Armenian Spice Cake
I love this cake. It’s also a fika favourite. My mum gave me her recipe for ‘Armenian Slice’ many, many years ago and I always loved the cleverness of the crunch at the bottom and the softness on top.
Mum always made it as a slice, with a recipe from her friend Pauline, who I think got it from the Gerringong Mayflower Village Cookery Book, but there it’s called American Nutmeg Cake. I’m not sure there has ever actually been an American Nutmeg Cake – my suspicion is it’s a transcription error. There is definitely a traditional Armenian Nutmeg Cake, which this is a variation on.
I wanted the bottom crunch layer, but for the cake to also be tall with a lovely soft crumb, and with all the spices. I hope you make this, and love it, and eat it for fika with people you really like.
Ingredients 14
125 g butter, plus extra for greasing
400 g brown sugar
300 g self-raising flour
1⁄2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
250 ml full-cream milk
2 free-range eggs, beaten
2 tsp nutmeg, ground or freshly grated
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
Cream Cheese Icing
200 g cream cheese, softened
125 g icing sugar, confectioners’
50 g butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract, page 36
walnut, roughly chopped, optional, for topping
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Method 7
Preheat your oven to 180°C (360°F). Grease and line (including the sides) a 20 cm (8 in) round cake tin.
Combine the and . Rub in the . (Or do this in a food processor if you have one.) It will look like crumbs.
Divide the mixture in half and gently pat half of the crumbs into the base of the prepared tin. (Don’t press down too enthusiastically or it’ll be too hard after baking.)
Dissolve the in the and add to the other half of the mix, along with the , , , and .
Mix together well, then pour over the base.
Bake for approximately 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool before icing.
Cream Cheese Icing
Beat all the , , and together until smooth and spread onto a cooled cake.
Buena Vista Farm's tips
Mum always made hers traditionally, with walnuts on top, but I leave them off. There are enough nuts in this house already. You can ice it if you like.
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Notes
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