I made a chocolate tart flavoured with cardamon and served it with rose loukoumi ice cream and a Greek coffee soil for a dinner that MasterChef hosted for spice merchants and experts and the dessert was a great success. This time, I thought that I would incorporate all these flavours in a cake to celebrate International Chocolate Cake Day.
If you don’t have Greek coffee, use the same quantity of strong black coffee to which, whilst still hot add the crushed cardamom pods and leave to go cold.
Ingredients
- 160g plain flour
- 160g granulated sugar
- 50g cocoa
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 50g Greek yogurt
- 75ml full fat milk
- 100ml Greek coffee
- 6 cardamom pods, crushed
- 150ml vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- A knob of butter for greasing the cake tin
For the ganache
- 100ml double cream
- 200g white chocolate buttons
- A few drops rose water
- A few drops food colour, pink
Method
Start by making the Greek coffee. In a small pot, add 200ml of water, 2 and ½ tsp of Greek coffee powder and the crushed cardamom pods. Heat slowly and remove from the heat just as it is about to boil. Pour into a cup or glass and leave to cool and for the sediment to settle. When the coffee has cooled, remove any floating coffee powder from the top and take 100ml of clear coffee. Discard the rest.
Preheat the oven to 1800C.
Grease a pretty bundt tin and use 20g of the cocoa to dust it with.
In a bowl sieve all the dry ingredients, including the remaining cocoa powder.
In another, large bowl beat the egg and add the remaining wet ingredients. Whisk with an electric mixer to incorporate fully. You should have a pale, fluffy looking liquid. Add all the dry ingredients to the bowl and whisk for a minute to fully incorporate.
Empty the cake mix to the tin and bake for 40 minutes. Test that a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool for a few minutes and turn upside on a cake stand.
To make the ganache, bring the cream to boiling point in a saucepan and take away from the heat. Empty the white chocolate into the hot cream and leave to stand for a few seconds. Add some rose water, 2-3 drops at a time as they do come in different strengths and finally a couple of drops of pink gel food colouring. Leave the ganache to cool a little and thicken and spoon over the chocolate cake. Sprinkle with some dried rose petals if you have.