Coconut Cardamom Cake

Showing up on social media or the bog is hard right now. With ceaselessly rising cases, every day is a complicated cocktail of anxiety, sadness, and overwhelming helplessness. 

But baking is my one true escape from reality. So, I indulged today, and the aroma of the coconut cardamom cake in the oven vaporized all manners of antsy-ness and jitters.

And I hope the delicate and sinfully delicious cake offers you the same escape.

It’s one of my basic #TAFEverydayCake recipes, so it doesn’t ask for much effort. And the ingredients are right there in your pantry. But the cake you get, let me assure you, is something special. 

It is not the four forms of coconut we’re using that make it so. However, they do make the flavor pop gratifyingly. It isn’t the soft-as-a-cloud crumb. Or even the teensy bit of aromatic cardamom that truly enlivens the cake. 

It’s watching an unbidden smile bloom on your kid’s face because a well-baked coconut cardamom cake feeds the soul and the heart.

How to make coconut cardamom cake?

I adapted the recipe from my vegan vanilla sponge cake. Like for it, I used mini-Bundt pans. But there are no hard and fast rules here. Pick up a cake tin if that’s what you have. A 6 or 7-inch, round or square, one will work very well here. 

• Start by mixing coconut milk with regular vinegar. 
• While the milk mixture sits for 5 to 10 minutes, sift whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Whisk in desiccated coconut, coconut sugar, and cardamom powder. 
• By now, the milk-vinegar mixture is ready to use. Add vanilla extract and coconut oil to it. 
• Fold the wet ingredients into the dry to make a thick-ish batter with soft, dropping consistency. 

Baking the coconut cardamom cake

• Grease the mini-Bundt pans liberally. For tricks on baking with Bundt pan, hop over here.
• Pour the cake batter. Mine was enough for four pans. 
• Then bake for about twenty-five minutes and cool for ten more. 
• Turn them out, and they’re ready to be served.

Variations of coconut cardamom cake recipe

I used coconut oil and coconut sugar to amplify the taste of coconut milk and desiccated coconut.

The sugar adds a caramelly dimension, and the oil a lighter mouthfeel, but the flavor is not in your face. It is still soft like the whisk of perfume of a passerby. That said, you can utilize other options. 

Oil - Any neutral-tasting vegetable oil is a great choice. 

Sugar – Try regular, white sugar, but if you want to keep it vegan, use palm or cane sugar. 

Milk – Pander to your taste buds, pick what you like best. 

Flour – Wheat flour lends a slight nutty layer to the cake, but all-purpose flour is an excellent substitute. Since it is lighter, it requires less liquids. So, please adjust those. 

Some more recipes with coconut

• Coconut Macarons
• Coconut Banana Bread
• Vegan Coconut Tea Cake
• Coconut Ginger Madeleines
• Eggless Coconut Peach Cake

Some more recipes with cardamom

• Eggless Cardamom Cookies
• Saffron Cardamom Cheesecake
• Cardamom Pistachio Madeleines
• Saffron Cardamom Baked Yogurt

Serving the coconut cardamom cake

While the cakes are cooling, save time, make a glaze with icing sugar and coconut milk. Drizzling the Bundt cakes with it gives them a dressier touch, not that they need dressing up.

I also love to create more texture to my bakes, so I immediately topped the glaze with toasted shredded coconut. But this is a completely optional step.

Skip it, if you so wish. Simply dust the cake with icing sugar generously and call it a day!

The coconut cardamom cake makes for a surprisingly healthy snack. Have it with a cup of Darjeeling or even coffee. Packed with coconutty relish, it has the queen of spices nosing its way into random pockets of the lightest crumbs you’ll ever savor.

And in case you’re craving something more indulgent but with the same pairing, I recommend the Coconut Cardamom Peda. You will not stop at one!

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📖 Recipe