Until very recently, it has been a long time since I had spray whip cream. I went a little nuts with it. I made this colorful dessert and had a lovely little dinner party. Everyone was enjoying these sweet stacks, and I was spraying rice whip directly into my mouth.
It was pretty rad.
I have made these twice – once as you see here, made with my whoopie pie pans. The other time I used 2 round cake pans, finishing them with a cinnamon glaze. These cakes are rich in flavor and have a good crumb – dense but not heavy.
Why do I come up with light summery desserts in the middle of winter? Getting a jump start on that spring fever, I suppose. My vacation tan is fading, I have to do something.
lemon cardamom cakes
gluten, dairy and soy free, vegan
makes 24 mini cakes (whoopie pie pan) or two 9 inch rounds
3/4 cup butter (Earth Balance Soy Free), melted
3 tablespoons chia
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon water
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
zest of 1/2 lemon
2 cups all purpose flour, sifted (Gluten Free)
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons cardamom
1 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350.
Melt butter and set aside to cool. Combine chia and water, set aside to thicken. Stir maple syrup, applesauce, lemon juice and zest into cooled melted butter, add chia mixture. Sift together flour, cornmeal, cardamom and baking soda, add to wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
Fill prepared whoopie pie (or cupcake tin) 2/3 full, or divide between 2 9 inch rounds. Bake 17-22 minutes for small cakes (whoopie pie or muffins), 35-40 minutes for large cakes, or until inserted toothpick comes clean.
blueberry topping
vegan, gluten free
1 pint fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons tapioca flour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Combine blueberries with water in saucepan over medium heat. Combine lemon juice, sugar and tapioca flour, add to blueberries. Some of the blueberries will pop open as they heat up, and will thicken into a sauce. Remove from heat and cool completely.
Garnish with whip cream, of course.
{ 59 comments… read them below or add one }
WOW that looks so amazing!!
thank you, Shannon!
LOL I have no idea the last time I had spray whipped cream either. We never got that as kids, so I thought it was the coolest stuff. Your food always makes me want to just lick my computer screen by the way.
aw, thank you Heather!
we never had the whip as kids either – on holidays we’d have homemade, which is always better, but… there’s a special place of awesome for the spray whip! 
Oh Oh Oh…..blueberry I love you! Look amazing!
I can smell them all the way from here!
thank you, dear! wish I could share with you guys…
I am a little obsessed with cardamom lately. I’ve been putting it into my oatmeal and little mini-bakes… I just can’t get enough of it. I haven’t combined it with lemon yet though- which sounds fantastic!
The last time I had a container of whipped cream in the house, I don’t think it ever made it on to any type of food or drink- it just all went straight from the can to my mouth.
yep – same here, I have been waiting for a reason to buy that whip cream – the other day I was at the store and bought another. this time I had no reason – I’ve been spraying it onto a spoon. the other night I sprayed some on a piece of dark chocolate.
Honey, if you lived here, your summery desserts in winter would be PERFECT! This entire week has been sunny and in the 70s. I think I might have to make these before winter wakes up. And cardamom is my *favorite*!
I love cardamom too… and GEEZ, lucky! I am so missing warm sunny weather right now… both Jason and I keep saying we want to go back to Mexico… need to figure out how to “commute” from there.
I swear, everything you say I feel like saying back “ME TOO!” haha. About commuting to Meh-hee-co, I’m just saying that I happen to live 2 hours from the border, I might also just be saying that I have a spare room with you and Jason’s name on the door already, and well…I think you catch my drift here
and Basil, can he come as well??
he’d love the warm weather…
Okay, I just finished the paint on Basil’s new doggie beach bungalow. I think he will be completely happy with the doggie hammock as well
P.S. Did I mention that I have a bartender on staff over here that serves up the best fruity coconut drinks? They keep coming all day long too…
The blueberry topping reminds me of the stuff on the table at IHOP that I used to drown my pancakes with as a kid. Although, your ingredients look just a little better.
haa – yes – I remember that stuff!
love this spring and summer inspired desserts
that just means warmer weather will get here that much faster right haha
looks delicious I love lemon and cardamom!! two of my favs!
I love lemon too – and cardamom is still going strong in this kitchen! I already see that the days are a little lighter, even by a few minutes each day…
whoopie pie pan? never even knew there was such a thing. but now i am convinced i NEED one.
you absolutely DO need one.
