Hello everyone!! It’s been a while! Can you believe I’ve been writing this blog for over a year?! As a little celebration, I made this cake. This recipe originally came from the Tastemade France Instagram page, but I’ve made a few tweaks that I think work really well. It’s also not dissimilar to the last cake recipe I posted, but this is definitely more a dessert than a cake to have with tea.
I’d made this cake once before for a friend’s birthday, and it went down a treat. In fact, I think it might’ve been the most ‘me’ thing that’s ever happened to me: at a party, listening to Good Music™, trying (and probably failing) to be witty to impress my friend’s pals, and just getting inundated with recipe requests.
I’ll be honest, this recipe is a bit of a labour of love – pistachio nuts are not cheap, and it’s quite complicated and time consuming to make, but I absolutely promise you it’s worth it. The result is an aromatic, nutty confection, rich, sweet and perfect as a dessert for a special meal.
Start by blending up the pistachios until they reach roughly the texture of coarse sand. You have a little bit of leeway on the proportions of pistachios to almonds – if, for example, you can only find a 150g pack of pistachios and don’t want to buy two, top it up with an extra 10g of ground almonds. Don’t stray too far from the stated quantities though, as pistachios, when baked, have quite a subtle flavour, and you don’t want to lose it among the cardamom and orange, which will both make their presence felt far more strongly.
Using semolina will make the cake lighter and less stodgy than with regular flour, which I think suits the flavours well. Bear in mind that semolina is made from durum wheat and therefore does contain gluten, so it is not suitable for coeliacs.
The original recipe used white sugar, but I think using soft brown sugar works better! The deeper, caramel quality makes the cake less sickly and really brings out the vanilla and cardamom.
I also chose to omit the rosewater as I’m not particularly fond of it, and frankly I think there’s enough going on anyway! Make sure to use a good quality vanilla, no artificial essence – I used a vanilla bean paste which I thought worked well.
I used just half of the icing sugar in the original glaze recipe, and it’s plenty. Leave the cake in the tin and, if using a springform tin, place it on a plate to add the glaze – this way the glaze will soak into the sponge instead of going everywhere ;).
I also decided to replace the cream cheese icing in the original recipe with a white chocolate buttercream, but I think the cream cheese would work very well too, especially if you have less of a sweet tooth. If you do make the white chocolate icing, don’t be tempted to increase the amounts of ingredients for a thicker layer of icing than in my photo below – trust me, it is VERY sweet.
I’d encourage you to serve small slices at first, as this cake is very rich!
For the cake:
- 160g pistachios (weight without shells)
- 2 medium-sized cardamom pods
- 100g ground almonds
- 160g semolina
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 300g butter
- 300g soft light brown or light muscavado sugar
- 4 eggs
- zest of 1 orange
- juice of 1/2 an orange
- 1 tsp vanilla extract / 1/3 tsp vanilla bean paste / seeds of 1 vanilla pod
- 1 20cm round cake tin, greased and lined with baking paper or a reusable baking sheet
For the glaze:
- 50ml orange juice
- 50ml lemon juice
- 100g icing sugar
For the white chocolate ganache buttercream:
- 100g good quality white chocolate
- 120g butter
- 3 tbsp double cream
- 100g icing sugar
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the pistachio nuts and cardamom pods in a food processor and blitz until they have the texture of coarse sand. Add to a bowl with the ground almonds, semolina, baking powder and salt and stir until well combined.
- Beat the butter until it is soft and creamy, then add the sugar. Beat well until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the orange zest and juice and vanilla and stir in with a wooden spoon until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and gently fold in with a wooden spoon.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes. Once this time is up, check the cake by prodding it gently – if it is ready, it will feel firm to the touch and bounce back easily, and a skewer inserted will come out clean or with crumbs, not wet batter. If it is not ready, continue to bake, checking in about 5 minute intervals.
- Once the cake is cooked, place it still in the tin on a wire rack and allow to cool.
- For the glaze, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, then pour in the citrus juices and stir to combine. Stab the cake several times with a knife or skewer, then pour over the glaze. Use a pastry brush to help glaze the cake evenly if necessary. Allow the glaze to soak in completely before removing the cake from the tin.
- For the white chocolate icing, break up the white chocolate and place into a small glass or ceramic bowl, then microwave for approximately 20 second intervals, stirring well in between. Beat the butter until creamy, then sift in the icing sugar. Stir gently until just combined, then beat well until smooth. Add the cream and fold in, then pour in the chocolate and beat until stiff. If the icing is too thin, you can add a little more icing sugar; if it’s too thick, add more cream. Spoon over the cake and decorate however you like.
