Thursday 18 August 2011

Almond and pistachio cake

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Two posts in a week, yaaay! Its an achievement for me to be honest. What with the weather being so shitty, my pictures never come out well and I hate doing a blog post with horrid pictures. This ones not too great either, but then the recipe is definitely a keeper and since I couldn't anticipate when I'd make it again, I had to pen it down for posterity. 

I hadn't baked in ages (well, a month to be precise) and somehow that urge to eat a freshly baked cake right out of the oven passed along with a lot of other urges and so baking has been kept to a minimum. We have turned religiously to eating fruit after meals, trying to make the most of summer bounty before the bloody autumn sets in (which by the looks of it, has already set in UK- Its 12pm here in London but looks more like 7pm).
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So when I somehow stumbled upon this recipe on the Good Food website, I decided to bake. I left aside all my work and declared the day as a lazy day. I even had half a mind to skip my swimming session, but since i was enjoying it so much, I didn't. I even watched a couple of movies (blinding out the fact that I would have double the amount of work to do the next day, since I had deadlines to meet), and was almost gonna call Ro and ask him to pick up some Chinese food on the way back, when I thought I should make him some Tagliatelle pasta which he has been asking me for so long. So instead I asked him to pick up a bottle of Italian wine :)

This is the first time I've used pistachios in baking, or rather cooking at all. I was really sceptical about the final outcome and so halved the recipe. The cake caught me by surprise as it was one of the moistest evah. The pistachios were not too overpowering, but at the same time the cake did taste exotic, not to mention how easy it was putting it together

So, while I'm typing out this recipe, and its pouring outside, I have declared today also as a lazy day where I shall not even be going to the pool, but be sitting at home and researching on the places to visit and treks to do on our annual holiday, end of this month. See what lethargy can do to me? I'm now so concerned I would continue this state till end of the week :O (and maybe even block my editors off gtalk, so they wont harass me about corrections and deadlines)
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Recipe halved from here
Butter- 125 gms at room temperature
Caster sugar- 100 gms
Eggs- 2
Ground almonds- 60 gms
Ground pistachio nuts- 50 gms
Plain flour- 25 gms
Baking powder- 1/2 tsp
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Beat together the butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
Mix together the plain flour and baking powder and stir this into the egg-butter mix followed by ground almonds and pistachios.
Alternatively, mix the flour, baking pwd, and ground nuts together and add it altogether.
Give a good stir and pour into a greased 9 inch baking dish.
Place in an oven pre heated at 180C and bake for about 40 minutes.
Do the skewer test and then cool on a wire rack.
I dug into it while it was still warm.
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Notes: The original recipe called for lemon zest, which I avoided.
Replace the plain flour with cornmeal for a gluten free version
I bought a pack of pistachio nuts and ground them at home. I kinda over did it, so the oil kinda made it clump together. That's why you can see specks of green here and there. Make sure you get the pistachio in the powder form itself.
The cake was a bit too greasy and so I'd probably reduce the butter next time.
The cake was nice and sweet for my liking and so I avoided the pistachio topping. Feel free to try it out, recipe is available in the link.

43 comments:

Asha said...

Looks yummy......

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow....love the color of the cake.....looks delicious......

Unknown said...

OMG! I am speechless...seeing this cake!

Love the color and perfectly baked and very fluffy....

and of course love the beautiful pictorials...awesome job dear!

KrithisKitchen said...

Thanks for sharing the super decadent cake... and thanks for the verdict too.. Very helpful..
http://krithiskitchen.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Rich and yummy combination, cake looks soft n yumm

Santosh Bangar said...

spongy moist cake

divya said...

Wow....love the color of the cake.....looks delicious......

Love II cook said...

can u guess why i loved ur post?? the dainty fork and my lovestory rekindled again:) lol. I think m the only weirdo in love with things lil small and more eh ;) lovely recipe i have to use a stock of almonds and pistachios in my pantry.. a good tea time cake to make.

Indian Khana said...

