_900.png "Plum, Ginger & Cardamom Coffee Cake")
Okay, this might be one of our favourite recipes we've ever shared! The flavours in this plum, ginger and cardamom coffee cake scream fall comfort and are the perfect compliment to your morning coffee or to enjoy as dessert with a generous scoop of ice cream!
What is Coffee Cake?
Coffee cake, quite simply, is any cake flavoured with or meant to be eaten with coffee! However, most coffee cakes in Canada today rarely contain coffee. Most are simple, singularly flavored cakes that feature fruit, spices, or nuts.
Meet the Farmers & Producers
Warner's Farm
The beautiful blue Ontario plums in this recipe are from Warner's Farm in the Niagara region! Torrie Warner (pictured below) is the owner and operator of Warner's.
They grow a wide variety of other fruits ranging from peaches, pears and plums to berries, cherries, grapes & more!
K2 Milling
Mike Hayhoe is the man behind K2 Milling and all the amazing flours we sell at The Market, including the all-purpose "Viking" flour used in this coffee cake recipe!
Here is what makes k2 Milling such a unique operation: the amazing diversity of grains they mill. They mill grits, light flours, coarse flours, dried fruits, vegetables, cereals, even quinoa!
As Mark has pointed out, he never understood why traditional, industrial mills go to such lengths to remove the nutrition from the grains. At k2, his goal is to mill artisanal, high quality product that retains the unique properties of each grain AND the nutrition!
Alliston Creamery
The silky smooth and flavourful "Golden Dawn" brand of butter comes to you from Alliston Creamery locating in Alliston, ON.
Alliston Creamery is a small facility that works hard to produce butter using milk from the Niagara and Golden Horseshoe region to produce their rich, creamy Golden Dawn butter.
Homestead Farm
One of our Homestead Farm free-run eggs are used in this coffee cake recipe!
Homestead Free Run eggs come from small flocks that receive a high level of care. Like, REALLY small flocks. In total, Homestead sources eggs from only 55 different flocks with hundreds of birds. In comparison, larger free-run egg farmer have flocks easily numbering in the thousands.
Fisherville Greenhouses
Our incredible fresh ginger used in this recipe is sourced from Fisherville's finest, Fisherville Greenhouses!
Non-certified organic. Fisherville is deeply committed to sustainability, growing most of their products using organic methods, using only bio controls (beneficial insect populations) and organic sprays.
Cindy and Ron Mueller have farming in their blood, having both grown up on family farms. After earning their respective masters degrees in horticulture, they purchased their very first farm - a half acre greenhouse operation in Fisherville, Ontario.
Harmony Organics
Harmony Organics is an organic dairy owned and operated by Lawrence and Mathilde Andres in Kincardine, ON and we use their 2% organic milk in this recipe.
All their dairy farms share a philosophy of high animal welfare and environmental sustainability. All the dairy herds have access to sunshine, fresh air and clean water daily.
In fact, since during warmer months the cows are eating grass, the taste of their milk products can change slightly as the herds menu does!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups K2 Milling "Viking" AP flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113g) Golden Dawn salted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 medium Homestead Farm egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp freshly grated Fisherville Greenhouses ginger
- ½ cup 2% Harmony Organics milk (any % is fine, including skim!)
- 1 pound Warner's blue plums, pitted and cut into quarters
Method
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a cake pan with 1 tbsp of butter. Line the bottom of the pan with a parchment paper round.
In a small bowl, combine your milk, 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger and vanilla extract. Let this steep while you measure out the rest of your ingredients.
Take your blue plums and cut them lengthwise to remove the pits and cut them into quarters.
In a large bowl, beat together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy (approximately 4 minutes). If you are using and electric mixer, fit with a paddle attachment.
Add in your 1 egg and beat for an additional 1-2 minutes until fully combined.
In a medium sized bowl, sift together your Viking AP flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cardamom.
Whole cardamom retains more flavour than ground cardamom but both are fine to use in this recipe! If you are using whole cardamon, place about 8-10 pods in a mortar and pestle and lightly hit to open the pods. Remove the cardamom seeds from the pods and place them in the mortar. Grind with the pestle until the cardamom is ground (and enjoy the smell, fresh cardamom from the pod is incredibly fragrant!)
If you are using already ground cardamom, simply measure and add to your dry ingredients.
Take your milk, ginger and vanilla mixture and strain it to remove the fibrous ginger pieces. You should smell a beautiful ginger aroma in the milk.
Alternate adding dry ingredients and milk mixture to the stand mixer on low-medium speed until fully combined. This is a thick batter.
Pour your batter into your prepared cake pan and use a angled spatula or a spoon to smooth out the batter.
Take your plum quarters and push them into the top of the cake batter. Get creative with this part and make whatever design you like!
Take your brown sugar and sprinkle it over the top of the prepared cake before baking. This will turn a nice, caramelized golden brown when baked and will provide a beautiful texture to the top of the cake.
Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Insert a toothpick and make sure that it comes out clean. This is when you know the cake is done.
Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from the cake pan. To remove, carefully use a knife to cut around the edges of the cake pan to loosen the cake. Turn the cake over onto a plate and remove the wax paper from the base of the cake.
Carefully place another plate or cutting board on top of the bottom of the cake and flip back over so your plum design is right side up.
Serve immediately with your favourite cup of coffee or for dessert with a generous scoop of ice cream!
