I love the smell when I open the jar of cardamom. Highly fragrant with an intoxicating peppery floral scent, you want to use it more frequently.
Cardamom Lemon Cake is a light cake and gently flavored. It pairs perfectly with tea, coffee or the grand finale to any meal. The perfect lemon bundt cake!
You will probably also want to use it because it is usually purchased in a much larger quantity than you will ever be able to use before it starts to lose its potency (unless you own a bakery). Cardamom is fairly expensive at $12 a bottle.
Pro Tip: Always use a sifter for dry ingredients. It will prevent lumps, allow for less blending and make sure leaveners are evenly distributed throughout the cake batter.
What is cardamom?
Cardamon is a spice that comes in the form of a pod holding seeds. You can use the pod whole or ground. It is commonly used in Middle Eastern and Indian recipes. You might have had in various types of curry.
What type of cardamom recipes are there? Well it can obviously be used in baking, like I am in this recipe. You can also use cardamom in drinks, add it in tea or coffee.
Other options would be mulled wines and eggnog. Cardamom can be used in other cooking recipes as I have linked down below.
Pro Tip: Do not over mix the cake. Overmixing leads to tough and dry cakes.
If you don’t want to purchase cardamom just to make this a lemon cake recipe. If you don’t think you will use it again, substitute equal parts nutmeg and cinnamon. The flavor will not be the same as cardamom, but will be equally as tasty.
This lemon cake recipe makes a great snack throughout the day but it works great as a dessert. Because it is such a light cake, it pairs perfect after a big dinner. Perfect for serving with tea or coffee.
Check out these other easy cardamom recipes:
Tools for making Bundt Cake:
Stand Mixer– I lived for a long time without one. My life was changed when I finally bit the bullet and bought one. Just do it and thank yourself later.
Zester and Juicer– Another kitchen necessity! Whether it be a savory or sweet recipe, every house needs a way to zest and juice citrus. Also great for making cocktails!
Bundt Pan– Any shape will do since the biscuit pieces won’t really take on the shape anyhow. The traditional is great but the swirl is also a lot of fun and can be made into fun colored cakes as well.
Sifter– Sifting makes all of your baked goods smooth and fluffy. No more lumps! I prefer a hand crank so I can switch directions and get more sifted through faster.
Cardamom Lemon Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 eggs room temperature, separated
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup butter room temperature, cut into small pieces
- 2 cups sugar
- Zest of one lemon
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups plus 1/4 cup flour divided
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 6 tablespoons whole milk
- 1/4 cup cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat 9 1/2 inch bundt or tube pan with cooking spray or melted butter. Flour with 1/4 cup flour. Tap out excess.
- Beating egg whites into fluffy, shimmering clouds is more than baking, it involves science. There must be no water in the bowl or on the whisk. A copper bowl is preferred due to how copper assist the molecules in lining up, but since my arm gets tired from whisking, I prefer to use my kitchen aid stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk eggs whites and cream of tarter until peaks form and hold. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until fully incorporated and smooth. Add egg yolks two at a time, beating well between each addition. Add lemon zest, juice and vanilla. Blend again.
- Alternate adding a few tablespoons of flour mixture with milk, until all has been mixed.
- Gently fold eggs whites into butter mixture. At first, mixture will be sloppy, but continue to fold and it will tighten up. When batter is one, cohesive mixture, pour into prepared bundt pan.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until Cardamom Lemon Cake passes the toothpick test.
- Remove and allow to cool. Flip onto cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar.
- Cake can be served warm or room temperature. Enjoy your Cardamom Lemon Cake!
- If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was!
This page is like skiing down a slalom course. I’m just trying to scroll down to the recipe while dodging the HUNDREDS of ads on your website. How many ads can you put on a single page even?? I thought my computer was going to crash before I actually got to the bottom.
RECIPE RATING: 4 stars
WEBSITE RATING: 0 stars
Good. Lord.
Hey there Mr. Hungry Pants, I am assuming you probably don’t work for free and neither do we. We use the money from those annoying ads to pay for our family to live. BTW- I limit on-page ads to 6 out of 60 blocks of text images, so I think 100 might be a little of an over exaggeration. So sorry it was an inconvenience to you. There is a very easy to use “Jump to Recipe” button at the top of the page right under the title for those who can’t spend 3 seconds to scroll down to the recipe card. Glad you liked the recipe and thank you for taking the time to come back and give us feedback. Have a fabulous day and stay hungry!
Never going back to lemon poppyseed again!
Woohoo! Love to hear that!
this cake looked so delicious I had to try it out. Ended up doubling the lemon zest and almost DOUbled the cardamom too, but didn’t.. I will next time. I baked and it in the Nordic ware Star Bundt pan and it came out so pretty. It’s very moist and lovely!
Yay! That is what I like to hear! I’m glad you loved it.
Is it possible to make this recipe as two 9″ rounds instead? Has anyone tried it? I was thinking of making it that way with a light frosting for a birthday cake.
I have not, but I supposed you could. I would reduce cooking time to 25-30 minute each. Use the toothpick test and report back. I’d love to know if it works!
I made this yesterday and it is a wonderful recipe. The cardamom is not overpowering but gives the cake more depth and interest. My husband isn’t a fan of lemon but he loved this cake so that saya lot.
LOVE Cardamom! Great call pairing it with lemon.
that looks wonderful. I like when a cake is good enough it doesn’t need extras like fillings, sprinkles, icing and glazes to make it edible
I never heard of cardamom before. I guess I discover more and more things each day. Your recipe looks delicious! I would surely like to try this one.
I love just about any dessert with lemon. I’d love to try this cake!
I don’t think I ever really made something with Cardamom. But I do like lemon cake. Interested to see how this recipe tastes