I wanted to work with spices and ingredients I normally do not use when baking, like cardamom and rose water. The final result was absolutely unique and a true explosion of flavours. If you want to try something different, this is a recipe to try!
For this cake I used a 20cm diameter spring form pan. I decorate it with icing sugar and sliced pistachios. You can enjoy it alone or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Cardamom, Almond and Rose Cake
Ingredients
To decorate
Instructions
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Preheat oven at 180C. Grease a 20cm cake pan and line baking parchment on the bottom.
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In a large bowl mix in the eggs with sugar using an electric whisk. Add the eggs, one at the time, and continue to whisk for 2-3 minutes. Add salt, grated lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and rose water, and mix well for another minute.
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Place the cardamom pods in a mortar. Gently crush them to open them and remove the seeds. Ground the seeds until you obtain a fine powder (you should obtain 1.5 tsp of ground cardamom). In a separate bowl, mix in all the powders: flour, baking powder, ground almonds, and ground cardamom.
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Stir in the powders into the egg mixture and combine well with the electric whisk. Pour in the batter into the cake pan and even out with a spoon. Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes (use a skewer to check if the cake is ready: it the skewer comes out clean, it means that the cake is cooked).
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Once the cake is ready, leave to rest for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. Leave to cool down completely before decorating it with icing sugar and sliced pistachios. Enjoy it as it is or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.