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.