Pistachio Cupcakes with Pistachio Italian Meringue Buttercream

If you love pistachios, this pistachio cupcake recipe with pistachio Italian meringue buttercream will blow your mind! Made with real pistachios, they are absolutely bursting with pistachio flavor.

Pistachio is by far my favorite flavor of dessert and I love me some pistachio ice cream - but so many pistachio recipes are disappointing and don't pack a punch with the flavor.

Last year I made a recipe for Italian Pistachio Cake and it was a huge hit, so today I decided to make pistachio cupcakes! These delicious cupcakes are incredibly moist and fluffy with real chunks of pistachio nuts throughout the batter. And the pistachio Italian meringue buttercream is absolutely to die for, you will have to stop yourself from just eating the whole bowl with a spoon! All the flavor comes from real pistachios in the form of pistachio paste and chopped pistachio nuts - no instant pistachio pudding mix here! You may also like my Pistachio Muffins with Pistachio Crumble topping!

These pistachio cupcakes are made entirely from scratch, and you can really tell by the taste! I would even go as far as to say these are the best cupcakes I've ever eaten - and I have eaten A LOT of cupcakes.

Jump to:

• Ingredients for the Pistachio Cupcakes
• Ingredients for the Pistachio Italian Meringue Buttercream
• How to make the Pistachio Cupcakes
• How to make the Pistachio Italian Meringue Buttercream
• What is Pistachio Paste?
• How to Decorate
• Variations
• Storage
• Recipe

Ingredients for the Pistachio Cupcakes

• Butter - You can use salted or unsalted butter, if you use salted just make sure you omit the salt when adding the flour.

• Sugar - Regular white sugar is great for this recipe. Try to find extra fine sugar (caster sugar in the UK).

• Eggs - You want to use large eggs and always free-range if you can get them.

• Sour Cream - This is what will give you super fluffy cupcakes. If you don't have sour cream, greek yogurt will also make a lovely moist cupcake.

• Milk - Whole milk is best, but whatever you have will do

• Flour - All-purpose flour is best for this recipe. I've tried it with cake flour before but this is already a delicate cake and the cake flour made it just a little too soft.

• Pistachio Paste - This is just emulsified pistachios or pistachio butter. See my section below on pistachio paste if you are unsure what to get or want to know how to make it yourself.

• Pistachios - Whole pistachios to be chopped and put into the cupcake batter, you want roasted and preferably unsalted, but salted will be okay too, the flavor doesn't come through too much once the cupcakes are baked.

• Vanilla Extract - Make sure you use vanilla extract and not vanilla essence as the essence often has a very artificial flavor.

• Almond Extract - Almond extract really shows off the pistachio flavor. I actually use almond emulsion as it has a stronger flavor and you need to use less, but regular almond extract that you get in the supermarket will be great.

Note: Take all of your cold ingredients (butter, eggs, sour cream, milk) out of the fridge about an hour before you want to start baking so they can come to room temperature.

See recipe card for quantities.

Ingredients for the Pistachio Italian Meringue Buttercream

• Egg Whites - You can use freshly cracked and separated large eggs, or you can use boxed egg white. You don't need it to be pasteurized as we are going to cook out the eggs with the sugar syrup.

• Sugar - You'll want to use extra fine white sugar here so that it dissolves into the egg whites properly to make the meringue.

• Butter - Use unsalted butter for this recipe as the flavor of butter really comes through in Italian meringue buttercream.

• Pistachio Paste - This is just emulsified pistachios or pistachio butter. See my section below on pistachio paste if you are unsure what to get or want to know how to make it yourself.

How to make the Pistachio Cupcakes

• Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and heat oven to 350°F / 180°C.

• Start by creaming the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy in a large mixing bowl.

• Add the egg and mix until combined.

• Scrape down the bottom of the bowl then add the sour cream and mix it in.

• Sift the remaining dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and a teaspoon salt) into a bowl - omit the salt if you are using salted butter.

