Yogurt Almond Cake with Orange-Cardamom Syrup Glaze
This moist and flavourful cake is simply delicious on it’s own, but the orange-cardamom glaze and sprinkle of toasted almonds give an added depth to this dessert.
With more time to bake, I’ve been trying more recipes in the kitchen. I noticed had an oversupply of slivered almonds and a tub of Greek yogurt in the back of the fridge, so I knew I had to use it it some kind of dessert.
This “French-style” cake is simply scrumptious. After playing around with the recipe a few times (I added way too much oil the first time), I came out with a winner! Initially I was going to attempt a more frosted glaze with icing sugar, but wanted to keep this a little light and use flavours I don’t take advantage very often in the kitchen.
Enter orange and cardamom. For those of you not familiar, cardamom is a spice popular in many Indian and Middle Eastern cuisines. You can find them in either green or black pods, and their filled with tiny, black seeds.
Cardamom can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes, and popular in spice blends like garam masala and hot beverages, like chai. For this recipe I used seeds from green cardamom, since it’s more citrusy in flavour than the black variety, and used frequently in sweet dishes.
Making the “syrup glaze” is super-simple. The warm cardamom’s fragrance is infused in the orange juice as it simmers on the stove-top. Be sure to glaze your cake while it’s still warm, so that the spreads over the surface more easily and adds more moisture to the surface. I guess you’d call this more of a syrup than a glaze, but it’s a bit of both! The toasted almonds stick nicely to the top when sprinkled. A slice of this is perfect with a cup of tea!
Yogurt Almond Cake with Orange-Cardamom Syrup Glaze
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup canola oil (or any other flavourless oil)
- 3 large eggs beaten
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Syrup Glaze
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 cardamom pods smashed
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds toasted
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease and line an 8-inch cake pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and oil until properly combined. Add in the beaten eggs, yogurt and extracts and mix until smooth.
- Using a spatula, fold in the dry ingredients into the wet batter until everything is incorporated.
- Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake for 40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- While the cake is cooling in the pan, prepare the syrup glaze.
For the syrup glaze:
- Add orange juice, sugar, and cardamom to a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently.
- After 5-minutes, remove from heat and stir in orange zest.
- Line the bottom of your cooling rack with a baking sheet to catch any drips from the glaze. Transfer the cake to the cooling rack, and pour syrup glaze evenly over the surface.
- Sprinkle the toasted, sliced almonds on the warm glaze and allow cake to cool completely before serving.
Notes
- If you find that the cake is browning too much in the last 15 minutes of baking, loosely tent a piece of foil on top to help protect it.
- Sliced almonds don’t take too long to toast. You can do this for the first 5 minutes while the oven is preheating. Keep an eye on them though, they burn quick!