Finally, a pistachio cake with a real, punchy pistachio flavour! I love pistachios and LOVE pistachio flavour - it's my favourite flavour of ice cream or dessert.
Unfortunately a lot the desserts and cakes out there that claim to be pistachio are either seriously lacking in flavour or they taste entirely fake. Or even worse, they're made by putting pistachio flavoured jello into the mix - please don't do this!
But this pistachio cake is made from actual pistachios! The soft pistachio sponge cake has both pistachio paste in the batter and chopped pistachios baked into it. Then the pistachio Italian Meringue Buttercream just makes sure you're getting multiple levels of pistachio yumminess in every bite. I think this may be my favourite invention so far!
How To Get a Seriously Flavourful Pistachio Cake - Use Pistachios!
This cake is so packed full of pistachios. There's nothing I hate more than being promised pistachio flavour and then being disappointed by the first bite! To test this, I didn't tell Chris what I was making, then I made him blind taste test the batter before I put it in the oven, and asked him what it was. Immediately he said 'oh wow, is that pistachio?!' So I was happy with that result!
There are three things that gives this pistachio cake its amazing flavour:
Pistachio Paste
I bought some pistachio paste in a specialty food store here in Vancouver. But you can order it online if it's easier. Alternatively, if you can't get your hands on pistachio paste you can buy some raw pistachios and make your own paste. Here's a handy guide from Sweet and Savory by Shinee on how to make your own pistachio paste. Note: If you are buying it, make sure you buy pistachio paste and not pistachio cream - see below for more info.
Chopped Pistachios
Of course we have actual pistachios through the pistachio cake! The nuts soften beautifully in the oven so they give just a tiny bit of bite, rather than a crunch. Most stores will stock the roasted and salted pistachios. If you really don't want the salt in there you can shop around for unsalted ones. I actually used salted ones though and I loved how it tasted. You don't notice the salt at all, if anything it cuts through the sweetness a little which is nice.
Almond Extract
This really shows off the pistachios and brings out the flavour. Pistachios don't have a naturally strong flavour by themselves. The almond extract kind of pulls it out and gives it a twirl around to show it off. Trust me, don't make pistachio cake without almond extract!
Pistachio Italian Meringue Buttercream
I actually baked the cake first before deciding what kind of frosting to put on this because I wasn't sure how it was going to taste. As soon as I tried a piece of the pistachio cake I knew I wanted to pair a pistachio Italian meringue buttercream with it. Firstly it's a very soft sponge, so an American buttercream or cream cheese frosting would weigh too heavily on it. Secondly, I wanted something which would take on the pistachio flavour well. Something like a cream cheese frosting would have competed with the flavour. Also, and maybe this is just in my head, but I feel like this pistachio cake is a classy dessert and deserves a fittingly classy frosting to accompany it! In my opinion, Italian Meringue Buttercream is about as elegant as it gets!
First, made a batch of my classic Italian Meringue Buttercream recipe. Then I added two tablespoons of Pistachio paste and a teaspoon of almond extract to it at the end. I could easily have just eaten this with a spoon! Silky smooth and pistachio flavoured - it was like room temperature pistachio gelato!
The Difference between Pistachio Paste and Pistachio Cream
If you are buying pistachio paste to use in this pistachio cake recipe, make sure you do pick up pistachio paste and not pistachio cream. The containers may look similar but they are totally different products. Pistachio paste is made from 100% pistachios - that's the only ingredient. They are just blended up extremely finely until the natural oils turn them into a paste. As I mentioned above it's really easy to make your own at home if you can't get your hands on the premade stuff - but I'm much too lazy for that!
Pistachio Cream is an entirely different product. Though personally I always buy some of this too because it's utterly delicious. It still has real pistachios in it but there are a few other things in the mix too. It tastes like a really creamy, delicious kind of pistachio nutella - that's the best way i can think to describe it! I use it in a few other recipes as a filling or topping and may have also spread it on toast once or twice... It is absolutely divine, but for this pistachio cake recipe, you definitely want the 100% pistachio paste.
Why Make Pistachio Cake
Okay so getting your hands on pistachio paste or making your own may make this slightly trickier than a standard recipe, but believe me this pistachio cake is worth it! It's a real showstopper and perfect for a special occasion or a really classy affair. When Chris tried the finished product, he so elegantly said 'It tastes like what rich people eat', which had me cracking up for a good ten minutes!
Ultimately, if you love pistachio ice cream then you are going to absolutely adore this pistachio cake. I promise you it really does deliver on that pistachio flavour that I am often fiending for!
