When I saw this Cardamom Coffee Cake on the Red Star Yeast website, I was excited for two reasons. First, I loved that the recipe used yeast to leaven the cake, but required no kneading. I certainly don’t mind kneading dough, but I was eager to try a no knead recipe. And the second reason? I adore cardamom.
Cardamom is a spice that I fell in love with a few years ago… It has a lovely exotic floral and slightly fruity aroma that pairs really well with warm spices like cinnamon and ginger. It is great for baking, and I love to add it to almost any recipe that contains cinnamon. I love the way it adds a whole new depth to the flavor of the dish.
I will be honest… I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when I made this recipe. I haven’t made many no knead recipes in the past, so I wasn’t sure what the texture of the cake would be like. But, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the cake had a nice delicate crumb and was very light in texture.
I also loved the flavor of the cake. It’s not super sweet like some coffee cakes can be… You can tell that just by looking at the amount of sugar in the recipe. I found the cake to be just sweet enough, with a lovely taste and aroma from the cardamom and other spices. Don’t love cardamom? I think you could leave it out and just up the cinnamon to 1 teaspoon instead. You’d still have a lovely cake with great flavor.
If you’ve never experimented with baking with yeast, I’d highly recommend giving this recipe a try. It’s a great place to start, and it comes together quickly in your stand mixer. You really can’t go wrong. Plus, you will certainly enjoy a slice or two of cake for breakfast or an afternoon snack. It’s perfect with a cup of coffee!
Cardamom Coffee Cake
Makes one large Bundt cake
(Recipe from Red Star Yeast, used with permission)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 4 cups bread flour, divided
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 4 1/2 teaspoons (2 packets) active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- Powdered sugar
Combine the water, milk, and butter in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave until the mixture reaches 120º – 130ºF. It’s OK if the butter does not melt.
Meanwhile, in the bowl of your stand mixer, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and spices (cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves). Beat for just a few seconds to mix the dry ingredients. Add the warm liquids and the eggs. Blend at low speed until just moistened. Then, increase the mixer to medium speed and beat for an additional 3 minutes.
Stir in the remaining flour by hand. You should have a stiff batter.
Spoon the batter into a well greased 12-cup Bundt pan. Cover, and let rise in a warm place until the batter is light and has doubled in size (approximately 1 1/2 hours).
At the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375ºF. Bake the cake for 30 – 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
Let the cake cool for a few minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
My Kitchen Addiction Disclosure – This post was sponsored by Red Star Yeast. Though I have been compensated to write this post, all opinions expressed are my own.
that looks yumm
So this is the post that had you tweeting about how pretty confectioners sugar looked on food but how it can also make a mess to clean up! This cake looks beautiful alright and it sounds delicious.
Paula – Yes, this was the post! :) There was powdered sugar *everywhere*!
Sigh, I love cardamom, and this looks so incredibly lovely. Wish I had a slice of it for breakfast this morning!
i love anything and everything cardamom so this is right up my alley!
I never made a cake with yeast before, but this lovely cake might change that soon! It looks light and delicious:)
It looks so tender! Heavenly.
Mmm. This cake looks scrumptious. And I love cardamom. What a lovely flavor for cake!
I’ve been dying to make a coffee cake forEVER! This is going into the “reader” list
Beautiful, Jen! I bet it was worth the mess :)
I bet this smelled divine while it was baking! Sounds like such a great flavor idea!
Jen, what a lovely cake! I wonder if you could separate the dough during the rising stage and add a layer of some yummy butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom & nut mixture for an extra crunchy component, almost like a monkey bread. That could be pretty spectacular (not that this cake isn’t already!).
Amber… That sounds delish, The batter has more of the consistency of a quick bread than a dough (almost like a thick banana bread). Though, in layers it could work… Not sure how it would rise. Sounds like a fun experiment to me. :)
I’ve never used yeast in a cake before, so curious as to how that changes the outcome.
A cake with yeast but no kneading? My kinda cake! Love the flavours!
I’m definitely making this one! I so rarely find a recipe that calls for cardamom, and I’m really intrigued by the yeast.
Slip the cake into a plastic grocery bag and sprinkle the confectioners sugar on it then there will not be a mess to clean up.
Wooooow , thanks alot , so far the best cake i have ever made. Having yeast in the cake makes it interesting and v light .
The cake tasted really good . The spices added a warm touch to the cake. Coming from the middle east This cake is really like the ones we make but we add zafraan and rose water too.
The cake was lightly sugared so I added a rose water glazed to make and decorated it with dried rose petals.
Using yeast in this cake made more interesting and gave it a nice look and light taste.
Cardamom is such an interesting flavor. It’s a great idea to use it for a coffeecake! Would it be okay to make it with regular flour instead of bread flour?
Hi, Deanna – Yes, I think the recipe would work with regular all purpose flour. The bread flour has a bit more gluten, which would help the cake rise, but I think that if you mix it well, the all purpose flour should work.
Ok, I just finished making and and eating a slice (or two) of this cake. Not as great as I was hoping for…a little salty and not sweet enough, and I’m a fan of not-too-sweet deserts. If I try it again I will up the sugar to one cup, reduce the salt to a scant 1 teaspoon and up the cardamom to 3 or even 4 teaspoons since I love the flavor or it.
It also proofed very fast for me, so actually over-proofed when I wasn’t looking. This is more of a bread, in my opinion, than a cake.