more cardamom would work well here.
  8. Once the cake is completely cool, frost it and then try not to eat it all at once.
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1 Review

eml
eml August 6, 2023
I thought this was great, loved the flavors, it came together quickly and the crumb was moist and light. I lowered the sugar by 2 TB, used ground cardamon, and half and half with splash of vinegar. Next time I think I'll lower the sugar to 1 c and am already thinking about turning this into a cake with strawberries and whipped cream.