This sweet and aromatic vanilla cardamom cake is beautiful, elegant, and super easy to make. It’s a tender and soft single-layer cake that’s spiced with cardamom, vanilla, and a hint of orange.
Let’s talk cardamom! These little seed pods are so complex. They fall into the same family as turmeric and ginger, but have a flavor of their own. I love this spice since it can be used to enhance both savory and sweet dishes. Depending on what type you get, they can range in flavor from citrusy (green cardamom) to smokey (black cardamom). In general, I think of cardamom as a bit floral, a bit peppery, and a bit citrusy. For this recipe, we’ll use ground cardamom, which typically is a bit milder and easier to work with.
I wanted to make a cake that enhanced the unique aromas of cardamom. This Vanilla Cardamom cake is simple, but also elegant and full of flavor. A healthy dose of vanilla helps bring out some sweetness, and some orange zest helps bring out the citrusy flavors.
This cake is also light, tender, and super easy to make. It would be the perfect cake to serve with some tea or after a nice dinner!
Ingredients for Vanilla Cardamom Cake
What Size Cake Pan?
You will need an 8″ round cake pan. You can also use a 9″ pan, but the cake will just be a little thinner. Make sure if you’re using a different size pan to adjust the cook time accordingly!
Make sure to also grease your pan properly so that the cake doesn’t stick. I love these little parchment paper rounds that go at the bottom of the pan.
Ingredients for the Cake Itself
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Ground cardamom
- Kosher Salt
- Unsalted butter: soften it to room temperature
- A neutral oil: vegetable oil, canola oil, or avocado oil all work great
- Large eggs: also make sure these are at room temperature. If you need to quickly get the eggs to room temperature, place them in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes.
- Pure vanilla extract
- Fresh orange zest
- Whole milk
Ingredients for the Frosting
This cake is also topped with a fluffy cardamom frosting that adds both sweetness and additional cardamom flavor! To make it you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter: softened to room temperature
- Confectioners aka powdered sugar
- Pure vanilla extract
- Ground cardamom
- Milk
Tips for Making Cake
Use Quality Flavorings
The ingredients for this cake are relatively simple. Flour, sugar, butter, vanilla, cardamom, eggs, etc. In terms of flavor, vanilla and cardamom really lead the way! You’d be amazed what using a high quality vanilla would do for the taste of this cake. There are two teaspoons of vanilla in this cake–and it’s just a small single layer cake! Given this is a flavor that really stands out and complements the cardamom, a high quality vanilla does make a difference. I personally love Rodelle or Nielsen-Massey. Fun fact–you can sometimes find these vanillas for a much lower price at Homegoods!
Use Room Temperature Ingredients
This is a word of advice I will repeat over and over (and if you read enough of my blog you’ll probably get sick of hearing it)! Use room temperature ingredients when making cake. Your ingredients will blend together better. Your butter won’t harden up and split. You will get a much better texture and crumb. Just trust me on this one.
Do Not Over-mix the Batter
When you are incorporating flour into the batter, fold it in until it is just combined and no more. Over-mixing the batter leads to extra gluten build up. Great for bread but not so much for cakes. We’re looking for soft, tender cakes and not chewy!
Keep a Close Eye
Start checking the cakes a few minutes before you think they’ll be done! This will help prevent over-baking, which will dry out the cakes. Every oven is different, so the bake time that works best for me may be slightly off for you. To test for done-ness, I like to take one of two approaches:
- Gently tap the top of the cake with your finger. The cake will bounce back when it’s done.
- Insert a toothpick in the middle. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.
In my oven, this vanilla cardamom cake took right around 30 minutes, but you may need slightly more or slightly less time!
Now with these words of advice out of the way, let’s bake! I hope you enjoy making and eating this elegant vanilla cardamom cake.
Did You Make This Recipe?
If so, I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to leave a comment, rating, or take a picture and share it with me on Instagram @toppedwithhoney. Looking forward to seeing your cakes!
For more cake recipes, browse the wonderful selection here.
Vanilla Cardamom Cake
Equipment
- 8" round cake pan
Ingredients
Cake
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 tbsp vegetable or avocado oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp freshly grated orange zest
- ⅔ cup milk, warmed to room temperature
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
Icing
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1½ cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
- ¼-½ tsp ground cardamom
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ tbsp milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease an 8" round cake pan.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the ½ cup butter, oil, and granulated sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy (2-2½). Then add the eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla, beating until creamy each time.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, ½ tsp ground cardamom, and salt together . Turn your mixer onto low speed and add half of this flour mix to the wet ingredients, followed by all of the milk, and then the remaining flour. Gently mix until the flour is just incorporated. Do not overmix.
- Transfer the batter to your prepared cake pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until the cake is set and a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the frosting, beat the butter, powdered sugar, cardamom, vanilla, milk, and a pinch of salt together in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. The amount of cardamom you add depends on how strong you want the flavor to be! I went with around ¼ tsp plus a tiny pinch more.
- Once the cake has cooled completely, use a knife to frost an even layer on top. Garnish with some dried edible rose petals if desired. Enjoy!
Love,
Rools <3
Moist, fluffy texture and delicious flavor! Love the hint of orange!