Orange and Cardamom Cake

LIGHT.
FRESH.
FRAGRANT

LIGHT.FRESH.FRAGRANT

This cake was created largely out of boredom!
Ok, perhaps boredom is a bit strong, but it was a least an attempt to try something a little different, without breaking the mould too much! Sandwich cakes of varying types are classics for a reason; they tend to be pretty popular and you know that, if you present one to a group, chances are most people will be excited to eat it. But sometimes, playing around with the same favourite flavours over and over again can be a little dull, so I was looking to create something a little out of the ordinary, but not too controversial!

That’s where the orange and cardamom come in!
Oranges are something everyone is familiar with, so you’re already in fairly safe territory there, while the cardamom is subtle enough to introduce it to newbies in an intriguing way! I’m not a huge fan of floral flavours, so I find that cardamom is fragrant enough to add freshness to your sponge, without overpowering it with perfumy tastes!
As a combo, it’s not actually that revolutionary, being used in many desserts around the world, but it’s not one that immediately springs to mind for a lot of non-foodies, making it just that little more interesting! On the other hand, if you’re already an orange and cardamom connoisseur, then you don’t need me to convince you that this cake is worth a try!

With a beautifully light sponge and fresh, summer flavours, I’ve suggested that you pair this cake with a vanilla creme mousseline as a distinct upgrade over a regular buttercream! This adds a richness to the cake that makes it just that much more pleasurable to eat and suggests that this is a treat to be savoured!
After a slice (or two if they’re lucky!), you should have convinced any skeptics that a little change can do you good!

In a hurry? Then here’s your recipe!

If you like to see some more tips and tricks, then scroll away for a bit of light reading!

Orange and Cardamom Cake
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Orange and Cardamom Cake

Recipe by Tom FletcherCuisine: CakeDifficulty: Easy
Servings

20

servings
Prep time

45

minutes
Cooking time

35

minutes

Lightly citrusy and heavily summery, this sponge is perfect if you fancy serving a twist on a classic sandwich cake!

Ingredients

  • For the sponge:

  • 75ml whole milk

  • 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

  • 300g unsalted butter, softened

  • 300g caster sugar

  • 4 medium eggs, beaten

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  • Zest of 4 oranges, finely grated

  • 300g self-raising flour

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • Pinch of salt

  • For the orange curd:

  • Zest of 4 oranges

  • Juice of 2 oranges (approx. 170ml)

  • 50g unsalted butter

  • 75g caster sugar

  • 1/8 tsp ground cardamom

  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

  • 1 medium egg, beaten

  • 1 egg yolk

  • For the vanilla creme mousseline:

  • 300ml whole milk

  • 1.5 tsp vanilla extract

  • 4 egg yolks

  • 70g caster sugar

  • 25g plain flour

  • 2 tsp cornflour

  • 135g unsalted butter, room temperature

  • For decoration:

  • 20g chopped pistachios (optional!)

  • Equipment:

  • 2x 8" cake tins

Directions

  • For the sponges:
  • Preheat the oven to 180C / 160C fan / Gas Mark 4.
  • In a small saucepan, add the milk and ground cardamom. Warm the milk gently over a low heat for 5 minutes, taking care not to boil it, then allow it to cool to room temperature.
  • In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light, fluffy and pale.
  • Add the beaten egg to the mixture a little at a time, beating the mixture until smooth between each addition.
  • Add the vanilla extract and orange zest to the mix and beat until combined.
  • Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into the bowl and gently beat until combined.
  • Pour the milk into the batter and gently beat until all of the milk has been incorporated.
  • Pour the batter into the lined tins and bake for 30-35 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake. The top of the cake should also spring back when lightly prodded with a finger.
  • Leave the cakes to cool in their tins for 10 mins, before removing and placing onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
  • For the orange curd:
  • Weigh the butter, sugar, orange zest, orange juice and spices into a small saucepan and place it over a low heat, stirring occasionally until the butter melts.
  • Whisking constantly, pour the beaten egg and egg yolk into the pan and continue to whisk until the curd thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
  • Pour the curd through a sieve into a heatproof bowl, gently stirring the contents of the sieve to ease the curd through. Allow the curd to cool slightly at room temperature, before placing in the fridge to chill.
  • For the creme mousseline:
  • Pour the milk and vanilla extract into a medium saucepan and place over a low heat, stirring occasionally until lightly steaming. Take care not to boil the milk.
  • In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour and cornflour. Whisk in the egg yolks to form a paste.
  • Whisking constantly, pour half of the milk into the egg yolk mixture. Continue to stir until the milk has combined, then pour this back into the pan.
  • Place the pan back over a low heat until the crème patissiere thickens. You will need to whisk constantly to prevent the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.
  • Pour the crème patissiere onto a heatproof bowl and place it the fridge until it cools to roughly room temperature.
  • Once cooled to room temperature, place the crème patissiere into a large mixing bowl. A cube at a time, add the butter to the mixture, beating constantly to ensure each piece of butter has been incorporated before adding the next. Continue to beat the creme mousseline until it is light in texture and holds its own shape. It will likely be easiest to use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer for this!
  • Assembly:
  • Fit a piping bag with a large, closed star piping tip and add the creme mousseline.
  • Trim the tops of each sponge so that they are level.
  • Place one sponge onto your plate / cake stand / cake board and pipe a ring of creme mousseline blobs around the perimeter of the cake.
  • Spoon enough of the orange curd onto the sponge to fill the ring formed by the creme mouselline and spread it out into a thin layer.
  • Pipe creme mousseline over the top of the orange curd and spread it out to be the same height as the ring of creme mousseline you piped earlier, making a flat surface to stack the next cake layer onto.
  • Flip the second cake layer top-down and lay it onto the first layer, so you have a flat, smooth top to your cake. Spread a thin layer of creme mousseline over the top of the sponge, before piping a creme mousseline border around its edge.
  • Spoon orange curd into the circle within your creme mousseline border and spread it out into a thin layer. Scatter some of the pistachios over the top of the piped border and serve!

