The Plain-Cake Appreciation Society {edition 22} – Pistachio & Rose Cake.

This week I’m overwhelmed. I think lots of us are…? Overwhelmed by the state of the world, the state of Australia, and the state of my kitchen after all the diversionary baking we’ve been doing. ⁣⁣But at least there is cake (two actually), sunshine and lots of tea. Let’s think about those small cheerful things for a little bit.⁣⁣

The week’s cake offering is a lovely subtle pistachio and rose number – baked in a bundt tin because bundts make me happy (but feel free to bake in a regular round tin – you will just need to bake for a little longer) and finished with a shiny pink glaze because that’s cheerful too. ⁣⁣

Happy Friday friends. Hope your weekend is a good one. x⁣

Pistachio & Rose Cake

(makes one bundt cake)

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter, softened
165g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 large eggs
100g self-raising flour
90g shelled pistachios
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
125ml milk
1 tsp rose water

Glaze:
120g icing sugar
1 tsp rose water
3-4 tsp hot water
A drop or two of pink food colouring

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 140 degrees C (fan-forced). Place pistachios in a single layer on an oven tray and bake for 5-8 minutes or until just starting to get toasty. Allow to cool before blitzing to a fine meal.
  2. Turn oven up to 160 degrees C and grease a 1.5L bundt tin well with butter. Dust with flour, tapping out any excess.
  3. Place butter, caster sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well in between.
  4. Place flour, pistachio meal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Add 1/2 the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture and stir gently to combine. Add 1/2 the milk, stirring briefly before adding remaining dry ingredients, milk and rose water. Mix gently to a smooth batter.
  5. Scoop batter into prepared tin, smoothing the top with a spatula and tapping the tin on the bench a few times to remove any air bubbles. Place in oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.
  6. Allow to cool in tin for 5-10 minutes whilst you make the rose water glaze. For the glaze, place icing sugar, rose water, food colouring and 3 tsp of hot water in a small bowl and mix until smooth.
  7. Turn cake out of tin onto a wire cooling rack set above a baking sheet. Whilst cake is still hot, brush or drizzle icing over the cake to coat in a thin glaze. If using a pastry brush to coat the cake, you may want to add remaining 1 tsp of hot water to thin the glaze. This is a very thin icing, so expect the extra to run off the cake and onto the tray underneath.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Any leftover cake will keep happily in an airtight container for 2-3 days.