This easy Pistachio Cake recipe from scratch requires just 10 minutes of hands-on preparation time and 10 ingredients. Made with freshly ground pistachios. No artificial colors nor cake mix involved.
The added sour cream makes the Pistachio Cake super moist and soft. Instructions for Pistachio Cake Muffins provided.
The cake is really, really easy to make. Except for the pistachios, there are just basic ingredients in the cake which are almost always at home.
Ingredients
So what exactly is in this cake?
- pistachios
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- salt
- butter
- granulated white sugar
- eggs
- sour cream
- vanilla
- milk
You see? Very basic ingredients.
Photo instructions
Start with the pistachios. I recommend buying roasted, shelled, unsalted pistachios for the most powerful green color. Place pistachios in a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. Take care that you don't grind too long. Otherwise, it turns into a paste.
Transfer the ground pistachios together with flour, baking powder, and salt to a medium bowl and stir to combine.
Mix softened butter and sugar until fluffy, pale, and super creamy — about 2 minutes.
Add one egg at a time. Mix until combined before you add the next egg.
First egg:
Second egg:
Third egg:
Add sour cream and vanilla and stir to combine.
Alternately add dry ingredients and milk. Start and end with dry ingredients.
The batter is very liquid.
Transfer to a parchment paper layered 9" baking pan. Bake for 25-28 minutes until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
The cake is very moist, spongy, and loaded with pistachio flavor. Pistachio Cake is best eaten on the second day because it needs a few hours until the taste is fully evolved.
In case you want to make muffins, line two 12 muffin pans with 16-18 cupcake liners and fill ¾ full with Pistachio Cake batter. This works best with an ice cream scoop or tablespoon. Bake muffins at 425°F / 220°C for 5 minutes then lower the temperature to 350°F / 175°C and bake additional 11-14 minutes or until a toothpick centered in the middle comes out clean.
Let the muffins cool completely. As long as they are still warm, they stick to the paper and don't come off the paper easily. If you let them sit overnight, you can easily peel off the paper.
The best frosting for this cake is chocolate cream cheese frosting. It is sweet, salty, chocolatey, and fits the pistachio taste of the cake just perfectly. If you are not in the mood for chocolate, I recommend a homemade orange pistachio syrup. Orange and pistachio is a great flavor combination. However you decide, I got you covered with both recipes.
Here you find the recipe for the chocolate cream cheese frosting which I used. I made just half of the frosting. The whole recipe would be too much for a single-layered cake. But if you doubled the recipe and made a double-layered cake, you would go with the full recipe.
The orange pistachio syrup is super easy to make. Cook roasted, salted, shelled pistachios, sugar, orange juice, and a bit of orange zest in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar is completely dissolved and the syrup coats the back of a spoon, about 3-4 minutes. Drizzle over the cake just before serving.
Storage
Store cake or muffins in an airtight container at room temperature. I recommend adding toppings just before serving. If you drizzle the orange syrup over the whole cake, it soaks through and gets wet.
If it is very warm and humid where you live, you may want to store the cake or muffins in the fridge. Let come to room temperature before serving and add toppings of your choice.
Freezing
Pistachio Cake is always best eaten fresh. However, if you plan to freeze the whole cake, let it let cool completely. Then wrap tightly in plastic wrap twice. Then wrap in foil twice. Place the wrapped cake in a large freezer bag and remove as much air as possible. It freezes well up to 1 month.
To thaw, unwrap the cake, put it on a wire rack, and let stand at room temperature for 3-4 hours. Then transfer to an airtight container. Eat within 2 days.
To freeze single slices, tightly wrap each slice in plastic wrap twice. Then place in freezer bags and squeeze out all the air. Slices freeze well up to 1 month. For thawing, unwrap single slices and place uncovered on the counter for 1-2 hours. Do the same with the muffins.
Note: Do not add any toppings before freezing. Otherwise, it gets soggy at the top while thawing. Add toppings just before serving.
However, fresh Pistachio Cake is always better than a frozen one. I just want to repeat it.
