Cardamom Spiked Cake//Rhubarb Compôte Filling//White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream between the layers//Rhubarb + White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream on the outside
*More photos to come (in the coming few days) of the inside of the cake.
If you're a fan of “a little different” and supremely delicious flavour combinations, you're in for a treat. Inspired by my Cardamom + Rhubarb Brown Butter Blondies—a favourite of mine—I felt inspired to take these incredible flavours to the next level. Over the years, I’ve made single-layer, rustic, cardamom and rhubarb cakes (some with a crumble on top, others with whole pieces of rhubarb baked in, and dusted with powdered sugar). But this time, I wanted to create something more refined—a layered cake with buttercream.
This elegant cake is a harmonious blend of freshly ground cardamom and tart rhubarb, a pairing that is nothing short of magical. The cake layers themselves are infused with the warm, aromatic spice of cardamom, providing an incredibly soft and moist base that you'll find utterly irresistible.
Between these tender layers is a luscious white chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream, known for being the creamiest and silkiest buttercream in the world. Nestled within this buttery goodness is a tangy-sweet rhubarb compôte filling, adding a delightful contrast in texture and flavour.
To top it all off, the cake is encased in a rhubarb + white chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream, which not only looks stunning but also offers a subtle textural surprise with bits of rhubarb compôte throughout.
Freshly ground cardamom brings an unparalleled depth of flavour, complementing the rhubarb in the most wonderful way. The result is a cake that is soft, moist, and bursting with unique, delightful flavours. Whether you're a fan of cardamom, rhubarb, or simply love trying new and exciting desserts, this cake is sure to impress and become a favourite in your recipe collection.
Now go run to the store and pick yourself up some rhubarb, the season’s end is fast approaching!
Recipe:
Makes 1 6-inch (3 layer) cake
Notes
Video link to demonstrate how to fold egg whites into cake batter, for those who haven’t done this before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfgz10xdq6k Skip to the 2 minute 45 second mark.
Make sure that the bowl used for the egg whites, as well as the beaters, are perfectly clean. Even trace amounts of a fat can hinder the whites from whipping into stiff peaks.
Top tip for room-temperature eggs: if ever you don’t have the time to take them out of the fridge early enough, or yet if you forget, you can place them in a bowl covered with hot water for 5 minutes, and they will become room-temperature just like that!
Similarly, if your cream is cold from the fridge at the time that you’re ready to bake, just lightly heat it in a saucepan until room-temperature.
I often place the melted coconut oil in the fridge to hurry up the process of it coming to room temperature.
I specify the type of salt used, as different salts are more or less salty than others. If you don’t have the same kind of salt used, be mindful of this and adjust accordingly. Generally speaking, pink Himalayan salt is less salty than most others.
As an alternative to doing the Swiss meringue buttercream, you can go another route in terms of the buttercream base/type. I've also tried this cake with my classic buttercream that's cut with a bit of cream cheese, and it's just as delicious! I'll pop a link here to that recipe. You'll just have to make it without the cardamom, and add the white chocolate and rhubarb! I would also suggest decreasing the sugar quanitiy, as both the white chocolate and compôte contain sugar. https://www.ellafika.com/post/cinnamon-bun-swirl-cake-with-a-cardamom-sea-salt-buttercream
Rhubarb Compôte
Ingredients
425 g rhubarb, diced
120 g sugar
1 tbsp + 2 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt (pink Himalayan)
Instructions
Place rhubarb, sugar, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium-low heat, lid on, stirring every now and again, for 15 minutes.
Remove lid and simmer for a final 2 minutes to allow any remaining liquid to evaporate.
Stir in the salt, transfer compôte to a small bowl, and refrigerate until ready to use.
Cardamom Spiced Cake
Ingredients
110 g coconut oil (measured before melting)
230 g cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 + 1/8 tsp salt (pink Himalayan)
25 medium pods of cardamom
4 egg whites, room temperature
60 g butter, room temperature
330 g sugar
1 cup (250 g) full-fat cream, room temperature
3 tbsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and ensure that oven rack is positioned in the middle.
Butter and flour 3 6-inch baking tins.
Melt coconut oil in a small saucepan. Pour into a small bowl to cool completely.
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine.
Cut open the cardamom pods and finely grind using a mortar and pestle. Whisk into the flour mixture.
Place egg whites in a very clean medium bowl and set aside.
Place butter in a large bowl, and beat on high speed with an electric mixer for 30 seconds.
Add in sugar and cooled oil. Beat on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds.
Add in vanilla extract. Beat for 30 more seconds.
Add in dry ingredients and cream, alternating in additions—do 3 rounds of dry ingredients, and 2 rounds of cream (begin and end with dry ingredients). Each addition should be fully combined on low speed. Do not over mix.
With fresh, clean beaters, beat egg whites on high speed with an electric mixer until stiff, about 2-3 minutes. If you’re not sure if your whites are stiff enough, know that you should be able to turn the bowl completely upside-down without anything budging.
