(Recipe from ’The Cardamom Trail’ by Chetna Makan)
Have some pears lying about my kitchen so here's the cake to bake next! I don’t know about you, but I always feel extremely accomplished whenever I can use up anything at home. Kudos to 0% food wastage!
This cake was appreciated by most. The cardamom was very mild so it didn’t cause any major controversy. I would prefer it more pronounced though, after all it’s in the title. Will try 1 tablespoon in the future.
When I first started baking, I threw batches of caramel away because they somehow always turned out bitter. Since then, making my own caramel has been a no no in my books. Over the years, I’ve learnt that the bitter undertones are very welcomed for some people to offset the overwhelming sweetness, hence the term ’bittersweet’. So did I waste all that caramel for nothing?!? 😱
Anyway, this caramel calls for melting light muscovado sugar with butter. No muscovado sugar at home so I substituted with fine granulated sugar + 1 tbsp of molasses. Took a while to get the sugar to melt completely but all is good! The butter and sugar would seem like they are never going to homogenise with each other before they come together so just keep stirring!
My caramel definitely came out with bitter undertones (maybe from cooking it too long & also further cooking it in the oven) but I find it goes well with the cake. Although Chetna‘s recipe asks for a springform pan, I don’t want to have to deal with cleaning up spilled caramel in the oven so a fixed bottom cake pan it is!
Cake was very moist at the caramelized pear portion but gotten a bit dry around the bottom. I did a toothpick test 10 min before the suggested time and it was cooked by then. Love the citrus 🍊 that pops out from the orange zest! Cardamom and orange are definitely a good match.
A consistency I’ve noticed across most of her recipes is that her recipes are very fuss free and one-bowl. I made it a point to follow the recipes to a T most of the time (unless the baker instinct within me strongly disagrees... see above) so I’ve been making her cakes the way she suggested, right down to the time needed to mix.
Suggestions:
1) Using 1 tbsp of cardamom (or to taste)
2) Swopping out of a springform pan to a fixed base cake pan
3) Creaming butter and sugar first, then adding dry ingredients
4) Perhaps can substitute pears with apples in the future
Overall, it’s a pleasant cake. A statement piece for some photos and have it along tea break. Will I make it again? Maybe... if I have too many pears lying about.
Verdict: 🧁🧁🧁
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