You will see many recipes for this spice mix and it is down to personal taste and also what you have in stock. If I am missing any of these ingredients, I would just carry on with what I have - it is still going to make a spicy cake. I use a lot of this spice mix and at least double up on these quantities.

I grind the cardamom seeds, whole cloves, star anise and black pepper in a coffee grinder (only ever used for spices)

Cardamom powder soon loses its taste so better to use pods and grind your own. The seeds from 6 cardamom pods give about 1tsp of cardamom powder. Open the pods with a small sharp stiff bladed knife.