Cardamom Cake with Cacao Fudge Frosting

To celebrate my birthday this year, I’ve decided to stack it high and keep it sweet and mostly healthy (what?!) with my Cardamom Cake with Cacao Fudge Frosting. This light, delicate cardamom cake has the perfect crumb and marries beautifully with a quick, delicious cacao fudge frosting. The ingredient list will surprise you in the best way possible. With no processed sugar, no butter and no dairy, you’ll probably give yourself permission to eat a few extra slices. 

A layer cake is certainly a labor of love. I got into a habit a couple years ago of pushing myself to make one every month. Well, life happened, I got pregnant and extremely nauseous and cake took a back burner. But when I decided to make my birthday cake this year (birthday is August 11), I wanted to get back to that confidence I had once achieved in making an impressive layer cake.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m a terrible cake decorator. But the more I try, the better they get each time. Fake it till you make it…or cover it in sprinkles. Both work.

Anyways, this cake came together so much easier than I had imagined.

I was inspired when I saw Sneh’s Raw Cacao Fudge Frosting on Instagram weeks ago. I remember looking at that beautiful photo, pulling up the recipe right then and there, reading it and then leaving that browser window up in my phone. I kept it up, constantly reminding myself that I needed to make that frosting.

Cardamom is one of my favorite flavors, and I especially love when it pairs with something rich like chocolate. So, I took my Lavender Lemon Cupcakes recipe (because the texture is on pointe), fiddled it into a cardamom cake batter, and voila!

Pairing the cardamom cake and the fudge frosting together was perfection. The frosting is so silky and rich, with nothing but bold, true flavors. The cake is light, moist and slightly floral. They marry perfectly.

One of the things I love the most is that both of these recipes aren’t terribly “bad” for you. In fact, I don’t see anything in either recipe that would drench me in guilt if I decided to go on a cake bender and eat the whole damn thing myself. Don’t put it past me. The frosting is dates, cashews and coconut cream with cocoa powder (she used cacao, I used the crude easier-to-find cocoa), the cake is a blend of gluten free flours, a bit of coconut sugar and some coconut oil for the fat… you really can’t go wrong here.

 

A note on stacking up and frosting a layer cake: I am no expert, once again. But wait, how did I pull this off? I pieced together years of trying, a few cake decorating classes I’ve taken, and some other bloggers’ helpful advice. I’d highly recommend Joy the Baker’s advice on frosting layer cakes. She’s the bomb.

Quick note number two would be about how do actually decorate your creation. Honestly, I love sprinkles. And if you saw me decorating the cake on Instagram, you know I was racking my brain on this cake. Because I was so torn! Sprinkles, chocolate shavings, giant chocolate pieces, truffles, LaraBar bites that look like truffles but they’re actually dates and nuts and chocolate so they’re healthier…? So many options. So I guess what I’m trying to say is, there’s no wrong choice. Hell, throw everything chocolate-looking on top and call it art. I just want a piece when it’s done. So chill out and have fun with it. Or, if you’re Molly, make an impeccably molded marzipan scene to top it with.

 I hope you’re watching the Olympics! Have a wonderful week!