High Altitude Cardamom Eggnog Cake
Soft and moist cake spiced with cardamom, espresso powder and nutmeg, frosted with fluffy and rich eggnog buttercream. A perfect cake for the holidays!
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 ¾ cups cake flour (or all-purpose flour), fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp espresso powder or instant coffee
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 ¾ cups whole milk, room temperature
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- ¾ cup light or dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 2 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp meringue powder
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp coarse kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ cup eggnog
- 2 ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, position a rack in the center of the oven, and spray the bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans with non-stick baking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.
- Add the milk, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla extract, and whisk just until smooth and mostly lump-free.
- Divide the batter between the pans and bake on the middle oven rack for about 22-25 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean and the center of the cake springs back when lightly touched. Set the cake pans on a wire rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for one minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder, salt and nutmeg, and mix just to combine.
- Add the eggnog and vanilla, and beat on medium high for about 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy.
- Fill, stack and frost the cooled cake with the buttercream. (See notes on the buttercream piping technique shown.)
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