This pistachio cake is the perfect dessert for any occasion but especially for pistachio lovers. It has a dense crumb, sort of like a poundcake and it’s subtly sweet, it’s filled with finely chopped pistachio’s along with rich and creamy pistachio butter.
The frosting is in a league of it’s own, the mascarpone cheese takes it over the top, it’s my new favorite frosting right now, move over cream cheese!
This is the star of the show, pistachio cream, pistachio butter, it’s also called pistachio paste, you can fine it at Italian markets or online, it has such concentrated pistachio flavor, the same as you would have in peanut butter, almond butter or any nut butter.
The pistachio cream gets mixed into the batter along with some finely chopped pistachio’s, the batter will be rich and thick.
The pistachio cream also makes you able to put this cake together in no time, so it’s not labor intensive baking at all.
The mascarpone frosting is the perfect topping for this cake and it holds up very well for a few days after being frosted, that is if you have any leftover cake.
You won’t find any green food coloring in this cake, pistachio pudding or cake mix like in days of old when that was a very popular way to make pistachio cake. You’ll only find the natural color and true essence of real pistachio.
Make this for Easter, Mother’s Day, a girls luncheon or a special birthday, you can even double everything and make it a 2 layer cake if you wish.
Grab a fork and have a slice!
Pistachio Cake with Mascarpone Frosting
Pistachio lovers, this cake is for you, subtly sweet with the true essence of pistachio, easy to make and perfect for special occasions. This recipe is adapted from a couple of different ones I found on the Internet that used pistachio cream.
Ingredients
- ½ cup of softened unsalted butter
- ¾ cup of granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup of flavorless oil
- ¼ cup of whole milk or sour cream
- 1 t. almond extract
- 2 t. vanilla extract
- 4 T. pistachio cream, butter or paste
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ t. baking powder
- ¼ t. baking soda
- ¼ to ½ of salt, depending if you’re using salted pistachio’s
- 2 T. of small but coarsely ground pistachio’s, I used salted
- you’ll be adding more ground pistachio’s for garnish on top or just use large chopped pistachio’s instead so you’ll. need extra
- FROSTING
- ½ cup of cold mascarpone cheese
- ½ t. almond extract
- 1t. vanilla extract
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ cup of cold heavy whipping cream
- NOTE: If you want to make the frosting look green add a little bit of the pistachio cream into the mix, I would just fold it in little by little not making the frosting too loose.
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350
- Grease the bottom and sides of an 8 inch pan, glass can also be used.
- In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until nice and creamy.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating to combined.
- Add the oil and milk or sour cream then the vanilla and almond extract, mix well and incorporate it all.
- Add the pistachio butter, mixing it in on low.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add the dry to the wet ingredients and mix til all combined, batter will be thick.
- Toss in and fold the 2 T. of the small coarsely ground pistachio’s into the thick batter.
- Pour into your baking pan spreading it out with an off set spatula from corner to corner.
- Bake 45 minutes, less if using a glass dish, I used glass and it was 7 minutes less.
- The key is to check the center if it comes out clean and golden brown on the bottom.
- Ovens do vary so check accordingly, make sure cake is completely cooled before frosting it.
- For the frosting beat together the mascarpone with the extracts, then incorporate the powdered sugar, now pour in the heavy whipping cream and beat until you get stiff peaks form into a fluffy consistency. Be careful not to over beat.
- Frost your cake and garnish with ground or chopped pistachio’s.
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