Theres something about pistachios that make them a bit fancier than other nuts, dont you think?
So this Pistachio Cake is special, worthy of serving at any occasion!
Topped with a cloud of Cream Cheese Whip.
A “large egg” is an industry defined term for an egg that is 50-55g/2oz each (in shell) sold in cartons labelled “large eggs” weighing 600-660g/1.2lb for a dozen.
Think subtly tangy whipped cream.
Pistachio cake
This is a Pistachio Cake that has a beautiful soft crumb with lovely pistachio flavour.
Which, as strange as that sounds, is rarer than you might think.
And Im speaking from experience here, having tried quite a few recipes over the years!
The reason is pretty simple this recipe uses almost double the amount of pistachios of typical recipes.
Does it surprise anyone that we are hitting the limit in this recipe??
Plus, pistachios are more expensive than most nuts.
So lets get as much flavour as we can out of them!
A bit of an invention that came about when I was thinking what to top it with.
Do a Cream Cheese Frosting whipped cream mash up!
Ingredients in Pistachio Cake
Heres what it’s crucial that you make this Pistachio Cake.
Freshly blitzed, freshly toasted pistachio nuts is key to ensure you could actually taste pistachio in this cake.
PISTACHIOs
I use pre-shelled pistachio kernels.
Nice and convenient as someone has done the shelling for me!
I prefer unsalted pistachios so I can control the amount of salt in the cake.
A “large egg” is an industry defined term for an egg that is 50-55g/2oz each (in shell) sold in cartons labelled “large eggs” weighing 600-660g/1.2lb for a dozen.
Saltiness of nuts always seems to vary depending on brand / source.
But if your pistachios are salted, just skip the salt in the recipe.
Not all pistachios are created equal.
The older they are, the less flavour they have.
The better the quality, the better the flavour.
Ive tried this with regular grocery store ones, and better quality ones.
I still got good pistachio flavour with the regular grocery store ones.
This was my baseline for this recipe.
for the CAKE BATTER
double-check your yogurt and egg are at room temperature before making the batter.
Speaking from experience here!
I tried to skip the step of bringing yogurt to room temperature and was penalised for it.
Flour Just plain / all-purpose flour.
If you use self raising flour, skip the baking soda and baking powder.
As a general rule, baking soda is 3x stronger than baking powder.
Baking powder can lose its rising powder even before the expiry date!
Don’t worry if there are clumps of pistachio powder, we will break them up in the next step. Also, some little pistachio chunks is a good thing!
However, expect the surface of the cake to dome and the crumb is a touch less soft.
Its mainly a visual thing though, so its not a big deal!
This is why sometimes you see a tiny amount of vinegar in cakes, likeRed Velvet Cake.
Looks totally out of place, but serves a purpose to get the baking soda going.
See herefor how to scale if your egg is massively different in size.
But oil is not as tasty!
This trick doesnt work with all cakes, it depends on the batter.
Very happy it works here!
Sugar Not too much, just 3/4 cup (150g).
However, for this recipe, regular / granulated white sugar is fine.
(Dont use brown sugar, it will likely make the batter too damp).
Green colouring The pistachios alone will not give the cake a pistachio green colour.
Rather, it comes out brown.
I use 4 small drops to achieve the colour pictured.
Feel free to add more if you want a greener cake.
Once baked, the cake is a touch darker than the uncooked batter.
Cream cheese Softened to room temperature, so its easy to beat until fluffy and smooth.
Whipping cream double-check the cream you get can be whipped because not all cream is made for whipping.
If its a whipping cream, it will say on the carton.
Lemon juice For a smidge of extra tang which I think goes really well with the pistachio flavour.
However, not critical.
Consider it an enhancement rather than essential!
(PS Doesnt make it overly lemony.
I originally tried a stronger lemon flavour and found it overwhelmed the pistachio flavour).
Prevent screen from sleeping
I tried without and missed it.
Salt Standard practice in sweet baking recipes these days as it brings out the other flavours.
We only use a pinch so you wont taste salt.
How to make Pistachio Cake
You wont need an electric beater to make the cake part.
Just mix it up with a wooden spoon!
(See FAQ section for other cake-making methods I tried).
MAKE PISTACHIO POWDER
c’mon dont skip toasting the pistachios.
