Cardamom (Elaichi in Hindi) is the third most expensive spice by weight [after saffron and vanilla], but luckily a little goes a long way and gives a beautiful perfume to chilli, curries, biscuits and all manner of good things.
It can be quite a tricky balance to get the cardamom levels right in this recipe - too little and you might as well not bother, too much and it’s like eating a bar of soap [as I found out when the first batch ended up in the bin and husband described the second as ‘strange’]. The strength can be affected by how old your pods are – if they’ve started to lose their bright green colour, it’s definitely time to bin them and get a new batch.
If you’re not sure how strong you want it, I’d add half the ground cardamom to the chocolate mixture, taste, then decide if you want to add the rest; you don’t want it to overpower the other flavours. And don’t be tempted to substitute black cardamom, as the more woody flavour wouldn’t be right here.
I’ve listed the recipe with raspberries, but I’ve also made it with blackberries. I prefer the raspberries, as the flavour stands out more against the chocolate and cardamom but they do tend to be juicer, which makes the texture wetter. The blackberries give a more cake like texture but are a softer fruity note. You could of course leave the fruit out completely - substitute the cardamom for some ground ginger or just go for a pure chocolate hit.
It can be quite a tricky balance to get the cardamom levels right in this recipe - too little and you might as well not bother, too much and it’s like eating a bar of soap [as I found out when the first batch ended up in the bin and husband described the second as ‘strange’]. The strength can be affected by how old your pods are – if they’ve started to lose their bright green colour, it’s definitely time to bin them and get a new batch.
If you’re not sure how strong you want it, I’d add half the ground cardamom to the chocolate mixture, taste, then decide if you want to add the rest; you don’t want it to overpower the other flavours. And don’t be tempted to substitute black cardamom, as the more woody flavour wouldn’t be right here.
I’ve listed the recipe with raspberries, but I’ve also made it with blackberries. I prefer the raspberries, as the flavour stands out more against the chocolate and cardamom but they do tend to be juicer, which makes the texture wetter. The blackberries give a more cake like texture but are a softer fruity note. You could of course leave the fruit out completely - substitute the cardamom for some ground ginger or just go for a pure chocolate hit.
Ingredients:
150g 70% dark chocolate
150g salted butter
6 medium eggs
250g golden caster sugar
100g ground almond
4 tsp cocoa powder
½ tsp vanilla extract
2-3 green cardamom
300g raspberries
How to make it:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4, and line a traybake tin with grease proof paper.
2. Remove the cardamom seeds from their pods and grind to a fine powder. I've got a Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker which I find invaluable for small amounts of spice but you could use a pestle and mortar.
3. Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave for about 1min 40secs, stopping every 30secs to stir. Eventually the remaining chocolate will melt in the residual heat of the liquid.
4. Add the ground cardamom and vanilla extract to the chocolate mix, then set aside to cool.
5. Beat the eggs and sugar together with a hand whisk or mixer until very fluffy and pale.
6. Mix the ground almonds with the cocoa powder and beat into the egg and sugar mixture.
7. Briefly beat the chocolate mixture into the mix.
8. Carefully fold in the raspberries with a spatula or big metal spoon.
9. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes. The cake will be set on the top and have a bit of jiggle below. It does have a tendency to catch, so if that starts to happen, cover it lightly with some scrunched up greaseproof paper.
10. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin on a wire rack to cool.
11. Make sure it's completely cool before you try to slice it - the top will still crack a bit anyway but you should stop the underneath from crumbling.
RSS Feed