Scandi spice cake
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
Scandi spice cake
Inspired by krydderkake, the Norwegian spiced cake, this loaf is flavoured with cardamom, cloves, ginger and cinnamon, and uses kefir to keep it soft for days
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
Abigail Spooner
Abi is our Head of Food. She loves the precision and creativity of baking, turning fridge odds-and-ends into a weeknight pasta, and is always bookmarking new restaurants to try. She's happiest hosting friends around a table overflowing with food (and insisting everyone has seconds) or planning holidays around what to eat.
Abigail Spooner
Abi is our Head of Food. She loves the precision and creativity of baking, turning fridge odds-and-ends into a weeknight pasta, and is always bookmarking new restaurants to try. She's happiest hosting friends around a table overflowing with food (and insisting everyone has seconds) or planning holidays around what to eat.
Ingredients
- 115g vegetable oil, plus extra to grease
- 200g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 8 cardamom pods, seeds finely ground
- 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 2 medium eggs
- 100g caster sugar
- 65g dark brown soft sugar
- 125ml kefir milk drink
- zest of 1 orange
For the cream cheese frosting
- 60g unsalted butter, softened
- 75g icing sugar, sifted
- 125g full-fat cream cheese
- 1 tbsp kefir milk drink
- about 25g crystallised ginger (we used Whitworths)
Step by step
Freeze, uniced, for up to 1 month. Store leftovers of the iced loaf cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
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Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Grease a 900g loaf tin (about 10cm x 20cm base measurements) with oil, then line with baking paper.
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Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarb into a bowl, then add all the spices and the salt. Stir with a balloon whisk to combine. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the eggs and both sugars until combined and lump-free. Whisk in the vegetable oil, kefir and orange zest to a loose batter. Tip the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then use the whisk to gently fold together until no pockets of flour remain.
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Scrape the batter into the prepared tin, then bake for 40-45 minutes or until risen, dark golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then use the baking paper to lift out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
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For the frosting, use an electric hand whisk to beat the softened butter and sifted icing sugar in a mixing bowl for a few minutes until softened, pale and creamy. Beat in the cream cheese, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until smooth. Beat in 1 tablespoon of kefir until combined.
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Spread and swirl the frosting over the cooled cake, then decorate with the crystallised ginger.
