This easy Pistachio Cake recipe from scratch requires just 10 minutes preparation time and 10 ingredients. Made with freshly ground pistachios. No artificial colors nor cake mix involved. Added sour cream makes the Pistachio Cake super moist and soft. Unbelievably easy to make.
Pistachios are one of my favorite kind of nuts. I love to munch on them on weekend nights. Also pistachio ice cream is one of my top 3 ice cream flavors. But do you know how I love pistachios the most? In a cake!
I was thinking about what to bake with pistachios since, I don’t know, I guess 4-5 weeks. First, I thought I would do something with berries and pistachios because berries and pistachios are a great combo. But nothing really spectacular came to my mind. So I thought, ok let’s make a Pistachio Cake without anything else.
That I didn’t combine the pistachios with any other dominating flavor like berries, the pistachios are the star and totally present.
The cake is very easy to make and super moist and soft. It is my new favorite cake!
Easy Pistachio Cake recipe from scratch
The cake is really, really easy to make. Except for the pistachios, there are just ingredients used which are always at home.
So what exactly is in this Pistachio Cake?
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Butter
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Sour cream
- Vanilla
- Milk
You see? Very basic ingredients.
The cake itself is so tasty that I decided to make no frosting.
But if you want to have frosting on top then think about cream cheese or chocolate. Both fit very good. If I had to decide for frosting, I would go with chocolate. But I’m a chocoholic. I would go with chocolate in any case.
You could bake it also in a 9×5″ loaf pan when adjusting the baking time. In this case, I would check the consistency after 45 minutes and then every 5 minutes until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
So it’s up to your taste. Eat just the cake on its own, or top it with frosting. However, you like.
You ask what this is on top of the cake?
You know, as a food photographer and stylist my target is to create mouthwatering food photos. The food needs to be presented in its best shape.
I planned to sprinkle pistachios and drizzle honey on top. I wanted to have those shiny reflectors from the honey on top of the cake. And whipped cream. Whipped cream also had to be involved of course.
When I told Mario that I want to drizzle honey over the cake, he was asking me if I really need to do that. What??
I have to explain that we eat all the stuff I bake after I photographed it. Yes, all of it. And he likes honey, but he is not in love with it. But I thought I can’t cut down my creativity just because my husband doesn’t love honey. You know what I mean?
So I cooked salted pistachios, sugar, orange juice, and a bit of orange zest to a syrup which I decided to drizzle on top instead of honey and pistachios.
What should I say? It was beyond delicious. It was not planned in the first place, and now I think it MUST be on top. The syrup is sweet, salty, orangy, with these warm pistachios in it. Oh, my word. This is freaking mindblowing.
If you love oranges, I encourage you to give this pistachio orange syrup a try. You will love it. I added the recipe for this syrup to the Pistachio Cake recipe below. Just in case if you want to make it.
Picture it: soft and moist Pistachio Cake topped with warm pistachio orange syrup, whipped cream, and a scoop of ice cream. I don’t think that any frosting can compete with this.
By the way, Mario didn’t eat it with the syrup. Or whipped cream. Or ice cream. He loved the cake just on its own without anything. Whatever.
This Pistachio Cake recipe is
- made from scratch without cake mix and artificial colors
- super easy to make
- prepared in 10 minutes with just 10 ingredients
- super soft and moist thanks to the added sour cream
- intense pistachio-ish
- mindblowing delicious
So how will you eat your Pistachio Cake? With frosting? Without frosting? Baked in a springform pan or a loaf pan? Topped with pistachio orange syrup, whipped cream, and ice cream, or just on its own? Leave a comment and let me know.
If you make this awesome Pistachio Cake recipe from scratch, rate it and tag a photo #alsothecrumbsplease on Instagram! Would love to see your snap!
You may also like Hungarian Esterházy Torte Recipe, Mirror Glaze Galaxy Cake Recipe, How to make a Rainbow Cake, Soft and moist Triple Chocolate Cake, or click here to see all recipes.
This easy Pistachio Cake recipe from scratch requires just 10 minutes preparation time and 10 ingredients. Made with freshly ground pistachios. No artificial colors nor cake mix involved. Added sour cream makes the Pistachio Cake super moist and soft. Unbelievably easy to make.
- 1 cup pistachios, roasted, shelled, unsalted (130g)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (120g)
- 1 + 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened (113g)
- 3/4 cup granulated white sugar (150g)
- 3 large eggs
- 1/4 cup sour cream (60g)
- 2 vanilla beans* (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
- 1/2 cup milk (120ml)
- 1/3 cup pistachios, roasted, shelled, salted (43g)
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar (50g)
- zest and juice of 1 orange
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Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line the bottom and the sides of a 9" (23cm) springform pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
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Make the pistachio cake: 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.
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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 on a wire rack to room temperature.
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Make the pistachio orange syrup (OPTIONAL): In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, cook pistachios, sugar, orange juice, and orange zest until sugar is completely dissolved and liquefied about 3-4 minutes. Pour over cooled cake just before serving. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream on top, if desired. Store leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days. Reheat leftover syrup to liquefy again.
*First, cut off the straight end of the vanilla bean. Then place the tip of your knife below the curled end and cut the vanilla bean through the middle of the bean lengthwise with a sharp knife. Although you don't need to cut it all the way through, it's ok when you do so. Then open the vanilla bean and scrape out the flavorful seeds with the back of your knife. Just use the seeds.
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Im going to make this!! I am going to a womens meet up group and think this will be lovely. I dont have a spring form pan though. Do you think cupcakes would work? I have a loaf pan but i worry it wont be as beautiful or dessert-like. I also have 8” cake pans but will it get stuck? What do you think?
I’m not sure about cupcakes because of the baking time. Also, the texture is not that light like cupcakes should be. It is more moist than cupcakes. You could bake them in 8″ cake pans for sure. They will bake slightly longer till they are baked through, just check with a toothpick. That the cake doesn’t stick to the pan, cut out an 8″ circle and about 2″ strips of parchment paper and line the bottom and the sides of the pan. When the cake is cooled, flip over the pan and the cake will come out easily. Then remove the paper and voilá. Hopefully, this helps.
Awesome! Thanks! I’ll try it and presuming success I’ll snap a pic, too!
Now i just have to decide if I want to frost or not. I’ll surprise you! 🙂
Great, Emily! I can’t wait to see it. (: Happy baking!
Made this cake and it was divine! A definite crowd pleaser and high up on my hall of fame cakes. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Awww, Joumana! This is so nice. I’m happy that you like this cake. Thank you so much!
Hi
How do you roast the pistachios ?
Hi Teresa, I bought them already roasted.
I’ve made this cake several times. It is moist and delicious and people rave when I make it. Sometimes I top it with chocolate ganache followed by the orange syrup/pistachios, and other times just the orange syrup with pistachios. Either way it is a wonderful recipe to keep!
Aww, Gretchen, this is so nice of you! I’m so happy that you like it. It sounds just wonderful to top it with chocolate ganache. I definitely try this next time! Happy baking (:
I made minicupcakes from this recipe. Worked perfectly!!!! About 14 minutes was enough and they are stil light but moist. I topped them with a creme cheese frosting with vanilla and orange zest en on every cupcake a fresh raspberry to cut throug the sweetness of the frosting. They were amazing !!!!
Wow, that sounds beyond delicious, Annemarie. I need to try this. Thank you so much, I’m super happy that you like the recipe!