Cardamom Almond Tea Cake is a slice of heaven! Soft and moist with an amazing aromatic flavor from cardamom, this cake is incredibly easy to make! It's perfect for tea time or a quick little dessert for your festive table.
Cardamom brings a wonderful, heady aroma to any dessert you add it to like this saffron-baked yogurt, cardamom pistachio madeleines, or creamy orange kheer/pudding.
So, with Indian festivities around the corner, I was excited to bake with this fabulous fragrant spice again. And in it went into this moist almond cake.
With nutty goodness, gooey jaggery, and floral cardamom, the eggless cardamom almond cake is just palate-perfect for the festive season!
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Why We Love This Recipe
The soft cardamom cake recipe is super easy to make, no stand mixers or beaters, just 2 bowls and a spatula!
It's an eggless cake that works really well for the Indian festive season.
This is a perfect tea cake for any occasion, for a simple snack or a lovely dessert.
The flavors of almond and cardamom make this cake extra special!
Recipe Ingredients & Swaps
Flours: I used all-purpose flour here, but whole wheat works like a dream too.
No almond flour? Grind almonds at home as finely as you can. The texture will be grittier, but the cardamom-almond tea cake will still be delicious.
Cardamom: It’s the shining star of all cardamom cakes. Make sure to grind it fresh. Or use a store-bought cardamom powder.
Jaggery: I don’t use it much in cakes, but it worked beautifully. Not overly sweet, with a deep caramel flavor.
Granulated, cane, or coconut sugar are great substitutes. The cake's taste will be different but still scrumptious. The color will also differ according to the sugar used.
Greek yogurt: You can also use homemade and strained. The yogurt should be thick.
Almond extract: A little bit of almond extract goes a long way in this cardamom cake.
Coconut Oil: You can use any neutral-tasting vegetable oil.
Matcha: Matcha powder is here just for the color. Feel free to leave it out.
Make this cake vegan: Use plant-based milk ( like my homemade almond milk or cashew milk) in the glaze and plant-based yogurt in the cake batter.
How To Make Cardamom Almond Cake?
Step 1: Sift together the flours, baking powder, cardamom, baking soda, and salt.
Step 2: Add jaggery powder and stir that in well.
Step 3: In a different bowl, mix yogurt, oil, and almond extract.
Step 4: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until all the dry streaks disappear. Please don't overmix.
Step 5: Transfer the thick-ish almond cardamom cake batter into a well-greased 6-inch tin.
Step 6: Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached (about 30 to 35 mins).
Step 7: Let it cool in the tin and then transfer it to a wire rack.
Final step: Slice, serve, and enjoy!
How To Serve The Soft Cardamom Almond Cake
There is just something about almonds, cardamom, and jaggery coming together that gives it tons of flavor. Earthy, sweet, and nutty—you'll be absolutely smitten with it.
The cardamom almond cake is perfect as it is but you can dust it with powdered sugar or dress it up with cardamom glaze like I did!
The glaze is as simple as it can get!
Just mix a few teaspoons of milk with icing sugar, drops of almond extract, cardamom powder, and a hint of matcha powder.
We are using just a tiny bit of matcha powder here for the color. We’re not making a dessert with matcha. We’re using the grassy powder to flaunt its pale pistachio-green vibe to signify it’s a cardamom cake.
- Pour the thick matcha icing over the cake.
- Immediately top it with pomegranate arils and toasted almond flakes because the glaze sets quickly.
Pro Tips
- Don’t get whisk-happy, in other words, please don't over-mix the batter.
- Jaggery has a flair for clumping. Don’t be perturbed by them, as they create these lovely gooey pockets in the cake crumb that totally floor you!
- You don’t want the almond tea cake flavor to be camouflaged by matcha. Just a touch is all it takes. We are using it here only for color.
- The icing sets blazingly fast, so if you plan to dress up the cake, keep all your toppings handy.
- Press the toppings down (very, very gently) so they stick to the cake.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, 100%!
Cling wrap the almond cardamom cake after it’s cooled on the wire rack and slide it into the fridge. Whenever you’re ready to serve, bring it back to room temperature, glaze, cut, and serve.
This cake is good for 2-3 days on the countertop. You can store it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The glaze will keep it soft and moist.
Jaggery gives a wonderful deep, earthy caramel flavor to this cardamom almond cake. But you can easily substitute with granulated sugar or use cane or coconut sugar.
📖 Recipe
Cardamom Almond Tea Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup All-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup Almond flour
- 1.5 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1.5 tsp Cardamom powder
- 1/2 cup Jaggery powder
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/3 cup Coconut oil You can also use neutral tasting vegetable oil.
- 1/2 tsp Almond extract
Cardamom Glaze
- 1/4 cup Icing sugar
- 2-3 tsp Milk
- 1/2 tsp Cardamom powder
- 3-4 drops Almond extract
- 1/4 tsp Matcha powder or green food color Optional as this is only for color
Toppings
- Toasted almond flakes, Pomegranate arils
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 6" cake tin.
- Sift the flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom powder, and salt in a bowl.
- Whisk in the jaggery powder.
- In another bowl, whisk together yogurt, coconut oil, and almond extract.
- Pour over the dry ingredients and gently mix. Do not overmix.
- Pour into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before turning it out on a cooling rack.
- Pour the glaze over the completely cooled cake. Top with toasted almond flakes and pomegranate arils.
- Slice and serve. Enjoy!
Cardamom Glaze
- Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl, until you get a smooth, thick mixture.
Video
Notes
- Jaggery gives a wonderful deep, earthy caramel flavor to this cake. But you can easily substitute with granulated sugar or use cane sugar or coconut sugar.
- Please don't overmix the batter.
- The glaze sets very quickly so add the toppings as soon as you glaze the cake.
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