It's Thanksgiving weekend in Canada.  It's the perfect kind of fall weekend.  It's kind of grey but the trees are the brightest shades of crazy.  The breeze is blowing just the way you would expect a fall breeze to blow with the just the right amount of bite to it.  It gets dark at precisely the right time now, about 7p.m. 'ish'.
With everything that has been going on lately we all don't feel terribly celebratory but still managed to fit in a lovely dinner with my parents.  I realized that when it comes to these kinds of holiday weekend things I have two terrible habits:
1.  I don't post things here in enough time for you to make them should you desire to do so.  That sucks.  It also explains why desserts from my last two years of Thanksgiving posts have gotten so many hits lately.
2.  I choose to make a dessert that I have never tried before.  That renders the whole thing an experiment.  I'm not sure that it's fair to my family to experiment on them all of the time.  It's pretty much all that D and kid #1 and #2 get these days so they're pretty used to it.


As far as bad habits go this is a pretty tame list I suppose.  As far as experiments go this one was mostly successful.   As far as you making this in time for any Thanksgiving celebration... well, if you live in the U.S. then it will be no problem.


Cardamom and I don't have a happy history but I can't resist how it smells.  The thought of that smell along with some coffee flavour hooked me in.  The cake itself is quite dense and once it cooled from the oven I realized that it was pretty thin.  So thin in fact that I decided to cut the cake in half and pile it on top of itself instead of lengthwise (thereby making two VERY thin layers).  The result was a cake that 6 could devour quite easily - so you won't be looking at a whole lot of leftovers.  Down side: people might think that you've left half of the cake somewhere else or you just got hungry before you served it.
I would spice this a little more.  Hit it with a little more cardamom in the cake and make sure that the coffee is very strong.  I would also add a little vanilla to the cake.
All around though if you want something that isn't disgustingly sweet and has a nice hit of spice to it then this might be worth a go for you.  If you want a 'whole' round cake then I might suggest doubling the batter and making two cakes.
If you are celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend then I wish you all the best bounty of the season.  If you are celebrating next month then you can sit back and relax for a bit still.  If you don't celebrate at all then enjoy the time you have until the next big holiday to organise and prepare.  If you are already sick of dry turkey then feel free to come over... I'm making lamb stew.


Cardamom and Coffee Sponge adapted from BBC Food 
makes 1 round cake
serves 8

3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
3 tbsp strong coffee (I used instant espresso)
8 cardamom pods, broken, seeds removed and finely ground
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Cream Filling:

1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp strong coffee
3 cardamom pods, broken, seeds removed and finely ground

Glaze:

1/2 cup icing sugar
2 - 3 tbsp strong coffee

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter and flour a 23cm round cake pan (I used one that's a springform) and set aside
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Mix and set aside.
Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs and continue to beat until almost frothy.  Add in the coffee and the freshly ground cardamom seeds.  Beat together briefly.
Whisk the flour mixture into the liquid until the flour is all mixed in.
Pour into the prepared baking pan and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
I did a little drop of the baked cake onto the counter top a couple of times just to try and remove as much air as possible... the cake will sink less.
Once the cake has completely cooled remove the cake from the pan and with a sharp knife cut sideways through the cake until it has a top and a bottom.
Filling:
Whip the cream until it's fluffy and getting firm.  Add in the icing sugar and continue to whip until it's quite firm.  Stir in the ground cardamom seeds.  Plop the whipped cream on the top of the bottom layer of the cake.  Make sure that the cream is evenly spread.  Place the top layer of the cake over the cream.
Glaze:
Combine the icing sugar and coffee and whisk until it forms a pourable mixture.  Pour over the top of the assembled cake.
Serve.