Delicious combo and looks yum ...the texture is so good

Torviewtoronto said...

delicious looking combination of nuts for this lovely cake

Deepthi Shankar said...

That is one beautiful looking cake. Fab pictures :)

Sokehah cheah said...

Have bookmarked this! Do you think that instead of pistachio, substitute with ground hazelnut will be ok? Because both ground hazelnut and almond are easily available!

Satya said...

cake is super soft n delicious...beautiful clicks too
Super Yummy Recipes

Vimitha Durai said...

Thats a gorgeous and flavorful cake. Loved the texture n color

Reshmi Mahesh said...

Rich delicious looking cake...lovely clicks...

Priya Suresh said...

Wat a delightful cake, with all those nuts who will say no to this incredible cake,seriously feel like having a slice..

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

pista in cooking is new to me too but vsibly it has lent its beautiful colour to the cake...fantastic recipe.

Nithya said...

A nutty cake :) Looks definitely delicious and I like the pics as usual :)

Rose from Magpies Recipes said...

Oh this is wonderful Nisha! Loved it in pistachio ice creams and cookies and have been meaning to try making pistachio cake. Tried one with almond meal and whole oranges a while ago that was incredibly moist too- almost puddingy!
I loveee the light in your photos. Don't know how you achieve it, that too in London!

Sashquatch said...

If only you knew how much i loved EVERY ingredient in your gorgeous looking cake! I am definitely going to make this someday hopefully soon, it looks perfect. Great recipe! :)

Suja Manoj said...

Moist and delicious cake..love the color..perfectly baked

Anonymous said...

This has to bookmarked for sure coz I LOVE pistachios..looks so moist!

Sravs said...

Wonderful cake !! looks soft and perfectly baked

Ongoing Event - CC-Appetizers

notyet100 said...

Luved this cake :)

Vasanth Vaseegaran said...

I need a lazy day like this when I can bake such luscious cakes.

RV @ Food for 7 Stages said...

I need a lazy day like this so that I can bake such luscious cakes.

Deepti said...

loved the combination of flavors

http://www.panchamrutham.blogspot.com/

Suhaina said...

wow..that is one superb looking cake... nice combination...and wonderful clicks as usual...
hope u are doing fine??

Prathima Rao said...

Lovely, delightful cake!!
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner

aipi said...

Pistachios are one of my most fav nuts to use in cake n other baked goodies. The cake looks so moist n the pics GORGEOUS!
USMasala

Raks said...

Awesome recipe,could not see the pictures though,should be some browser issues for me :(

Cocktail Party said...

Looks yum!!! I was just wondering yesterday what to do with my Pista's ..now I know:)

schmetterlingwords said...

The cake looks sooo moist and spongy... Love the idea of a pistachio cake... Bookmarked :)

By the way, weather is getting better in Germany (atleast in Frankfurt). So, finally having some sunny days towards the end of summer :)

Plateful said...

Hey, I can totally relate to your feeling of not wanting to do a post due to poor picture quality. My case is similar these days especially with fasting and me doing the cooking in the PM and shooting-- and that too if I have the time--when the light is so low. Bummer!

You said the moistest ever, eh? I gotta try it then!

Jehanne said...

hey thanks for popping by to my blog,yeah we live in north of London..so we are prwctically 'neighbours'. which part of london are you in? This cake looks fab:-)

Unknown said...

I love simple cakes, the subtle greenness is gorgeous Nisha!...i too have never tried pistachio in baking should try!

M D said...

That looks sinfully good. Love the texture in the last pic :)

Rinku Naveen said...

Wow! This looks super soft and loved the combo.

Alpana said...

What a wow recipe......Love it.

The Kitchen Kook said...

Ohmigosh. This cake looks super moist and delectable. I love pistachio sweets, but they're so hard to find! I'll have to try and recreate their deliciousness myself with this recipe! Thanks for sharing! :)

Isha Shan said...

I tried this one and it was so delicious.Everyone loved it..

Ayesha said...

Can I use Gluten Free flour to make this cake?

Ayesha said...

Can I use Gluten Free flour to make this cake?