I’m not always reading or writing, sometimes I’m baking. Today it was my pistachio cake. Not my favorite cake but it is the favorite choice of my husband and several of my friends. Actually, it used to be my favorite but it is requested so often, I’ve gotten a bit sick of it. Pistachio extract is not easy to come by so if you can’t find it, the cake doesn’t really suffer so don’t pay some outrageous price for any of the mail order ones. As a matter of fact, until recently you couldn’t even get pistachio extract in the states. The one I have tried, since you can, isn’t that great in my opinion. I get my extract from Aruba and it is produced by Industrias Tip Top Leanez & Cia. S.A. in Curacao. So every time you have a friend going to Aruba, ask them to drop in to a grocery store (the really big one on the road to the hotels in Palm Beach is where I get it, forget the name) and get you a couple of bottles of Tip-Top Pistachio Extract.
Ingredients:
Cake
- 1 package (2 layer size) super moist white cake mix
- 5 large eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup club soda
- 1 tsp pistachio extract
- 2 packages (4 serving size size) instant pistachio pudding mix
- 1/2 cup chopped pistachios (shelled and salted)
Frosting
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 carton (8-ounce size) frozen whipped topping
- 1 package (4 serving size) instant pistachio pudding mix
- 1 tsp pistachio extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour (or put parchment paper on bottom) two 8” cake pans. Set aside.
Beat the eggs until they are very creamy almost looking stiff. Add all but the nuts and mix well. Then fold in the pistachios, pour into the prepared pans and bake for 30 minutes or until cake tests done when wooden pick inserted in center comes our clean. Place pan on rack and cool slightly; remove cake from pans and cool completely before frosting.
Pistachio Frosting
Whip the cream until you have stiff peaks then place remaining ingredients in bowl and whip until combined and fluffy.
I sprinkle some whole pistachios on top of the cake for decoration. If the cake is around for more than a day, they get soggy. So the last time, I didn’t put them on. I received complaints so I put them on today. Guess some people don’t mind a soggy pistachio. I use W♥nderful brand whole shelled and salted pistachios. When I really want to put on a show, I mix up a batch of cheesecake, add in an 11 oz. can of Love ‘N Bake Pistachio Nut Paste (available on Amazon and from King Arthur Flour) and bake in two 8 inch cake pans that have been lined with aluminum foil. When they are cooled, lift out and put in freezer. Then I split the cake mix into three 8 inch cake pans (cooking time will be a few minutes shorter – I never timed it, I can tell by the smell when it is done J ) To assemble take cheesecake out of freezer and remove foil. Cake layer, cheesecake layer, cake layer, cheesecake layer, topped with cake layer. You don’t need to make a bigger batch of frosting since you are only frosting the exterior in this case, not between the layers. If like me, your favorite cheesecake recipe is way too much cheesecake for two cake pans, use this, mixing as usual for cheesecake and bake at 325 for 25 minutes or until set:
- 3 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- can pistachio paste
Kate Eileen Shannon 