Monday, August 6, 2012

Pistachio cardamom orange cake



The best thing of being or living in India is that, I can go home whenever I feel like it and our family can visit us often too. That is a real blessing.
My sister and nephew visited us and I made this cake for them.





     


It was a nice pistachio cake which was infused with cardamom. A handsome quantity of pistachios were ground and added to the cake. Orange zest rendered that zing . The orange flavor came through so well. Cardamom powder does the job of  giving a good aroma to the cake. So there is no need for vanilla in this recipe.

 


What I loved most about the cake was that when I cut a slice, the orange and green specs  from the zest and the pistachio were vividly visible, which made it look so beautiful. This cake was a smash hit at home. It lasted 2 days and not a crumb was left.



Ingredients:
  • Pistachios -1-1/2 cups(unsalted, shelled and toasted )
  • All-purpose flour - 1-1/2 cups
  • Baking powder - 2-1/2 tspns
  • Cardamom powder - 1 tspn
  • Salt - 1/4 tspn
  • Whole milk - 1 cup
  • Unsalted butter - 1-1/2 sticks (at room-temperature)
  • Sugar - 1-1/2 cups
  • Eggs - 4 large or 5 small
  • Grated orange zest - 2 tspns
Method:

  • Arrange oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line a  9-inch-diameter round cake pan withparchment paper. 
  • In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt and sieve 3 times or mix well.
  • Add cardamom powder and mix well.
  • Using food processor, pulse pistachios until  ground, about 40 seconds. (Do not over process it to a fine powder ).
  • Add the ground pistachio to the flour mixture and mix well.
  • In large bowl using electric mixer at moderate speed, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  
  •  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
  •  Reduce speed to low and flour mixture and milk alternately in 3 batches,  beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating after each addition just until combined. 
  • Add orange zest and mix until just combined.
  • Spread batter evenly in pan and bake for 35 mins, until wooden skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean. 
  • Remove from oven and cool the cake in the  pan  for about 10 minutes, unmold cake and let cool on a rack.

Photobucket

5 comments:

  1. I adore cardamom and pistachio and the two together sound quite tasty. Your photography is great, very beautiful pictures! I'd love to try out this cake...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Smitha,

    The cake appears a variety from what I have seen before. Visiting you blog after a long time, but it still preserves the style and the presentation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Soft and spongy cake...Lovely clicks too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. lovely pics and the cake sounds flavorful

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just bought a huge bag of shelled pistachios and it feels like a sign! I love cardamom in cakes. I am loving your site!

    ReplyDelete

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