Persian Cardamom Muffins - Cake Yazdi is a traditional Iranian/Persian recipe for delicious muffins that are filled with Persian flavors. The combination of rose water and cardamom is always great.
If you're a fan of Persian sweets, you know we have some tasty recipes on the blog such as Persian love cake, Persian rosettes (nan panjereh) and cardamom cookies. These Persian cardamom muffins are one of our favorites that is so easy to make.
How can I ever stop loving you, Persian cuisine? Is it because you're the best ever? Or is it because I've grown up around you every single day of my childhood and all my memories and dreams have been tied to you? Whatever it is, I will never ever let you go. Be with me forever, we'll be happy together, I promise.
I mean, how else am I going to be happy except with my heart and soul being filled with the heavenly aromas of cardamom and rose water? It's amazing how a warm, fluffy muffin can remind me so much of my first home.
What is cake yazdi?
Cake Yazdi is a traditional Iranian muffin (that's actually called a cake in Farsi) that is very popular in Iran. I love having it with a cold glass of milk but I know people usually prefer it with a hot cup of tea. However you'd like to have these Persian muffins, you're going to love them.
What makes these muffins extra good is the 3 tablespoons of cornstarch. Cornstarch makes these rosewater cardamom muffins really soft and fluffy on the outside while keeping the muffin top crispy.
Cardamom muffins must have the crack on top!
What matters the most in these Persian cardamom muffins is the cracks on top. Now this may sound funny, but the cracks are the best part. In Iran, when making Cake Yazdi at home, all that matters is that you manage to make them with the cracks because that's how the traditional ones are.
So when I finally managed to develop a recipe that gives perfect cracks every time, I knew I had to share it with you. These Persian cardamom muffins are different from every muffin you've tried before, but you're going to love them!
How to make Persian cake yazdi recipe
In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder and corn starch and set it aside. In a large bowl, mix the eggs and sugar until combined, add in vegetable oil and yogurt, cardamom and rose water to the mixture and whisk well. Add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir. Add the remaining flour and mix until combined but do not over mix the batter. Divide the batter between muffin liners and bake for 8 minutes at 400F and another 10-12 minutes at 350F.
These Persian muffins are very simple to make and you can have them for breakfast, dessert or just as a snack! My favorite part is when they go into the oven and after approximately 7 minutes, my home starts smelling like home back in Iran, as if I never left, as if everything is just like it was 10 years ago when I was dreaming of spending all my day cooking and baking. Little did I know that in 10 short years I'd be writing about those dreams that came true in this little corner of internet.
Tips and notes to make cake yazdi
- Make sure you don't use too much rose water because it can overpower all the other flavors.
- You can easily make this recipe using a whisk (as seen on video). Of course, you can also use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer.
- Toasted sesame seeds give a great extra flavor to the muffins, I use Rodelle Toasted Natural Sesame Seeds and love it!
- If you don't have ground cardamom, break cardamom pods and take the seeds out. Then crush the seeds using a pestle and mortar. You can also place the cardamom seeds in the rosewater and set aside for a couple of hours to infuse the rose water.
- The oven heat is very important in this recipe. You have to bake these muffins on 400F first and the reduce the heat to 350F.
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Persian Cardamom Muffins - Cake Yazdi
Ingredients
- 3 Eggs room temperature
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- ¾ cup Plain Greek Yogurt
- ½ cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cardamom
- 2 tablespoon Rose Water
- 1 ¾ cup All Purpose Flour
- 3 tbsp Cornstarch
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 tbsp Toasted Sesame Seeds to top the muffins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a muffin tin with liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together until fully combined.
- Add in Greek yogurt, vegetable oil, cardamom and rose water. Mix well.
- In another bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch and baking powder together.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the egg wet ingredients. Whisk well.
- Add in the rest of the flour mixture. Mix until combined.
- Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffin liners. Top with sesame seeds.
- Bake in the oven for 8 minutes in 400F. Then reduce the heat to 350F and bake for another 10-12 minutes until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the muffins comes out clean.
- Once baked, take the muffins out of the oven, let cool for 15 minutes then serve with tea, coffee or milk.
Video
Notes
- Make sure you don't use too much rose water because it can overpower all the other flavors.
- You can easily make this recipe using a whisk (as seen on video). Of course, you can also use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer.
- Toasted sesame seeds give a great extra flavor to the muffins.
- If you don't have ground cardamom, break cardamom pods and take the seeds out. Then crush the seeds using a pestle and mortar. You can also place the cardamom seeds in the rosewater and set aside for a couple of hours to infuse the rose water.
- The oven heat is very important in this recipe. You have to bake these muffins on 400F first and the reduce the heat to 350F.
Leticia Hernandez
The 15 minute cooling timer went off and I raced to the kitchen to try a muffin. They were easy to prep and baked up perfectly. They remind me of a cake my great grandmother used to make just without the rosewater. These are delicious. I'm trying not to eat the whole batch. hee hee hee. (I'll be delivering some to my neighbors soon)
Molly
These look amazing, Shadi! How would you modify the temperature and cook time to make mini muffins? I was thinking minis would be delightful for parties.
Shadi HasanzadeNemati
Keep the temperature as is and bake for 10 to 12 minutes 🙂
Linda
Can I use gluten free flours in this recipe?
Shadi HasanzadeNemati
Yes, it's best to use 1:1 gf flour 🙂
Daniella
So excited to try this recipe! Any thoughts on how to make it dairy free? What would be a good substitution for the greek yogurt?
Shadi HasanzadeNemati
You can use any dairy free yogurt as long as it's not flavored 🙂