These moist and luscious pistachio, cardamom cakes topped with a lemon drizzle are inspired by the Great British Bakeoff and are a great addition to any meal or tea party!
My nine-year old niece, Layla, loves to bake. She has been obsessed with watching cooking and baking shows since she was 2. She didn’t ask to watch cartoons when she was a toddler but was much more interested in the Food Network or watching cooking videos on YouTube. Needless to say when my niece and I get together, baking is often on the agenda. Layla is a huge fan of the Great British Bakeoff and recently suggested we make a recipe from the show – which I was happy to oblige – hence the inspiration for this recipe. We decided to make them individualized and of course — heart shaped.
Sharing quality time with family and friends in the kitchen is one of the primary reasons I love to cook. Cooking – by it’s nature is creative, social, and an act of generosity that I’m glad my niece is interested in. I cherish these cooking sessions with her and am soooo pysched that she loves to hangout with her aunt!
PrintPistachio, cardamom and lemon drizzle cake
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 100g / 3½ oz shelled pistachios, plus extra to decorate
- 125ml / 4fl oz sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
- 125g / 4½oz fine sugar
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 1 t vanilla bean paste
- 1 t ground cardamom)
- zest of 1 lemon
- 100g / 3½oz plain flour
- 30g / 1oz ground almonds, sifted
- pinch salt
- 1 t baking powder
- ½ t baking soda
- 50 / 1¾oz sour cream
For the lemon syrup
- 2 lemons, juice only
- 120g / 4¼oz caster sugar
For the lemon Icing
- 75g / 2½oz powdered sugar
- 1–2 T lemon juice
To decorate
- dried rose petals
Instructions
Method
-
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8 silicone molds
-
In a food processor, pulse the pistachios to make a powder.
-
In a large bowl, mix together the sunflower oil and caster sugar.
-
Add the eggs, vanilla paste, ground cardamom and lemon zest. Stir until combined.
-
In a separate bowl, add the flour, ground pistachios, ground almonds, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir until well combined then fold into the wet ingredients in the other bowl.
-
Fold in the sour cream.
-
Pour the mixture into the prepared molds and bake for 35 – 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
-
In the meantime, prepare the syrup. Heat the lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved, then briefly bring to the boil.
-
Remove from the heat and set aside.
-
As soon as the cake is cooked, poke holes all over the top using a skewer.
-
Pour over two-thirds of the hot syrup and leave to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes. Add half the extra pistachios (for decorating the cake) to the remaining syrup.
-
When the cake is cool, remove it from the tin.
-
For the lemon icing, sift the powdered sugar into a bowl and stir in the lemon juice until smooth.
-
Drizzle over the cooled cake.
-
To finish, finely chop the remaining pistachios and scatter over the icing. Top with the syrup-coated pistachios and some dried rose petals.
Leave a Reply