Cardamom Crumb Cake

the love of cardamom crumb cake is in my dna

I grew up in the suburbs just outside New York City, and I have a pretty good dose of German heritage on my dad’s side. If you put those two things together in a hat and shake them up real good, you’ll come up with, among other things…crumb cake.

My cardamom crumb cake is New York–style, meaning it’s not light and fluffy ~ the tall cake layer is dense and close-crumbed, almost pound-cake adjacent, with a buttery, vanilla-rich (or in this case cardamom) bite that feels substantial under the fork.

what you’ll need for cardamom crumb cake

Mostly pantry staples, you know the drill. What you may need to pick up before baking:

• sour cream
  • adds fat and moisture for a denser, tighter, ultra-tender crumb with buttery richness; helps the cake stay moist.
• ground cardamom
  • a full tablespoon of this aromatic spice permeates the whole cake.

There are lots of ways to make a crumb topping ~ sometimes the crumbs are like little boulders all over the top, and other times it’s more like a streusel topping. This one is the latter. The crumbs are made from a bit of reserved cake mixture, so it’s super easy. The cake will take you about 15 minutes to get in the oven. Easy peasy.

why cardamom?

In baking I’ll often sub cardamom for cinnamon to get a new flavor profile with a similar warmth and aroma.

Cardamom is an aromatic spice in the ginger family. It grows in green or black pods filled with tiny seeds. When you grind the seeds you’ll get an incredibly fragrant spice. You can also use the pods whole in savory dishes, just crush them lightly to release the seeds.

bakers tips for cardamom crumb cake

I love cardamom crumb cake warm from the oven, but like other all-butter cakes it can dry out fast:

• Try not to over-bake, once the center has risen and the edges are golden, check with a toothpick. Moist crumbs are fine.
• Don’t slice until ready to eat to keep the edges from drying out.
• Wrap in plastic and store at room temp, not in the fridge ( which can dry it out faster.)

The crumbs on this cake are more like streusel

• It will feel dry to the touch. Use your hands to compress it into rough clumps as you add to the top of the batter.
• Be sure to spread it all over the surface of the cake, into the sides and corners.

the bottom line

This lovely cake stands out from others because it’s spiced with warm, fragrant cardamom, which is not traditional, but really wonderful. Cardamom is more subtle than cinnamon, and if you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend you do. Switching out cinnamon for cardamom is a tiny little change that can freshen up a lot of your favorite recipes. If you look closely at the photos you can see the little black specks of the cardamom seeds.

I happen to love the spice, and use it in everything from morning buns and Christmas cookies to meatballs and roast chicken.

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Cardamom Crumb Cake

4.46 from 70 votes

Cardamom Crumb Cake ~ this New York style crumb cake takes coffee cake to a whole new level with the subtle warmth of cardamom.

Print Recipe Rate Recipe

Prep Time:15 minutes minutes

Cook Time:40 minutes minutes

Total Time:55 minutes minutes

Servings: 12

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Video

Equipment

• 9×9 square baking dish

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp ground cardamom
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350F
• Spray a 9×9 square baking pan and line with parchment paper if you want to be able to lift it out for cutting. That part is optional.
• Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cardamom in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine, You can also do this by hand in a large mixing bowl.
• Cut the butter in small pieces and add it to the bowl. Pulse to combine, maybe about 20 pulses. The mixture should be crumbly with the butter well distributed and in very small pieces. You can also do this by hand with a pastry cutter.
• Measure out 1 cup of the mixture and set aside.
• Whisk together the wet ingredients and mix with the dry, just until combined. Spread the batter into the pan, and top with the reserved crumbs.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Notes

*This is a very tall cake, so do not use a smaller pan or you will have too much batter.

I hope you try this with cardamom, but if you’d like to substitute another spice, you can use cinnamon, or allspice

 

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Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Author: Sue Moran

Keyword: baking, breakfast cake, brunch, cake, cardamom, coffee cake, easy, recipe

Nutrition

Calories: 379 kcal · Carbohydrates: 59 g · Protein: 5 g · Fat: 14 g · Saturated Fat: 9 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 4 g · Trans Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 62 mg · Sodium: 122 mg · Potassium: 182 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 34 g · Vitamin A: 456 IU · Vitamin C: 1 mg · Calcium: 80 mg · Iron: 2 mg

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.

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