Cardamom Coffee Cake
Warm and sweet sour cream cardamom coffee cake with a touch of ground cinnamon and a flaky cardamom sugar crust.
what to expect:
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 9 slices
When I found out my sister-in-law loves cardamom, I set out to create the perfect reliable cardamom coffee cake recipe for her.
I love the flavor of cardamom (it reminds me of eating fruity pebbles cereal lol) and couldn’t wait to put together this recipe, even though I was working on a million other things.
It’s super easy, is moist thanks to a bit of sour cream, and comes together quickly thanks to the reverse creaming method coined by Rose Levy Beranbaum in her book The Cake Bible (this is an affiliate link with Bookshop.org – if you decide to make a purchase from that link, I will make a commission). I get into this specific method further in the post.
Long story short, this method gives a tender cake crumb, minimizes the possibility of over-mixing, and often results in a more level cake.
This coffee cake is topped with a flaky cardamom sugar crust that reminds me a bit of that classic cinnamon pop-tart. All you need to do is sprinkle the cardamom sugar on the cake before it goes in the oven!
What You’ll Find in This Post
Feel free to jump to what you need!
- What You’ll Need (Ingredients and Equipment) to make Cardamom Coffee Cake
- How to Make Cardamom Coffee Cake
- What is the Reverse Creaming Method?
What You’ll Need to Make Cardamom Coffee Cake
Ingredients for Cardamom Coffee Cake
- Granulated Sugar
- Cake Flour (it has a lower protein content compared to all-purpose flour, so you’ll get a more tender bake)
- Baking Powder
- Kosher Salt
- Ground Cardamom
- Ground Cinnamon
- Unsalted Butter
- Vegetable Oil
- Eggs
- Sour Cream
- Vanilla Extract
Tools & Equipment
You’ll need a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment for this recipe, as well as a 9-inch x 9-inch metal cake pan. You’ll also need a medium bowl and a whisk for your wet ingredients and a small bowl and a fork to make the cardamom sugar topping.
How to Make Cardamom Coffee Cake
Because we’re using the reverse creaming method, the steps for this cardamom coffee cake might look a little different from what you’re used to seeing when making a traditional coffee cake.
- Whisk together your dry ingredients.
- Whisk together your wet ingredients.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the butter and dry ingredients.
- Add the wet ingredients to the bowl in two batches.
- Pour the cake batter into a greased non-stick cake pan (or line your greased cake pan with foil).
- Top with cardamom sugar.
- Bake!
This cardamom coffee cake is best enjoyed warm and will keep on the counter for a couple of days.
What is the Reverse Creaming Method?
Typically, cake is made by creaming together the butter and sugars first (aka, beating them together until you get something light and fluffy). You then add your eggs followed by your dry ingredients.
The reverse creaming method turns it all on its head. You start out with your dry ingredients and mix them together with softened butter until you get a sandy mixture, them you add your wet ingredients.
Rose Levy Beranbaum in her book The Cake Bible (this is an affiliate link with Bookshop.org – if you decide to make a purchase from that link, I will make a commission) explains that this method helps coat the flour in the butter, which prevents it from being over-mixed later on and often results in a more level cake.
The result is a super tender cake, which is perfect for our easy cardamom coffee cake.
If books aren’t your thing, you can read more about it in this article by King Arthur: What is reverse creaming, and why does it make great cake?
If you make this cardamom coffee cake, I want to know how it goes! Feel free to tag me on Instagram @ficklebea 🙂
You can check out some of my other cake recipes here!
PrintCardamom Coffee Cake
Warm and sweet cardamom sour cream coffee cake with a touch of ground cinnamon and a flaky cardamom sugar crust.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 9 slices 1x
- Category: Dessert, Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
The Topping
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
1 teaspoon Ground Cardamom
1/4 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
The Cake
4 Tablespoons vegetable oil
3 Eggs – large
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
3/4 cup Granulated Sugar
2 cups Cake Flour * – spooned and leveled, see note
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 Tablespoon Ground Cardamom
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
16 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter – softened to room temperature
Instructions
Make the Topping
- In a small bowl, add the granulated sugar (1/4 cup), ground cardamom (1 teaspoon), and ground cinnamon (1/4 teaspoon).
- Combine using a fork until it’s all the same color.
- Set aside until the cake batter has been added to the pan.
Make the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit and grease a 9-inch x 9-inch metal cake pan. For easy removal, you can also line the cake pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil (4 Tablespoons), eggs (3), sour cream (1/2 cup), and vanilla extract (1 Tablespoon).
These are your wet ingredients. - In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk together the granulated sugar (3/4 cup), cake flour (2 cups – spooned and leveled), baking powder (1/2 teaspoon), kosher salt (1/2 teaspoon), ground cardamom (1 Tablespoon), and ground cinnamon (1 teaspoon). I typically do this on low-medium speed for about one minute.
These are your dry ingredients. - Add the softened unsalted butter (16 Tablespoons) to the dry ingredients and whisk together on medium speed until you get a sandy mixture. You may need to knock the butter out of the whisk at the beginning. By the end, there shouldn’t be any buttery pieces larger than a peppercorn.
- With the mixer on low speed, pour the wet ingredients into the bowl. Once all of the wet ingredients have been added, mix on medium speed until you have a smooth batter.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top using a spatula or the back of a spoon.
- Sprinkle the topping evenly over the cake batter. I’ve found using my hands gives the most even distribution.
- Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until the cake doesn’t jiggle when you give it a gentle shake.
- Allow to cool (preferably on a wire rack) until you can handle the pan with your bare hands, about 15-30 minutes. Be careful not to burn yourself!
- Enjoy!
Please leave a review by visiting the recipe on ficklebeabakehouse.com!
Notes
* For the most consistent measurement of flour, stir the flour with a whisk or spoon, spoon the flour into the measuring cup, then level the flour with the back of a knife or the handle of the spoon.
To help with your grocery shopping, I’ve listed the ingredients for this recipe below, as well as where they can generally be found in the grocery store.
Dairy
- Unsalted Butter
- Eggs
- Sour Cream
Pantry
- Granulated Sugar
- Cake Flour
- Baking Powder
- Kosher Salt
- Ground Cardamom
- Ground Cinnamon
- Vegetable Oil
- Vanilla Extract
Cheryl Hendrickson says
Cake Flour is a bit Expensive, can AP flour be used/ substituted?
Sierra says
Hi Cheryl! I haven’t tried it using AP flour, but you should be able to substitute, the cake just might not be as tender.
Cheryl Hendrickson says
This Looks Absolutely Delicious! + I Love cardamom!
Molly says
This coffee cake turned out sooo good!! Perfectly moist and not too dense and even better the next day. I love the flavor too! Not too sweet but just the right amount of cardamom.
Sierra says
Glad you loved it!!
C says
This was lovely! Perfectly moist and the right amount of cardamom. I think next time I’ll cream with a hand mixer because the stand mixer missed too many spots and I had to scrape the sides more than I’d like.
Sierra says
Thanks so much for your review! That’s a totally fair adjustment to make – scraping down the sides of the bowl is my least favorite part of making a cake from scratch. Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Kimberly says
I can’t wait to make this.
I love everything cardamon.
Plan on making it this week.
Sierra says
I hope you love it! Let me know how it goes 🙂