Marvelous mousseline!

When you make this cake at home, you are more than welcome to substitute the creme mousseline for an alternative kind of buttercream, should you find the concept of the creme a little daunting! However, I think the creme mousseline is worth the effort; it just has a more "luxurious" texture and taste compared to other buttercreams due to its custard base, which really helps sell the idea of this being an upgrade to a standard sandwich cake.

Speaking of custard, you’ll also find that if you’ve made custard before, the creme mousseline is made using essentially the same process! For complete beginners though, the most useful tip to bare in mind is that you need to control your temperature! The ingredients themselves are simple to combine, but if you cook up too much of a heat, or even not enough, you’ll end up with slightly unusual results. So here are some tips on the temperatures you’re looking for at each stage of the process, so you can keep your cool in kitchen!
First of all, you want to heat your milk (with added vanilla) to “scalding”, which is a olde-fashioned style word for “lightly steaming”. You’ll know that the milk has reached this stage if you can see steam lightly rising from the pan, but the milk has not yet started bubbling. Once you are at this point, remove the pan from the heat! The first snagging point you will have just avoided is accidentally boiling the milk, which causes the fats and water within to seperate, leaving you with slightly lumpy milk; not what you want when trying to make a smooth custard! It can also affect the milks flavour, which isn’t what we are trying to achieve here; we’re happy with a creamy, vanilla taste!
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Once your milk is at scalding temperatures, you should be in a good position to combine it with the egg mixture in your mixing bowl! You’ll still have to do a bit of heat management, but this time in the opposite direction: you’ll want to start to cook the eggs in the residual heat of the milk, but not rapidly enough to scramble the eggs and create egg lumps in your custard!

To do this, gently pour half of your milk into the bowl in a steady stream, while whisking the eggs constantly. This will allow you to “temper” the eggs, gently heating them up ready for the next stage, without blasting them with the full heat of the milk straight away! The best way to think of this is to imagine that you are dipping your toes into a cold swimming pool; it would be a horrible shock to jump in straight away, but after dipping your toes in and acclimatising to the temperature, it doesn’t feel so bad to slide in!
So, once your eggs’ “toes” are sufficiently “dipped”, you can pour the egg mixture into the pan with the remaining half of the milk! You still need to whisk constantly though as this will help distribute the heat throughout the mixture and naturally cool it down by incorporating some of the cooler air from the room. If you are successful, the milk and egg mixture should be fully combined with no lumps in sight!
From here, the final step is to cook the eggs through and allow the cornflour to thicken up the creme pat. To do this, we need to heat the custard up to nearly boiling, but without overshooting the mark, or reaching it too quickly. As before, heating up the eggs too quickly will cause them the scramble into fine lumps, giving your creme patissiere a grainy texture with an unusual mouth feel, which is disappointing when you’re looking for more luxurious results. Likewise, making the mixture too hot will cause it to begin to separate, leading to a runny, even slightly watery, custard!
To prevent this, cook the custard over the lowest heat you can, while whisking constantly! Keeping the mix moving stops it sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning, while the low heat reduces the chances of your pan getting too hot and overcooking it.

