Pistachio. What a great nut. Pistachio gelato is one of my personal favourites, but then with this cake, it’s like the holy grail. The honey buttercream is ever so creamy, but balances so well with the crunchiness of the garnished pistachios. The cake comes out a bit dense, but what’s a cake without it’s density? I mean, that’s why I eat cake – to get fluffy, not to get fit.

ingredients:

– 1 1/3 cup of shelled pistachios
– 2 1/2 cup of non-self rising cake flour
– 3/4 cup of regular flour
– 1 TBSP baking powder
– 1/2 TSP baking soda
– 8 TBSP butter
– 1/2 cup shortening
– 1 3/4 cup sugar
– 1 TBSP vanilla extract
– 2 eggs
– 3 egg whites
– 1 1/2 cold water
– 1/4 TSP cream of tartar

buttercream:

– 1 1/2 cup sugar
– 1/2 cup flour
– 1 1/2 cup whole milk
– 1/3 heavy cream
– 24 TBSP butter
– 3 TBSP honey
– 1 TSP vanilla extract

the way:

– preheat oven to 325 degrees.
– lightly toast your pistachios for about 8 minutes.

– grease 3 round cake pans and set aside.

– in a food processor, place 1/3 cup pistachios in and pulse until they’re chopped. These will be your garnish. Remove and set aside.

In 1st bowl
– add in 1 cup of pistachios and pulse. Remove 2 TBSP and put in bowl. Continue to pulse until the pistachios become powder. Sift cake flour, regular flour, baking powder, and baking soda into the bowl with 2 TBSP pistachios.
– stir in the pistachio powder.

2nd bowl
– beat butter and shortening until creamy.
– add in 1 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.
– beat in eggs one at a time until well blended.
– grab your 1st bowl and pour 1/3 into the liquid mixture and alternate with the cold water. You want to begin and end with flour mixture.
– beat until blended.

3rd bowl
– whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy.
– add the the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until a soft peak forms. DO NOT OVER BEAT.
– fold in the whites into the 2nd bowl until no whiteness remains.
– divide the batter evenly into 3 round cake pans and bake 35-40 minutes each, or until an inserted toothpick slides out clean.

buttercream: 

– in a saucepan, whisk sugar and flour until well blended.
– add in milk and cream, whisk until smooth.
– set the pan on medium heat and cook – stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and boils.
– reduce the heat to low and cook, stir, for another 2 minutes.
– pour into a bowl and allow it to cool completely. Roughly takes an hour.

– in a different bowl, beat butter until fluffy.
– gradually beat in the cooled down cream-flour mixture – 1/3 cup at a time – beat until blended with butter.
– beat in honey and vanilla.
– refrigerate until the buttercream holds it shape and is thick enough to spread.

assembly:

– grab a cake stand and place your first layer of cake on top.
– take your buttercream and spread about a 1 cup on top, and repeat with each layer and buttercream.
– feel free to not spread the buttercream around the sides, or if you want, go for it. I like a naked cake look, so I just spread in the layers and call it a day.
– garnish the cake with the pistachios you made at the very beginning of this journey.

grab yourself a fork and dig in; any cake can be a personal cake if you try hard enough.