Chocolate And Cardamom Cake

by SuperValu

This cake batter is ideal as a base for birthday cakes and can be made two days in advance.

9 people 40 minutes 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Butter for greasing
4 - Cardamom Pods crushed
250 g Caster Sugar
75 g Cocoa Powder
3 - Eggs
0.5 tsp Ground Cloves
1 tbsp Instant Coffee
1 - Lime zest and juice
350 g Plain Flour
0.5 tsp Salt
120 g Soft Light Brown Sugar
50 g SuperValu Goodness Pistachio Nuts chopped
250 g SuperValu Icing Sugar
250 g Unsalted Butter softened
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
210 ml Vegetable Oil
240 ml Water boiling

For The Icing:

200 g White Chocolate

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Grease 2 x 24cm cake tins and line with non-stick baking paper. Alternatively, you could use silicone pans, in which case there’s no need to grease or line them.
Mix together the coffee, cardamom and boiling water in a large mug. Allow to cool, then remove the cardamom pods. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking soda, cloves and salt.
In a large jug, mix together the coffee, eggs, oil and vanilla. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together until well combined.
Divide the batter between the cake tins and bake in the oven for 35 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let the cakes sit in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool.
To make the icing, break the white chocolate into small pieces and melt in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Once the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the pan and let the chocolate cool to room temperature.
Using a hand-held mixer, put the butter in a medium-sized bowl and beat on a low speed until soft, then add the icing sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Add the cooled melted chocolate and lime juice and beat on a low speed until fully combined.
Spread half of the white chocolate icing on top of one of the cakes, then put the second cake on top and spread the remaining icing on top of that. Sprinkle the pistachios and lime zest over the top to decorate.