This cake is loaded with pistachios, lightly sweetened, and so moist. It is wonderful as a cake with buttercream, but equally good as a bread all by itself.
Pistachio Almond Cake
Ingredients:
230 g unsalted butter
180 g granulated sugar
120 g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
110 g ground almonds
120 g ground pistachios
4 eggs, room temperature
50 g sour cream
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature
8 ounces (1 brick) cream cheese, cold from fridge
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pistachio Almond Cake
Using a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on high speed about 1 minute until fluffy. Mix in eggs one at the time, then add sour cream and vanilla extract. Combine pistachios, flour, ground almonds, baking powder, and salt then add to the wet ingredients. Mix on low until just combined.
Pour batter into cake pans lined with parchment paper, and bake in a preheated oven at 320°F. Check after 17-20 minutes with a toothpick. The cake will likely need longer to bake, around 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature or colder before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla 2-3 minutes on high in stand mixer. Buttercream should go from pale yellow to almost pure white and very fluffy. Add cream cheese and beat on medium-high for up to 1 minute (only until just combined; over-mixing cream cheese will turn the buttercream RUNNY).
Assembly
Frost cake layers and exterior, smoothing with an offset spatula and cake turner. Please always frost using room temperature buttercream (so it glides on your cake easily) and refrigerator-chilled cake (vs a warm cake which will melt your buttercream).
Hydrangea Piping
If you want to pipe buttercream flowers, check out my YouTube piping tutorial here. They may look intimidating but I promise they are the easiest of all the flowers to pipe! Give it a try :).
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