Pistachio Cake
Ingredients
For the Pistachio Cake
- 1 cup Butter
- 2 cups White Sugar
- 3 cups All-purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 Eggs
- ½ cup Sour Cream
- 1 cup Milk
- 6 tablespoon Pistachio Paste
- 2 tablespoon Almond Extract
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ⅔ cup Pistachios chopped
- 1 drop Avocado Green Food Colour (optional)
For the Frosting
- 1 batch Italian Meringue Buttercream
- 2 tablespoon Pistachio Paste
- 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
Instructions
Make the Pistachio Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C and line two 8 inch cake pans
- Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Add eggs and beat until combined
- Add sour cream and beat until combined
- Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and add a third of it to the batter, mix in slowly until fully incorporated
- Add half the milk and mix in until fully incorporated. Repeat with another third of the flour, the remaining milk, and then the remaining flour
- Add the pistachio paste and extracts and stir in until fully incorporated
- If you want to add a touch of green colour to the sponge, add a drop of colouring now, though it's beautiful without
- Lastly, stir the chopped pistachios into the batter - make these as fine or as chunky as you'd like
- Divide the batter between the cake pans and bake for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean
- Allow to cool completely before removing from the cake pan - this is a very soft sponge so be gentle with it
Make the Frostting
- Once the cake is cooled, start the frosting. Follow my instructions for Italian Meringue Buttercream
- Once the frosting is ready, whip in the pistachio paste and almond extract - add more or less according to taste
Fill and Decorate
- Level the cakes and cut each cake in half to make four even layers
- Stack the layers, filling an even layer of pistachio Italian meringue buttercream in between each one
- Cover the entire top and sides in buttercream and decorate how you like, I just used a palette knife to create little waves in the frosting - I like how that looks with Italian meringue buttercream as it's so glossy!
- Top with some chopped pistachios of varying sizes
Candy Guo
hi! can i omit the chopped pistachios? will this change the recipe? thanks!
jules
HI Candy,
Yes that won't be a problem at all, you can leave out the chopped pistachios without altering the recipe :). Happy baking!
Melissa
Hi,
Can I use sifted cake flour instead of all purpose flour? This recipe looks wonderful by the way…
jules
Hi Melissa,
Oh thank you so much! Yes you can use cake flour, just be careful not to overmix the batter as it's a very soft cake and cake flour and overmixing will make it even more tender!
I hope you love it! Happy baking!
melissa
Thanks so much! I will let you know how it turns out. Will make it in the coming weeks
jules
Yay, please do! I love hearing people's thoughts on the recipes! 🙂
Rokeia
Hi, can i use oil instead of butter? I’m thinking of 3/4 cup oil instead of 1 cup butter. And can I exchange sour cream with buttermilk? Is it two large eggs the recipe calls for?
jules
Hi Rokeia,
Yes you can sub the butter for oil, and yes 3/4 cup instead of 1 cup butter would be correct. I wouldn't sub the sour cream for buttermilk, but you could sub it for plain or greek yoghurt and it will behave the exact same!. And yes definitely use large eggs if you can. Happy baking!
Jackie
Do you use raw, unsalted or salted pistachios in this recipe?
jules
Hi Jackie! Definitely go for roasted pistachios, but unsalted or salted is down to personal preference. I love some salt in my baking so I used salted, but you really don't get the salt flavour coming through too much. Unsalted will be great too, they really just add texture and extra pistachio flavour. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Gidget
Hi Bonni- can you just make this cake for me and send it? It sounds divine! Just kidding. I love pistachios ummmmmmm
jules
haha I would if I could!! 😀 I love pistachios too!
Elanie
This sounds great! I love pistachios. I am not into baking because I don’t eat much cake a tiny sliver is already sufficing for me. But been saving some cake recipes that I love and this is one of them. And since it made me drooled just by looking at the pictures and reading the entire article convinced me that I should give it my best shot. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. I will let you know as soon as I made it.
jules
Haha thank you for your kind words! I hope you love the recipe when you make it!
Autumn
Hi. I made this cake and the Italian buttercream icing for Easter Sunday. It is delicious! Thank you.
I think i might have done something wrong with the cake though. It was rather dense and not light and chiffon-like as it is described. Any ideas why this might be?
Thank you!
jules
Oh I'm so glad you loved the flavour!
Hmm I'm sorry to hear your cake was dense, the only thing I can think of is maybe the batter was mixed too much? That could make it a little dense. Did you add the sour cream? That's what makes this cake super moist and fluffy so with that it should have been a lovely texture. Also did you use cups or grams to measure your ingredients? I always list both as lots of people like to use cups, but I highly recommend using grams as it's far more accurate. If using cups it's very easy to overmeasure and do things like add way too much flour without realizing - which could be another cause for a dense cake.
Yuvi
Hi, I was thinking of making it in 6 inch cake pans. How would that change the baking instructions? I am guessing it will take less time to bake?
Thanks!
Jules
Hi Yuvi,
The recipe doesn't need to change - will you be putting it into three 6 inch pans? Or two? If it is only two then you may not need all the batter to fill your cake pans. The bake time will likely be less, I would just keep an eye on them and check regularly to see if a skewer is coming out clean to see if they are done! Happy baking!
Louise Ste Claire
I made my own pistachio paste, which produced a very light, flavorful result. This is truly one of the most delicious cakes I have ever made.