Lemon Cardamom Drizzle Cake

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This Lemon Cardamom Drizzle Cake is a delicious twist on the classic British cake. Fluffy, moist and full of flavour – it’s a total star bake!

Lemon Cardamom Drizzle Cake - a delicious twist on the classic British cake! Moist, light, and full of flavour, it's a real star bake!

I am starting off my Great British Bake Off challenge with a real kicker, lemon and cardamom drizzle cake! The theme for last week’s GBBO was cake of course and I knew I wanted to make a British classic and decided on lemon drizzle cake. I wanted to give it a little depth though and make it a little more interesting and I thought cardamom would do just that, so this Lemon Cardamom Drizzle Cake was born!

Lemon Cardamom Drizzle Cake - a delicious twist on the classic British cake! Moist, light, and full of flavour, it's a real star bake!

The cake is moist and crumbly with a sharp, tart lemon flavour, just like a lemon drizzle cake should be. Then the cardamom brings in a subtle undertone that really gives depth to the flavour without taking away any of the tartness from the lemon. Lemon and cardamom really do compliment each other, it’s definitely a flavour profile I’ll be using more often. 

Lemon Cardamom Drizzle Cake - a delicious twist on the classic British cake! Moist, light, and full of flavour, it's a real star bake!

 

Pancake Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting and Lemon Syrup

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This is a really simple recipe to do, as you want the sponge to be nice and light you start with creaming the butter and sugar together and then beating the eggs and zest. You fold in the flours by hand so you don’t over mix it, then you stir in the juices and cardamom and you’re ready to bake. The cardamom comes in pods that you have to split open to get the seeds, then you have to grind the seeds into a powder before you put them into the cake. This was a great excuse for me to buy a mortar and pestle since I didn’t already own one and have always wanted one! While the cake is baking you make up the simple syrup of sugar, lemon juice and a little more cardamom so it’s ready to pour onto the warm cake when it comes out of the oven! And thus, a Lemon Cardamom Drizzle Cake is born!

Lemon Cardamom Drizzle Cake - a delicious twist on the classic British cake! Moist, light, and full of flavour, it's a real star bake!

 

Now, obviously Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood can’t try my Lemon Cardamom Drizzle Cake to give me feedback, but I’d like to imagine they would say it was perfectly baked with a great moist crumb and brilliant flavours, because that’s what I would say about it! Maybe next year I’ll apply to go on and get their real feedback! I did get some great, non imaginary feedback too. My sister’s loved it even though they were upset I didn’t bring chocolate cake, I believe my older sister’s words were “it’s really good for not being a chocolate cake!” I’ll take that as a compliment, I think! She did have two slices after all. I think the best feedback came from my five year old niece, Leah, though. I didn’t think she’d like it because I thought the the very tart flavour would be a bit much for somebody so young, plus she’s a very fussy eater, but she loved it and asked for seconds! My mum also took some into work today and her colleagues loved it, she said they were all very glad I was back in the UK (as they get most of the fruits of my baking!). So I may not have gotten feedback from the GBBO judges, but I’m happy with the feedback I did get! Here is my hardest critic enjoying the cake: 

Lemon Cardamom Drizzle Cake - a delicious twist on the classic British cake! Moist, light, and full of flavour, it's a real star bake!

 

I guess now it’s your turn to judge! You are my GBBO judges for the week so please do let me know what you think of this Lemon Cardamom Drizzle Cake recipe. And if you give it a go let me know how it turned out for you of course! 

Lemon and Cardamom Drizzle Cake
Yields 2
A British classic with a twist
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For the cake
  1. 185g unsalted butter, room temperature
  2. 1 tbsp lemon zest
  3. 220g caster sugar
  4. 3 large eggs, room temperature
  5. 225g self raising flour
  6. 75g plain flour
  7. 60g almond flour
  8. 4tbsp milk
  9. 100ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
  10. 25ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  11. 1 tbsp green cardamon pods
For the syrup
  1. 110g caster sugar
  2. 75ml lemon juice
  3. 1 tbsp water
  4. 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
  5. Paired zest of a lemon
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 200C/380F. Line a loaf tin with parchment paper.
  2. Start by splitting the cardamom pods and removing the seeds. Put the seeds in the mortar and grind until they are a fine powder, you will end up with about 1/2 tbsp ground cardamom. Set aside.
  3. Put all the flours in a bowl and gently use a whisk to mix them together, set aside.
  4. Beat the sugar, butter and lemon zest together until pale and fluffy
  5. Beat the eggs in one at a time until fully combined
  6. Gently fold in the flours by hand until all combined and no dry pockets remain
  7. Add the milk, juices and cardamom and beat with a wooden spoon to combine
  8. Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the sponge is springy and a skewer comes out clean.
  9. While the cake is baking, put the syrup ingredients into a saucepan and heat on medium-high until all the sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let simmer for 5 minutes.
  10. Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before carefully removing from tin.
  11. Place a tray under the wire rack and poke lots of holes in the cake with a tooth pick or thin cake skewer, then pour the syrup over the cake. The tray will catch any syrup that rolls off the cake, which you can then re-pour over the cake until it's all in the cake
Notes
  1. Poking holes in the cake will help the cake absorb more syrup
  2. Pour the syrup while the cake is still warm from the oven as it will absorb the syrup easier
  3. This recipe makes enough for two small loaf tins
  4. Cardamom is a very potent spice, use it sparingly so you don't over power the cake with it. If you do want a slightly stronger cardamom taste use about another tsp of pods.
  5. Will keep in an airtight container for 3-5 days
A Tipsy Giraffe https://www.atipsygiraffe.com/

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Lemon Cardamom Drizzle Cake - a delicious twist on the classic British cake! Moist, light, and full of flavour, it's a real star bake!

 

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34 comments

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  5. Kaila (GF Life 24/7) says:

    I’m so excited to follow your GBBO challenge! This is certainly a classic dish, and I’m glad your hardest critic enjoyed the cake. She’s certainly the most important one. 🙂

    Thanks for sharing the recipe. I love my mortar and pestle, so the picture of that in action was pretty cool too. Happy FF, and have a wonderful weekend!

    Reply
    • Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says:

      Thank you Kaila! I’m currently trying to decide what to do for this week’s challenge, it’s biscuit week!

      I’m definitely going to hunt out more reasons to use my mortar and pestle, I love it already!!
      Have a great weekend, Kaila, thank you for stopping by!!

      Reply
  6. Lina | StrictlyDelicious says:

    What a crazy unique flavor combination! I’ve got to try this one! I looooove lemon anything, and as always, you hit this one out of the park. And I’m not the only one who thinks so; those look like some hard critics! Cant wait to try 🙂

    Reply
  15. Selma | Selma's Table says:

    Hey, welcome back to the UK and GBBO!! Your cake looks and sounds fabulous – I did something similar with orange and cardamom but not with almond meal – it is a great flavour profile. Looking forward to GBBO tomorrow -it’s the bread challenge I believe. Thanks for sharing this lovely cake with so many people confirming how tasty and moist it was! Happy Fiesta Friday!

    Reply
  16. Sarah's Kitchen says:

    I’ll be your judge: “It is freaking perfect!”
    😀 It really looks so good!
    So glad to hear your family enjoyed the cake 🙂
    It would be awesome if you participate GBBO next year 😮 I will definitely be watching then!

    Reply
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