Gently incorporate whites into the cake batter, using a spatula, until fully combined. [For those new to baking—see notes for a link to a video showing how to do this. That is, there’s a specific technique to it to avoid bursting the air bubbles in the whites.]
Pour batter evenly into the 3 cake tins. If you feel like being very precise, you can use a kitchen scale.
Place cake tins in the oven, and bake for 24 minutes.
Remove cake from oven, and let cool for 15 minutes.
Remove from tins, and transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Rhubarb White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Notes
So you are going to start by making a white chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream—this is what you will spread and pipe between the cake layers. You will then fill the 2 “wells” that you will have created with rhubarb compôte, and place those 2 cake layers in the fridge to chill. The remaining compôte is to be whipped into the remaining buttercream, and that’s what you will frost the outside of the cake with. I like to do it this way, as I think that it’s nice to have the neutral creamy flavour of the simple white chocolate buttercream to balance out the sharp rhubarb compôte. And then I love the flavour, texture, and slight acidity of the compôte mixed into the buttercream on the outside! Just a nice contrast. So good.
Use good quality white chocolate please. My favourite is Green & Blacks vanilla bean white chocolate (it’s organic). Besides the taste, some white chocolates with weird fillers don’t melt properly. Callebaut is a good second option—it's far less expensive.
Ingredients
6 egg whites
350 g sugar
480 g unsalted butter, room temperature
165 g white chocolate
1/4 tsp salt (pink Himalayan)
Remaining rhubarb compôte, once the cake is filled (preferably room temperature)
Instructions
Place the egg whites and sugar in a clean and heat-proof bowl, set over a saucepan of simmering water. Make sure that the water level is low enough that it doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl.
Whisk continually until the sugar has dissolved (using clean hands, pinch the mixture and rub your fingers together—if it’s not granular, it’s done).
Remove the bowl from the heat, and beat it on high with electric beaters until you have a solid meringue, and the bowl is cool to the touch. This could take up to 10 minutes. (This is when I smile to myself I have a KitchenAid stand mixer, and can leave it to do the work while I go clean the kitchen, and melt the white chocolate!)
While the whites are whipping, melt your chocolate in a Bain Marie (or a microwave would work too—but I don’t do microwaves). If you’re whipping the egg whites with a hand mixer, then do this after step 5—we want the white chocolate to be warm, so I do it at the last second.
Once the egg whites are stiff, start adding in your butter, about a tablespoon at a time. Fully incorporate each one before adding in the next. The texture is going to change (for the worse). Don’t stress, it’ll come together in the end. This is one of those it gets worse before it gets better things. It’s ready when it becomes super thick and solid—you’ll notice a marked change when it finally comes together.
Beat in the (warm) melted white chocolate and salt. Watch the texture loosen up and become so gorgeously silky!
At this point, we are going to create the “wells” that fill the cake. Skip to the assembly stage below, then come back here once the 2 cake layers with the wells are in the fridge chilling.
Now that the cake wells are chilling, and filled with rhubarb compôte, beat the remaining compôte into the remaining buttercream.
Assembly
Instructions
Put a dollop of the white chocolate buttercream (about a tablespoon) in the centre of the cake board/stand, and then place the first cake layer on it.
Top with 125 g of buttercream. Using an offset spatula, disperse icing into an even layer across the cake. Next, pipe a ring around the outside to create a “well” for the rhubarb compôte.
Repeat these steps with your second layer of cake (just keep it on a plate for now).
Carefully fill both wells with rhubarb compôte.
Refrigerate both of these cake layers for 25-30 minutes, to firm up your “wells”.
Now, scroll back up to step 8 of the buttercream section.
Remove your two cake layers from the fridge.
Gently place the second cake layer on top of the first, well/compôte side facing up. Top with the third cake layer, flat side up (upside down).
Spread buttercream around the sides and top of the cake. I like to start with an offset spatula, and then take over with an icing smoother (also called a scraper). It’s your choice as to how you want to ice the outside of your cake. I personally like to fill in the gaps of the sides of the cake in this first step, to make it all even, and just do a thin outer layer. I then refrigerate it for about 20 minutes.
After that first layer is hardened, I then do a smooth round of icing the cake. And, I like to get an unfinished line at the top lip of the cake—it looks modern and naturalistic in style, which is what I’m after. Feel free to make it a little textured—I prefer that look. [Since the first layer will have hardened, it will be easy to work with, as the layers wont’t be sliding around.]
Refrigerate cake for at least another 30 minutes to solidify the buttercream before decorating.
Decorate as you wish!
Enjoy at room temperature. If it has fully chilled in the fridge, the buttercream will be harder, so take it out of the fridge with enough time for the icing to soften before devouring! It’s very important that the cake be room temperature when consumed so that it’s soft.
Enjoy!
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