The day I made this Cardamom Coconut-water Cake was a rather excellent day.
I got a puffy envelope in the mail from my niece, CW. She sent me a super cool painting encrusted with black sparkles. I love this painting!
CW, you rock. Thank you from Auntie Fozz. Tell your mom you deserve cookies with pink sprinkles on them daily. And while we’re at it, CW, tell your mom you still recall that awesome non-treehugger ketchup your fabulous Aunt Fozzie let you sample in NYC. Also tell her…whoops, sorry about that.
Wanna see what pink-cookie happiness looks like?
I’d been thinking about making a light, fluffy cake and since my day started with art I decided to get creative. Lately, I have a crush on cardamom. I’m always amped about fruits I haven’t experimented with yet and I had a young coconut I wanted to try. Clearly, I was undeterred by the challenges of new ingredients.
I watched this video tutorial on how to open a young coconut that did not involve a screwdriver but I didn’t exactly dole the death blow with my knife. I hate to say it but I wimped out as I was about to whomp a blade into the coconut so I ended up with a nick rather than a clean dig. Enter the screwdriver.
Worked. Everything worked that day. The sun shot through the gray, morning sky and whipped the haze into cartoon cloudpuffs. I got art. And my Cardamom Coconut-water Cake turned out fluffy with a gentle whisp of cardamom and a quiet hint of coconut.
I spent a little extra time prepping the spices and got out the screwdriver for this cake. I had whole vanilla beans and cardamom in the pods, a gift from Belle-Mere, brought back from a spice store she visited in Dubai. Belle-Mere is my husband’s mother but don’t you go thinking of her as…put on the earmuffs, Belle-Mere…mother-in-law. She didn’t like the sound of that so we’ve opted to go French even if I can’t figure out how to add a frenchy, left-angled dash over the first “e” of Mere.
It’s so cool to cut fresh cardamom pods open and see the black seeds, exotic and fragrant. Like I said, I have a crush on cardamom. And whole vanilla bean is intoxicating. If you haven’t sliced open a whole vanilla pod to reveal the black, sticky beans inside then I think you should just so you can breathe in the fat scent of fresh vanilla.
Cardamom Coconut-water Cake bakes up light, not too sweet and is best when served with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. I had a slice with coffee while I chillaxed in the early evening sun feeling lucky, loved and all sorts of pink-cookie happy.
See what a little sparkly art can do for a day? I’m sparkling right back at ya, CW.
Recipe: cardamom coconut-water cake
Summary: cardamom and coconut water cake
Ingredients
- seeds from 2 cardamom pods
- beans scraped from 3 inch piece of whole vanilla
- coconut water from 1 young coconut
- 1 1/3 cups unbleached flour
- 1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1/2 Tablespoon coconut butter
- 2 eggs
- 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Open the young coconut and empty the coconut water into a small saucepan
- Add the cardamom seeds and vanilla beans
- Bring to a boil then reduce to slow simmer
- Simmer gently, uncovered for 15 minutes
- Strain liquid and set aside
- Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside
- Use a mixer to cream together butter, coconut butter, eggs, vanilla extract and sugar
- Add the liquid that you steeped the cardamom and vanilla in and beat to blend. It’ll look funny at first but just continue to beat the mixture till it looks light and creamy.
- Gently fold the dry ingredients (flour, powder, salt mixture) into the butter, eggs, etc…mixture till it is blended. Refrain from overmixing.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees or until a skewer comes out clean and the top of the cake is golden.
- Cool on a rack
- Serve with fresh whipped cream
Preparation time: 25 minute(s)
Cooking time: 30 minute(s)
Culinary tradition: USA (General)
Copyright © fatpiginthemarket.
Recipe by fat pig.
Microformatting by hRecipe.
Your niece is so cute. Regarding the cake-I really admire your dedication with the fresh coconut! Don’t you love it when culinary skills and fresh ingredients come together-this was spot on. I have bookmarked this to make on a special occasion. Thanks for sharing buzz!
My niece is ridiculously cute! Thanks for the comment!
what a beautiful cake, it looks so light and flavorful! Your niece is so cute, and how great is it to receive a little package like that from your niece, with her handiwork, it must have really made your day! thanks so much for sharing it with us
Dennis
Oh, how I love your blog. Love. Love. Love. *hopping from foot to foot* I’ve been gone but I’m back now.
I love cardamom, too! I experimented with it for the first time a few months back in a cupcake with apples and frosting and all sort of goodness and fell in love. It’s so warm and tingly and stuff! Sort of reminds me of the holidays and soft puppies. Yikes, coconuts are a pain to open, huh? I’m always feeling lazy to buy and crack one open as my husband does not like the coconut. :-/
OOOHHHH beautiful cake. Great job =)
I don’t know what I like more– your writing or cool recipes. I can’t wait to try this one! Right up my alley and down my block….
Here are two questions (is it ok if I ask questions where I should just be commenting?):
If I only had ground cardamom, would that suffice, and how much? Just curious.
And if your cake were being held for ransom until you could come up with some jazzy use for the creamy young coconut meat (that sounds weird, but I do love that stuff) alongside the recipe– like with or in lieu of the cream– then what might you do? Just curious. I like that stuff and have few clues how to use it. Thanks!
Hello Wonder Wheel! I’d try a generous, as in heaping, 1/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom. Okay…I’ll meet your ransom demand…I’d try blending the creamy young coconut meat (totally sounds weird…I’m gonna get lots of spam for this, I bet) with sugar, vanilla sugar if you have it, and some of the coconut water then freeze that concoction into a granita. C’mon I know you like that idea…what do you say…can I have my cake back now? You can have a big, fat slice or two.
Ok, you can have your cake (back) and eat it, too. Thanks a lot. And now I am seriously intrigued by whatever the Sam Cain “vanilla sugar” is…! Sounds dangerous in the good, addictive way. You’re like the teacher every kid wants when they get to fifth grade. “Now today, kids, we shall lobotomize a coconut with a screwdriver and then proceed to freeze the contents with vanilla planifolia and Saccharum officinarum….” (yes, I am a big nerd and looked them up.)
Thanks again.
The Wordly Wise Owl just gave you a shout out. Hoot hoot!
Cardamon , coconut water and vanilla. Love the combination of all the ingredient. Mmmm…..
Hi,
I came across this recipe while looking for a cake to bake with coconut water. I think yours looks delicious and I’d love to make it, but I don’t know how much water does a coconut yield. I am going to use a can (yes, heresy I know) of coconut water that was given to me, so if you could say how much water approximately do you need for the cake, I’d be very thankful!
Hello,
Use 3/4 cup of coconut water which will reduce a bit (not dramatically…just a bit) when you boil the coconut water and steep the cardamom seeds in it. Hope you like it and thanks for trying out my recipe!
This is looks a great recipe and I would love to bake this up! What size pan did you bake this in?
Jennifer in NYC, sorry it took me so long to answer your question. I was traveling for work. I used an 8″ diameter spring form pan which translates to 20 cm. if that’s your measuring style. This cake does not need to be baked in a spring form pan. I was just using what I had on hand. Thanks for asking and please let me know how the cake turns out if you make it! Oink!
This cake is so exotic and beautiful – looks very fresh, light and crumby
Bookmarked!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru