Rosy Almond and Pistachio Cake
Difficulty: Medium12
inch cake30
minutes50
minutes2
hoursThis rich almond and pistachio cake with a rosy undertone makes for an elegant birthday cake or flavorful accompaniment to a cup of chai, sans the frosting. While the cardamom and lemony ingredients bring out a subtle spice and zing to the cake, the pieces of nuts give each bite a lovely crunch.
For the almond meal, I ground 3⁄4 cup of almonds in a blender till it powdered up. I personally prefer going down this route instead of purchasing almond meal from outside.
I baked this cake for my mum’s 50th birthday and in short, it was perfect – loved by the birthday girl and ravished by guests.
Ingredients
- For the cake
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 cup ground pistachios
½ cup almond meal
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 teaspoons ground cardamom
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 cup greek yoghurt
4 tablespoons rose water
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest (grated peel of a lemon)
1/8 cup finely chopped pistachios
1/8 cup finely chopped almonds
- For the rose buttercream frosting
1 cup unsalted butter
16 ounces icing sugar
2 tablespoons of rose water
3 teaspoons rose essence
3 drops of pink food coloring
- To serve
1/8 cup finely chopped pistachios, roasted
1/8 cup finely chopped almonds, roasted
8-9 dried rose buds
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter the bottom and sides of the pan and evenly coat the pan with a bit of flour.
- Combine the dry ingredients. Mix together the flour, ground pistachios, almond meal, ground cardamom, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl until combined.
- Combine the wet ingredients. In a bowl, whisk the butter till it creams into a smooth and thick consistency. Add the yoghurt, brown sugar, oil, rose water, vanilla extract, lemon juice and lemon zest in a medium bowl until combined.
- Batter up. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in small portions and mix with a spatula till you get a smooth but slightly thick batter. Use a whisk to break up any lumps in the process. Add half of the chopped nuts and fold them into the batter with a spatula. Evenly sprinkle the remainder nuts onto the batter.
- Bake up. Pour the batter into the cake tray and bake for 50-60 minutes. A way to figure out if the cake has baked: prick the center of the cake with a toothpick – if it comes out clean, the cake’s baked.
- For the rose buttercream frosting. Whisk the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the icing sugar in portions and whisk until the buttercream gains a fluffy texture, almost double the volume of the initial mixture. Stir in the vanilla essence, rose water and set aside.
- Cake decor. Once the cake is baked and cooled up, spread a thin layer of the frosting throughout the surface of the cake, keeping aside some frosting for the piping. Add the food coloring to the remainder buttercream, transfer into a piping bag and get decorative with the cake!
- Go Nutty! To top off, sprinkle the roasted nuts and rose buds onto the cake. Voila!
Notes
- You can store the frosting in the refrigerator while the cake is baking and take it out 20 minutes before the cake is cooled up without a trace of warmth, or else the buttercream will fall off.
Based on 4 Review(s)
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