Recipe time!
No, not the semlor recipe, ironlord, but something related, in that this is a recipe I started doing to use up the spare cardamom from the semlor. It's actually a golden syrup cake recipe stolen from the internet, but I've tweaked it a wee bit and stuffed cardamom in it, so here we go...
Cardamomnomnomnom Cake
Ingredients:
150g butter (do use real butter, I did try with margarine and it don't work half so well)
150g caster sugar (golden works better if you can get it but regular white will do)
400g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
250g golden syrup
1-2tsp ground cardamom (to taste. 1tsp will give you a golden syrup cake with a bit of cardamom flavouring for a kick, 2tsp will give you basically cardamom cake with a bit of added sticky. I'm still trying to work out the perfect ratio!)
320ml boiling water
Note: this recipe really, really does need an electric mixer unless you have very strong wrists and a lot of patience. I'm just saying.
Method:
1. Prepare one large or two small loaf tins lined with greaseproof paper. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
2. Weigh out dry ingredients, stir together well in a large mixing bowl to make sure the cardamom and baking powder are evenly distributed. Cut the butter into small chunks and place in the bowl, add the golden syrup (top tip: the most efficient way I've ever found to weigh out syrup is to put the tin on the scales, reset the balance to show whatever weight of syrup the recipe requires and then just spoon the stuff out till you get down to zero. Saves getting more things sticky than you absolutely need to!)
3. Pour in the boiling water. Mix with electric mixer until smooth.
4. Pour into tin(s) and bake until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. I do this recipe in a single large loaf tin and it usually takes about an hour and change, but I recommend setting the timer for 45 minutes and then checking on it every quarter of an hour thereafter. If it starts going too brown on top before being done in the middle, you can cover it up with kitchen foil to protect it from burning.
5. When done, lift out of tin using the greaseproof paper and leave to cool. You can either leave it in the greaseproof, cover the top with foil and just slice pieces off it at will, or peel it out of the greaseproof and wrap it in cling film to help soften and stickify the crust. Either way, as long as you don't leave it in the open air it keeps fantastically and only gets better for doing so (although it probably won't last long enough for you to find that out...)
6. NOM.
There! Have fun, do let me know how this works if you decide to try it...
Laters,
Rath
Cardamomnomnomnom Cake
Ingredients:
150g butter (do use real butter, I did try with margarine and it don't work half so well)
150g caster sugar (golden works better if you can get it but regular white will do)
400g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
250g golden syrup
1-2tsp ground cardamom (to taste. 1tsp will give you a golden syrup cake with a bit of cardamom flavouring for a kick, 2tsp will give you basically cardamom cake with a bit of added sticky. I'm still trying to work out the perfect ratio!)
320ml boiling water
Note: this recipe really, really does need an electric mixer unless you have very strong wrists and a lot of patience. I'm just saying.
Method:
1. Prepare one large or two small loaf tins lined with greaseproof paper. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
2. Weigh out dry ingredients, stir together well in a large mixing bowl to make sure the cardamom and baking powder are evenly distributed. Cut the butter into small chunks and place in the bowl, add the golden syrup (top tip: the most efficient way I've ever found to weigh out syrup is to put the tin on the scales, reset the balance to show whatever weight of syrup the recipe requires and then just spoon the stuff out till you get down to zero. Saves getting more things sticky than you absolutely need to!)
3. Pour in the boiling water. Mix with electric mixer until smooth.
4. Pour into tin(s) and bake until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. I do this recipe in a single large loaf tin and it usually takes about an hour and change, but I recommend setting the timer for 45 minutes and then checking on it every quarter of an hour thereafter. If it starts going too brown on top before being done in the middle, you can cover it up with kitchen foil to protect it from burning.
5. When done, lift out of tin using the greaseproof paper and leave to cool. You can either leave it in the greaseproof, cover the top with foil and just slice pieces off it at will, or peel it out of the greaseproof and wrap it in cling film to help soften and stickify the crust. Either way, as long as you don't leave it in the open air it keeps fantastically and only gets better for doing so (although it probably won't last long enough for you to find that out...)
6. NOM.
There! Have fun, do let me know how this works if you decide to try it...
Laters,
Rath