• Add half the flour mixture and fold into the cupcake batter.

• Pour in the milk and mix until completely combined - if you add the remaining flour while the wet ingredients are not mixed in you'll get a gluey mess.

• Add remaining flour and fold in.

• Add the pistachio butter, vanilla extract and almond extract and stir until everything is combined.

• Add chopped pistachios and stir through the batter.

• Divide batter into the cupcake liners - I like to use an ice cream scoop to make sure every cupcake is the same size.

• Bake for 17 minutes or until a skewer comes out with just moist crumbs.

• Remove from the oven and take the pistachio cupcakes out of the cupcake tin and onto wire racks to cool until you're ready to decorate.

Note: If you want to give the cupcakes a green color for St. Patrick's Day or just for fun, you can add one or two drops of green food coloring to the batter after adding the pistachio paste. Personally, I don't think they need it as the natural color of the pistachio cupcakes is so beautiful, but it's down to personal preference!

How to make the Pistachio Italian Meringue Buttercream

I can't even describe to you how good this Pistachio Italian Meringue Buttercream is.

First of all, if you're used to American Buttercream Frosting, Italian Meringue Buttercream is a whole other ball game. It's elegant, light, and silky and doesn't have the sickly sweet taste of American Buttercream. It's good on its own, but when you flavor it with something like pistachio butter it is absolutely heavenly.

I flavored it with strawberry for my Chocolate and Strawberry Cupcakes and that was beautiful too, but this new recipe for Pistachio Frosting is one of my absolute favorite recipes. A lot of people are intimidated by Italian Meringue Buttercream as it seems like a complicated process, but I promise you it's easy, it just takes a while.

• First of all, I do not recommend trying to make this with a hand mixer as it takes a long time and your arm will get pretty tired.

• Put your egg whites in the large bowl of a stand mixer and start to whip them with your whisk attachment on a low speed. You want to start slow and gradually increase the speed so the structure of the bubbles in the meringue is stable. Increase the speed every 20 seconds or so until you get to a medium-high speed.

• Measure the sugar out into two separate bowls, one with ⅓ cup sugar (67g) and one with 1 cup sugar (200g).

• Once your egg whites start to get foamy, add a pinch of salt, then take the smaller bowl of sugar and add one tablespoonful of it to the egg whites as they whip.

• Continue to add the sugar one tablespoonful at a time, waiting at least 30 seconds to a minute in between each addition to allow the sugar to dissolve. It's important not to rush this as you'll end up with grainy meringue.

• Once all the sugar is added, you should have a light and fluffy mixture - it won't yet be glossy like meringue as we still need to add the sugar syrup, but it should be light and fluffy and be whipped to soft peaks. Turn off your mixer and start on the sugar syrup.

• Take the other bowl of sugar and pour it into a small saucepan along with the water. Turn the heat on medium and let the mixture heat up and start to bubble.

• If you have a candy thermometer, you want to boil the sugar syrup until it reaches exactly 240°F (115°C). I love this handy 2-in-1 spatula candy thermometer, it makes it so easy! If you don't have a candy thermometer, watch for when the mixture turns completely clear - this means all the sugar has dissolved. There will be bubbles all over the surface of the syrup. To double-check, take a little bit of the syrup and drop it into some cold water - if it turns into a soft, malleable ball of sugar then the syrup is ready. If it dissolves, it's not hot enough yet, if it turns into a hard piece of candy then it got too hot.

• Start your electric mixer again, whipping the egg whites at a medium speed. Take your saucepan and pour the sugar syrup into the egg whites in a slow and steady stream, as they are whipping. Try not to pour the syrup onto the side of the bowl, rather directly into the meringue mixture, as the temperature change might make it harden too fast.