However, should you start to see separation and/or lumps in the custard despite your best efforts, then don’t panic! You may still be able to save it if you remove the pan from the heat and dip it into cold water, ensuring that none of the water ends up in the pan. You can then whisk the mixture vigorously, rapidly cooling it down and beating the fats and water together. Ideally after a minute or so, it should begin to smooth out and leave you with a thick, glossy creme patissiere!
Once your creme patissiere is beautifully thick, allow it to cool to room temperature! I tend to start this off by placing it in the fridge for 5 minutes or so to speed up the process, before removing it and leaving it to cool at room temperature. To turn the creme patissiere into a creme mousseline, you’ll want the creme pat and the butter to both be at room temperature, so that they’ll easily beat together and the result becomes thick enough to hold its shape. If the creme pat is too hot, your butter will melt, leaving you with a thin, but delicious, mess that won’t be able to hold any air as you whip it! Should this happen to you however, you can place the mixture in the fridge for 5 – 10 minutes to allow the butter to firm up a little, before continuing with your recipe as per usual.

On the other hand, if either your creme patissiere or your butter is too cold when you combine them, the butter will start to firm up as you whisk, leaving you with lumps of butter in the creme mousseline! In this situation, I’d recommend that you scrape the creme mouselline into a heatproof bowl and heat it gently in the microwave or over a pan of boiling water, stirring it occasionally to melt the butter lumps back into the rest of the mixture. Allow it to cool to room temperature once more and you can try whisking it up again, though hopefully this time more successfully!

Rising to the occasion!

If you've followed one of my sandwich cake recipes before, or are already a well-versed cake maker, then you may already be aware of some of my top tips for achieving a beautifully light sponge! If not, fear not, for I have them available here too!
The trick to a light sponge is to trap as much air into your cake batter as possible, so that it enters the oven with plenty of tiny air bubbles inside. As the batter bakes, the bubbles expand, allowing your cake to rise in the oven. Once fully baked, the cake's structure will have set enough to hold its own shape, leaving your cake beautifully aerated! But, how do we add this air to the batter in the first place?

Well, to start, you want to cream your butter and sugar together until it is very light and fluffy. I tend to use a stand mixer with beater attachment for this, as machinery can whip up the mix far more efficiently than I ever could by hand! I set the stand mixer at a medium to high speed for around 5 minutes, after which your creamed butter should be nearly white in colour and look slightly fluffy in appearance! This is a great sign that we’ve trapped plenty of air in there, which will be the main contributor to our cake rising beautifully in the oven later on!
From there, we need to add our eggs! Beat the eggs together in a jug and pour a small amount of them into your bowl, perhaps around 1/5 of the jug. You then want to beat again on a medium – high speed until the egg is fully combined. The reason for this is twofold! Firstly, beating the mixture at a good speed will help introduce further air into the mix, making up for some of the air we will naturally lose as the eggs loosens the batter. Secondly, ensuring that the egg is fully incorporated before adding any more reduces the chances of the mixture curdling. Curdling (or splitting) is the breaking of the emulsion between the fat and water in the cake batter, the bonding of which was also naturally trapping the air we were beating in. So if your cake batter begins to split, you’ll begin to lose the air we introduced earlier, leading to a slightly more dense cake!

Repeat this process until you’ve added all of the egg to the batter. If you find that, despite your best efforts, the cake batter still appears to be curdling (ie. you can see little blobs forming in your batter, or your batter starts to look watery), add a tablespoon of your flour to it and beat slowly until the batter looks beautifully smooth again!

The final stage is to add your dry ingredients, for which we want to take a completely different approach! Once you’ve sifted the dry ingredients into the batter, you want to beat it at a very low speed, and only until the ingredients are just combined into the batter. This is because, the more you beat the flour, the more gluten will develop in your cake! Gluten is fantastic at binding bakes together and can actually help trap plenty of air, as it forms a network structure throughout your bake which hardens in the oven, preventing your hard work from crumbling apart before your eyes! However, in a cake, too much gluten will form too tight of a protein structure, which will lock down the structure of your cake before it has had it’s opportunity to rise beautifully in the oven on the back of the air we’ve whipped in, leading to dense results!

And here you are! Some terrifically tall sponges, ready for assembly! Once cooled, obviously!

I hope this helps make your sandwich sponge more special! If you have any questions, feel free to ask below!

Also, if you’re social media savvy, tag me on Instagram at @toofarfletched with your creations!

-Tom 😁

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Orange and Cardamom Cake