Coriander seed—not the leafy part of the same plant known as cilantro— is not just for savory Indian, Asian, and Middle Eastern cooking. Taste a crunchy seed right from the jar and discover its delightfully bright, citrusy, floral flavor. You'll wonder, as I did, why it doesn't appear more regularly in Western baked goods.Whether you start with whole (best of all) or ground coriander, make sure it's fresh and within the best-by date. You can use ground seeds (untoasted) that you grind yourself or purchase ground, for both the batter and the topping, but my preference is for toasted spice in the batter and untoasted spice for the topping.
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs - at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk - at room temperature
- 425 grams all purpose flour - 3⅓ cups
- 1 teaspoon salt - I use fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 18 tablespoons unsalted butter - slightly softened (pliable but not squishy)
- 400 grams sugar - 2 cups
- 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds - 8 grams, toasted and ground
Topping
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed - untoasted
Instructions
Prepare the oven and pan
- Position the rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. (If using a convection oven, adjust the temperature according to instructions with your oven and look for doneness early.)
- Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with baking spray that contains flour, or thoroughly grease and flour it.
Prepare the coriander seeds
- Toast the coriander seeds for the batter by placing the seeds in a dry skillet (not nonstick) over medium heat, and shaking the pan to roll the seeds around until they are slightly colored and fragrant—this takes just minute or two once the pan is hot.
- Grind the toasted seeds in a mortar and pestle, or use a spice or coffee grinder and set aside.
- Grind the untoasted seeds for the topping separately and set aside.
Make the batter
- Mix the buttermilk with the water and vanilla and set aside.
- Mix the eggs and yolk together in a measuring pitcher and set it aside.
- Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in bowl large enough to do this job thoroughly—whisking not only combines the ingredients, it fluffs up the flour so that it blends more easily into the batter which in turn prevents over mixing. Set this aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, butter, and ground coriander on medium high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Very gradually pour the eggs into the bowl in a thin steady stream taking 1 to 1½ minutes in total.
- On low speed, starting and ending with the flour mixture, add the flour in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk mixture in two additions. Scrape the bowl as necessary and mix only enough to incorporate each addition.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly.
Bake and cool
- Bake until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes before inverting it on a rack to finish cooling.
Top and serve
- To serve, mix ground coriander with powdered sugar and sift over the top.