Pistachio Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Dreaming of Pistachio Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
We’re just back from a three week visit to France to see my husband’s family. While I had the opportunity to cook a few meals, that was a full 21 days without baking and I MISSED it! It did give me the chance to learn a few new meal recipes. Most of those recipes involve zucchini, so I really hope you like zucchini. It also offered me time to think of some new things to bake, including this pistachio cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting.
Real Pistachio Flavor in a Light Cake
I absolutely love pistachio flavor. Pistachio lattes, pistachio soft serve, pistachio nuts. This cake has one cup of ground pistachio deliciousness. That said, I was worried that the cake would be super heavy. And it wasn’t! I used my new cornstarch trick of adding one teaspoon to the dry ingredients, and I really think it helped to lighten the batter.
Freeze-Dried Strawberries a Tangy Taste for Your Pistachio Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
The cake was so moist, actually, that I think it would be 100% fine to eat it unfrosted. But why would you? Strawberries seemed like a great summery complement to the nut flavor. I decided I also wanted something a little tangy, so making cream cheese frosting instead of buttercream was the way to go. While real strawberries would have been delicious, I also knew they would add too much liquid to the frosting. My go to these days is freeze-dried strawberries. They add the perfect amount of strawberry flavor and pink color without watering things down. I find mine in the supermarket, but you can always order them online. They have the consistency of Special K with red berries – sort of like styrofoam, but yummy.
Strawberries on Your Strawberries
My latest project is working on my decorating. I’m super impressed by the decorating I see on IG and would love to be able to do something similar. Instead of leaving the cake plain, then, I decided to create little strawberries using almond paste. It would have been great to have had a strawberry cookie cutter, but I don’t. Instead, I made a little template of a strawberry and the leaves and used a sharp knife to cut them out. I would have liked the color to have been a bit brighter, but the almond paste was sort of brown. Fondant would probably have given me something closer to what I imagined, but I think the end result was still cute.
I’m so happy to be back in the kitchen, friends, and this cake was a great way to start!
Pistachio Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Pistachio Cake
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup ground pistachios
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup butter softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup freeze dried strawberries crushed to 1/2 cup powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3-4 cups confectioners sugar
Almond Paste Strawberries (Optional)
- 8 oz almond paste
- food color gels
Instructions
Pistachio Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly spray a 9×11 baking pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment paper, attaching it to the sides with binder clips. Lightly spray the parchment paper.
- Grind unshelled, lightly salted pistachios in a food processor. Process until you have very small pieces, but do not overdo it or you will create a nut butter. Pulse and check the texture from time-to-time.
- Add the ground pistachios, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and corn starch to a large bowl. Mix with a whisk or fork.
- Add the softened butter and granulated sugar to the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle.
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about two minutes.
- Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated.
- Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so that everything gets mixed.
- Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk, mixing between each addition. You can do this in three times each.
- Again, make sure you scrape the bottom and sides.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 33-35 minutes, until golden brown and a wooden skewer/toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- Crush the freeze-dried strawberries to a powder. I needed 3/4 cup to create 1/2 cup of powder.
- Add the softened butter and cream cheese to the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- Mix the butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy.
- Add the vanilla and mix.
- Add the strawberry powder and mix.
- Add the confectioners sugar one cup at a time. I found that 3 cups worked well for the flavor and consistency I wanted. If you want something sweeter and thicker, you can add additional confectioners sugar a bit at a time up to a total of 4 cups.
- Make sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Remember: you cannot frost the cake until it is completely cool. You can store your frosting in a covered container in the fridge while the cake cools, but you will need to take it out for a bit to soften before using.
Strawberry Decoration
- Separate the almond paste into 2/3 and 1/3 pieces.
- It is a VERY GOOD IDEA to wear gloves when dying the almond paste.
- Add 2 drops of red or fuchsia food gel to the 2/3 portion of the almond paste and knead it together until completely combined. Set aside.
- Add 2 drops of green food gel to the 1/3 portion of the almond paste and knead it together until completely combined.
- Roll out the red almond paste between two sheets of parchment paper.
- You can use a paper template to create the strawberry and leaf patterns in the next step or you can eyeball it. I started with the paper and switched to doing it on my own.
- Cut a strawberry shape from the almond paste using the tip of a sharp knife. It helps to have a wet paper towel nearby to clean off the end of the knife.
- Prick the surface of the "strawberries" using a toothpick. This will make the seed pattern.
- Roll out the green almond paste between two sheets of parchment paper.
- Cut a leaf pattern using the tip of a sharp knife.
- Position the strawberry design on top of the frosted cake. Add the leaves to the top of the strawberries.
- Cover your cake and store it in the fridge.