If you make this recipe, rate it and tag a photo #alsothecrumbsplease on Instagram! Would love to see your snap!
You may also like Esterházy Torte, Mirror Glaze Galaxy Cake, or Rainbow Cake.
Recipe and Video
Pistachio Cake Recipe From Scratch
Ingredients
- 1 cup pistachios, roasted, shelled, unsalted (130g)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (120g)
- 1 + ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter, softened (113g)
- ¾ cup granulated white sugar (150g)
- 3 large eggs
- ¼ cup sour cream (60g)
- 2 vanilla beans* (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
- ½ cup milk (120ml)
OPTIONAL: orange pistachio syrup
- ⅓ cup pistachios, roasted, shelled, salted (43g)
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar (50g)
- 1 large orange - zest and juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line the bottom and the sides of a 9" (23cm) springform pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Place pistachios in a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. Don't grind too long. Otherwise, it turns into a paste. Transfer to a bowl and add flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl with a stand or handheld mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until creamy for about 2-3 minutes. Add 1 egg at the time and mix until incorporated. Add sour cream and vanilla* and stir to combine. Alternately add dry ingredients and milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Stir just until combined.
- Transfer to the prepared baking pan and bake for about 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to let cool completely.
- Orange pistachio syrup (OPTIONAL): In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, cook pistachios, sugar, orange juice, and orange zest until sugar is completely dissolved and syrup coats the back of a spoon, about 3-4 minutes.
- Pour syrup over cooled cake slices just before serving. Store leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days. Reheat leftover syrup to liquefy again, if necessary.
Video
Notes
- Read the blog post for additional information on how to make, store, and freeze the cake, how to convert it into muffins, and which frosting goes with it. Find here a recipe for chocolate cream cheese frosting.
- Watch step-by-step photos to see the required consistency in every step.
- Watch the 32-seconds recipe video to see the whole process of making this recipe.
Can I use lightly salted shelled pistachios if I don't add any additional salt to the recipe?
Yes, that is possible.
This cake was absolutely delicious! It’s my new favorite go to cake! Mine did not come out as green as your picture but nonetheless it was delicious! Thank you ?
Thank you, I'm glad you like it!
This “mature” pistachio cake was too hard to resist, even before putting it in the over. Thanks so much for a great recipe! I substituted the regular milk for almond milk and used dairy free sour cream due to lactose intolerance and it turned out great!
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
This cake was so good and easy! No frosting/icing needed, It was delicious without it. Thanks so much for sharing, I can't wait to try out some of your other recipes
I want to double the cake to make a two-later cake with the chocolate cream cheese frosting you mentioned. But you keep saying not to put toppings on until just before serving. Would it not work as a two-later frosted cake because of this? Thanks.
Yes, you can totally double the recipe and make a two-layer cake. With toppings, I was more referring to the orange syrup that people don't pour the syrup over the whole cake and store it afterward. They could end up with a mushy, soggy, soaked cake and that would be a waste. I hope that helps!
Hi, great recipe! I will surely bake this cake this coming weekend. However, would I require green food coloring to get exactly similar color as yours?
Hi Amita, no you don't need food coloring. I didn't use any in my cake you see in the photos.
Just Brilliant! No words it is just amazing as i have tried for my son's 2nd birthday. I have used 3 4" tins for this receipe and all the layers turned out evenly. Receipe is just perfect if you want to try making it from scratch.Thabk you so much for sharing the receipe.
Thank you so much! I'm glad it turned out great for you!
Can this recipe be halved or doubled ? Also, why no baking soda or baking powder was added? Can I add 1/4th tsp of each to make it more spongier & fluffy ?
To half the recipe I recommend a smaller pan and you will need to adjust the baking time. When you want to double the recipe, I recommed baking it in a bigger pan or two pans and also adjust the baking time. There is 1+1/2 tsp of baking powder in the recipe. I hope that helps!
Excellant recipe making it again.I added almond extract and if not careful can be a bit much. Trying it again without almond extract and using just vanilla