Blitz Let them cool completely then blitz into a powder.
Its very quick using a NutriBullet as I do literally 2 x 2 second pulses.
Some pistachios lumps are ok / welcome, but you want it to be at least 95% powder.
MAKE THE PISTACHIO cake
Break up pistachio clumps Whisk the pistachio powder with the flour.
Some small clumps remaining are fine, they will dissolve in the oven.
Then whisk in remaining dry ingredients (baking powder, baking soda, salt).
Whisk wet Put all the wet ingredients into a separate medium bowl.
Then whisk until combined.
Combine wet and dry Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Use a rubber spatula to mix them together butstopwhen the flour is just about mixed in.
Make it pistachio green!Add 4 small drops of green food colouring and mix it in.
Goal pistachio green colour.
Then mix until the batter is fully combined.
If using gel rather than liquid colouring which is much more intense, use a tiny toothpick smear instead.
See recipe card notes for directions.
I cant explain it, I just know what I experienced!
Pourthe batter into a lined pan then spread it out in the pan.
You dont need to smooth the surface perfectly because the batter will spread in the oven.
Cool completelybefore spreading on the Cream Cheese Whip, else it will melt!
10 minutes in the pan then about 1 hour on a rack.
MAKING THE CREAM CHEESE Whip
Cream cheese first Beat the cream cheese until soft and fluffy.
Take a good 2 minutes on medium high speed to do this so you cream it really well.
(Which is why it will stay fluffy for days rather than weeping like regular cream).
Spreadthe frosting onto the cake, making lovely big swirl patterns.
A small offset spatula (pictured) makes short work of this (handy tool for cake frosting).
Sprinklewith finely chopped pistachios.
And now the moment has arrived yes, lets eat it!
Im so happy with how this cake turned out.
So I decided to come up with my own.
Cant say that about many cakes!
I really hope you give it a go one day, and love it as much as I do!
The main thing was getting enough pistachio flavour.
or resorting to more technical methods (like pureeing).
Then the other aspect I experimented with was the batter making method.
The more pistachio I used, the more it weighed it down.
Which explains why so many pistachio cake recipes I see online use considerably less pistachios.
Regardless, even using less pistachios, the shelf life of the cake wasnt great.
It was drier and firmer than ideal even the next day.
I think the nuts was drying it out.
I didnt expect that.
Usually ground nuts makes cakes more moist (think cakes made with almond meal).
(Tried and proven bakers trick).
The other irritating thing was to figure out was the baking soda v baking powder balance.
As always, I hoped I could just use one of them (preferably baking powder).
But it made the cake dome.
So I ended up using a combination of both, for the best end result.
Im afraid I dont agree, I just found it overwhelmed the precious pistachio flavour.
Can this be made with gluten free flour?
Im afraid I havent tried.
Love to know if anyone tries it so I can update the recipe notes!
Pistachios are expensive.
Im worried about stuffing up!
Its actually quite a forgiving cake that is just mixed by hand.
It is safer and easier to make than typical cakes that start with cream the butter and sugar……
However, in this recipe, we use melted butter instead which means this is entirely mixed by hand.
Which makes it a low risk cake!
Do you promise this really does taste of pistachios?
Just wait until the moment you smell the blitzed pistachios…. Youve never smelt pistachios like that before!
Grocery store pistachios are fine, but obviously the better the quality, the better the flavour!
Does almond essence enhance pistachio flavour?
I read this on a number of online recipes so out of curiosity I gave it a go.
(I only used 1/4 teaspoon).
I am not sure where this theory came from but Im afraid I dont agree with it.
Can I make this with other nuts?
Sorry, I havent tried.
Just getting the pistachio version right took up enough time!
(See above testing notes )
Can I make it a layer cake?
How sweet is it?
Less sweet than typical Western cakes, with only 3/4 cup sugar in the whole cake.
Also, as a side note, I found more sugar = less pistachio flavour.
Seems to suppress it?
How long will this cake last?
The cake and frosting will keep for 4 days in the fridge.
The cake will stay lovely and moist for 5 to 6 days, actually.
Can I use another frosting?
Yes, you sure can!
For a quick solution, buy a tub of creme fraiche or marscapone.
So the difference in cup sizes does not matter for this recipe!
Here are some of my personal favourites.