These look incredible! Definitely very summery, but I am appreciative of any light dessert in the winter time.
thank you, Jared! I like light, too – balances the comfort foods, right?
These are very classy looking little stacks! Yum!
why thank you…
You’re not alone with the spray whip cream. When my wife gets out the can of whip cream, one of our cats, Fido, goes nuts. He puts his face up to it to get a good squirt. He usually gets a few squirts.
Awesome recipe, and awesome photo!
ha, first of all, I love that your CAT is named Fido.
the fact that he likes whip cream and gets it, that is just awesome!
These look sinfully good! Lemon and blueberry are such fresh flavors and pair with each other perfectly. As for the whipped cream, my kids always beg me to spray some in their mouths and I oblige by filling them up to the top.
awesome mom for doing so – that’s the kind of thing they’ll remember later, you know?
Yum, yum, yummmm. I love lemon and blueberry flavors together!!!
me too! and whip cream, of course…
I always go nuts with whipped cream. It’s fun AND delicious!
I’ve been looking at that whip every time I’m at Whole Foods… waiting for a reason to get it. The last time I went, I bought another. No reason, just have it now
These sound so delicious! And look so dainty.
thank you, Shannon!
love that you were able to pull off such amazing cakes that are gluten, dairy and soy free, vegan…and with cardamom. yum!
great color contrast in the pics and the stacks. cute!
thanks, Averie – much appreciated since it IS a difficult task – worked through this recipe many times.
I got a whoopie pie pan for Christmas! I can do this! Love the color and I bet the flavor was amazing! I need summery desserts in the winter too…it counter balances all the heavy stews and soups I have to eat to stay warm!
weeee, I love my whoopie pie pan!
as you know gf cake is NOT always easy – this was many stages in the making. they were fun and pretty yum – don’t forget the whip! 
Very impressive! This dessert makes me wish it was spring or summer.
me too… it cannot come soon enough!
It looks amazing! I’d be all over the spray whip—in fact, that’s why I can’t buy stuff like that. No will power or self-control!
thank you, Lisa! I know – I just bought a second container. with no plan for it
please add this to the list of desserts you’ll make when we come over for a dinner party! I cannot even imagine trying to narrow down a menu from all of your recipes, but Billy and I might have to pay you to cook us a 7 course meal.
gladly and without payment!
I totally thought these were savoury at first glance… maybe a cardamom corn stack?
ooh, that sounds good. I wonder… maybe some roasted red pepper sauce?
These sound good! (minus the cardamon)… is that bad of me? I have never enjoyed that taste, although I love the smell…
Hope you are doing well!
I am doing well, Jessica – I hope you are too! and I won’t hold the cardamom thing against you – I enjoy it enough for the both of us!
Lemon anything makes me so happy lately… they keep giving us Meyer lemons in my our CSA delivery and I’ve been loving them in my juice! I recently won a spiced sugar giveaway and one of them is a cardamom vanilla sugar… it would be perfect in these cakes!!
Cute!
Hey Kristina, your Cake Stack is a Recipe Guessing Game on Knapkins. Think your friends can win? http://www.knapkins.com/guess_games/1128?source=blog
I love that you used the word “rad” in your post. YOU are rad, Kristina!
ha – glad you like that. I rarely say it, but in this instance, it works.
If I’d gotten that ISI Whip for Xmas I’d be right there with you. Whipped cream makes everything better, especially chocolate mousse. Hmm, I may have texture issues here. I bet I could fix that with these cakes. Oh, and best line ever… “my vacation tan is fading, I have to do something.”
it’s TRUE, I’m going to have to resort to accenting this tan with the bottled kind… and also true, whip cream makes everything better… I have one of those ISI whips, but sadly have not used it in years – I just need to buy more of the cartridges…
It’s so refreshing to see a bright, summer-ish dessert after so many pumpkin and chocolate fill-in-the-blank desserts over the holidays!
These look absolutely mouthwatering. Of course, your recipes aalways look amazing. I want to make them & I hardly ever use cornmeal in dishes, do you use fine or coarse cornmeal? Thank you! : )
so pretty!
so cute! And tasty I bet.
nice, these look beautiful.
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