I spotted the amazing Moomin Cookbook on my friend Jess’s shelf. Curious to discover what moomins eat I discovered this gorgeous recipe for lingdonberry and cardamom cake. It’s a traditional Finnish recipe, yet another country I am still yet to visit.
Unfortunately the only place I have seen lingdonberries is Ikea and that was in jam form so I substituted to the extreme using a combination of blueberries and dried cranberries.
The most time consuming part was grinding the cardamom pods ( I lost count of how many I smashed to produce 2tsp of ground cardamom) and the cloves. I have a feeling I was a bit over enthusiastic with the addition of cloves but it added a wonderfully Christmassy aroma to the kitchen (and the final cake).
grinding cardamon and cloves
After my pestle and mortar workout all that was left to do was mush up the berries, then beat all of the ingredients together in one bowl. Wonderfully quick and little mess too!
If I was in less of a hurry I would have used my stick blender to blitz the berries but as I was in a rush I just used the back of fork… Not the best way to mush up dried fruit. Perhaps I should have soaked the cranberries in juice beforehand.
The recipe called for a greased and dusted (with semolina) loose bottomed tart tin. I paid little attention to these directions and subsequently forgot to add a dusting of semolina to my tin. I also forgot to use the specified tin and ended up with making use of my favourite bundt tin (again!)
To compensate for the tin difference I baked the sponge for a slightly shorter period of time and when the skewer came out clean from the cake, I knew it was baked through.
This was so much quicker and non of the hassle of lining tins with greaseproof paper. I recently indulged in a can of baking spray to grease my cake tins with (or ‘quick release spray’) as it was half price and it makes such a difference. Very quick and easy to use. Perfect for when I’m in a hurry, which is most days. No buttery fingers produced either!
I was worried that the lack of semolina in my tin would mean the cake stuck but it simply slid out as soon as I turned tin over onto my cooling rack. Effortless baking. Just how I like it, which meant I could cook tea whilst whipping this cake up simultaneously. (I just can’t stop multitasking!)
It’s recommended that you leave the cake for a day to develop the favours. I successfully managed to resist cutting into it all night. However I was a little worried that the cloves might be a bit overpowering in this recipe, having never baked with cardamon before I wasn’t sure what to expect….
I loved the combination of the spices, the cloves definitely come through first with a tingly punch, while the cardamon and ginger add gentle undertones of warmth. It went well with the terrible weather we’ve been having in England recently, rain, rain and more rain along with snow in some places! But equally now the sun is shining I could merrily munch on a slice of berry and cardamon cake with a cup of tea. Spicy and fruity and moist. What could be better? No wonder the Moomins love Lingdonberry and cardamom cake!
Things I used to make Berry and Cardamon cake.
* 2tsp baking powder
* 250g brown sugar
* 250g plain flour
* 2tsp ground ginger
* 2tsp ground cloves
* 2tsp ground cardamom seeds
* 2tsp ground cinnamon
* 50g of blueberries (pureed/mushed) – if you can find lingdonberries just use 50 g of these as a puree)
* 10g dried cranberries (pureed/mushed)
* 200ml single cream
* 2eggs
* 90g melted butter
* One bundt tin
* One oven heated to 175 degrees c
* Bake for 1 hour or until cake is cooked all the way through
* This recipe was lovingly adapted from The Moomins Cookbook