• Once all your syrup has been added, turn the mixer up to a high speed and let it whip. If you feel the side of your bowl, it will probably be quite warm, you want to keep whipping the meringue until it comes down to a lukewarm temperature or less. It takes a long time, it might be 5 - 10 minutes of whipping so this is why I don't recommend using a hand mixer!

• Once the meringue has cooled, it should be beautiful, thick, and glossy.

• Chop your butter into small 'bite-sized' chunks and add them into the meringue as it whips on high speed. Let each chunk of butter get mixed in for a few seconds before adding the next.

• About halfway through, your frosting will look soupy and awful - don't panic! Just keep going and adding the butter and watch it transform into gorgeous silky Italian Meringue Buttercream before your eyes.

• Once all the butter has been added, whip for another minute or so.

• This frosting is pretty great as it is, but we're going to take it up a notch by making it into PISTACHIO Italian Meringue Buttercream. Add two tablespoons of pistachio paste to the frosting and whip until it's entirely incorporated. And welcome to your new addiction.

• If you want super smooth frosting, you can also switch to a paddle attachment at the end and beat on the lowest speed for a minute to knock out any air bubbles, but it's totally not necessary.

Pro tip: Once you get used to the process of making Italian Meringue Buttercream, it's very easy to make the sugar syrup at the same time as whipping up your egg whites so you can save some time - but if you're making it for the first time maybe just do one thing at a time until you get the hang of it!

What is Pistachio Paste?

Pistachio paste or pistachio butter is made of 100% pistachios - that's the only ingredient. It's just roasted pistachio that have been emulsified in a food processor until they make a paste. You can find it in specialty stores or order it online. Just make sure you check the ingredients to ensure it is actually just pistachio paste. There is a similar product called pistachio cream, which is a heavenly delicious treat that basically tastes like pistachio nutella - it is wonderful, but it's not what we need for this recipe. The correct product is pistachio paste to give you that beautiful nutty flavor.

Alternatively, you could make your own pistachio paste if you have a high-speed food processor at home. Either buy roasted pistachios or buy raw and roast them yourself, then put them in the food processor and blend. After about 30 seconds you'll have fine ground pistachios, keep going for another minute or so and it should turn into gorgeous pistachio butter. For more tips on how to make it yourself, check out my blog post about how to make pistachio paste.

How to Decorate

I piped my Pistachio Buttercream onto the cupcakes with a piping bag and a 1M star tip, but you could also smooth it on with a palette knife, or even a butter knife.

If you're going for the green theme, you could add some green food color to your batter or frosting as mentioned above, if you wanted to do something for St. Patrick’s day for example, but I really feel the pretty colors and fresh flavors speak for themselves and it doesn't need the color boost.

I chose to top my cupcakes with some chopped pistachios so there's no doubt about what amazing flavor they are - but you could also top with some green sprinkles or a drizzle of honey.

Variations

If you want to try these pistachio cupcakes but you're not sure about the pistachio Italian meringue buttercream, there are plenty of easy recipes for frostings that would go well with them. It makes for a very good cupcake with lots of pistachio flavor even without this specific buttercream recipe so you can try one of these instead if you wan the cupcake and not the frosting:

• Regular Vanilla Frosting with the pistachio paste added.
• Honey Cream Cheese Frosting - take my cream cheese frosting recipe and add 3 tablespoons of honey.
• White Chocolate Ganache
• Good old-fashioned Whipped Cream - whip up some heavy cream / whipping cream / double cream with a teaspoon of vanilla.

Storage

The pistachio cupcakes do not need to be stored in the refrigerator - in fact, keeping cake in the fridge is not great for its texture and moisture. Keep them in an airtight container with a base of paper towels to soak up any condensation. They will be at their best for 3 days, but you can keep them for up to 5 days.

So there you have one of my new favorite cupcake recipes - Pistachio Cupcakes with Pistachio Italian Meringue Buttercream. I really can't describe how incredibly delicious these are, so if you love pistachios like I do, try out the recipe and let me know what you think! Happy baking!

Recipe