Classic Swedish Cardamom Cake
My Aunt Hege and her family visited me in Bergen last week, which was the perfect occasion to bake another cake! I wanted to make something simple but super flavorful, so I decided to go for cardamom cake.
Cardamom cake is especially popular in Sweden for fika, which is the Swedish coffee and cake break in the afternoon. So I always think of cardamom cake as Swedish, though it’s of course also very popular here in Norway.
I love this particular cardamom cake recipe because it’s light but still super moist, making for a lovely cardamom coffee cake. I have seen some cardamom cakes with frosting, but I prefer my cardamom cake with just a light dusting of powdered sugar on top.
Probably my favorite thing about Scandinavian baking is how often cardamom shows up in Scandinavian recipes. Cardamom has a way of making every sweet bun and cake tastier, at least in my opinion.
You do want to freshly grind your cardamom, as cardamom powder doesn’t have much flavor. If you can’t find cardamom seeds or pods in your grocery store, you can usually find them in Asian food stores.
This is a really easy batter to pull together. Stir until it’s nice and smooth, but try not to overwork the batter by stirring too much.
Take the cake out of the oven as soon as the center is firm. You don’t want to over bake the cake, as then it will get dry.
You can switch the recipe from US measurements to metric by clicking from “US Customary” to “Metric” under Ingredients.
Swedish Cardamom Cake
Equipment
- spring cake form (24-26 cm, 9-10 in)
Ingredients
- 7 tbsp butter (room temperature)
- 1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp milk
- 1 tbsp cardamom seeds
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar (or extract)
For decoration
- powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Line the bottom of the cake form with baking paper and grease the sides.
- Mix together the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and milk and mix until smooth.
- Grind the cardamom seeds in a mortar and pestle and mix into the batter.
- Mix together the dry ingredients and stir into the cake batter until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the cake form and smooth it out until even. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes, until the top is golden and the center firm.
- Let the cake cool and then dust the top with powdered sugar.
3 Comments
Tante Hege
July 27, 2023 at 4:24 pm
Thank you Silvia, for wonderful company and delicious cakes! I have never had cardamom in a cake like this before! It was soooooo good, and super moist. Looking at it, you think it’s just another white cake, but then you take the first bite and, boom!, you are hit with moist delicious cardamom flavored goodness, and your cake repertoire has increased by one! Lol!
Phyllis Hampton
January 6, 2024 at 5:09 am
I lived in Astoria Oregon and would buy Cardamom bread,i love the bread hope this cake will have the same flavor of the bread.Thank you for sharing.
Jackie H
January 14, 2024 at 6:13 am
Delicious and deceptively easy! The flavors were sublime, lightly sweet and the texture moist. I love this cake. It will be a regular. Can’t wait to try it (tomorrow am) with coffee! Thank you for sharing!