Full of Eastern Promise - Pistachio Yoghurt Cake with White Chocolate and Cardamom Frosting

 

 

A rather tenuous link here between the phrase that makes me think of Turkish delight and the fact that this has rosewater in the frosting, but what I will say is that this is from Silvena Rowe's wonderful book 'Orient Express' which is full of luscious recipes from the eastern Mediterranean and (slightly further) beyond... and the cake is full of pistachios...so when I say Turkish I am not that far from the actual truth.

 

This is a cinch to make if you have food processor. The basic gist is that you just blitz the stuff that needs to be blitzed and then add the rest of the ingredients and then blitz some more. Put it into a prepared tin and you are done. And since I found myself a 10 cm cake tin, it means I can have my cake and eat it, since I don't have to make a full size cake and then be responsible for eating it all. Which unfortunately in the long term is probably a good thing.

 

Anyway, the coarse texture of this cake marries well with the cream topping, and even though I had no rose petals to garnish (a month too early for my garden, I fear) this cake still looks beautiful unadorned, the swirl of frosting hiding the nutty, ever so slightly verdant centre. Try it; it's lush!

 

Pistachio Yoghurt Cake with White Chocolate and Cardamom Frosting adapted from 'Orient Express' by Silvena Rowe

 

I halved the recipe below to make a cake that cuts into 4- 5 slices. The ingredients below make a cake that cuts into 8 - 10 slices

 

For the cake

 

200g ground pistachios

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

150g unsalted butter

225g self-raising flour

185g caster sugar

3 eggs

125ml thick yoghurt ( I used strained Greek yoghurt 0% fat - it worked!!)

a pinch of salt (optional)

 

For the frosting:

 

100g white chocolate

200g cream cheese

1/2 tsp rose water

1 tbsp icing sugar

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1-2 small edible roses

1 tbsp icing sugar

 

 

Method

 

 

 

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 6. Butter and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper.

 

 

 

Blend the ground pistachios, cardamom, butter, flour and sugar in a food mixer. Then combine with the eggs and yoghurt in a mixing bowl.

 

 

 

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the oven for one hour. Cover the cake with foil halfway through cooking then allow to cool on a rack.

 

 

To make the frosting, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, and allow to cool. In a separate bowl combine the cream cheese with the rose water, then add the cooled chocolate. Sift in the icing sugar and sprinkle in the ground cardamom. Mix well until you have smooth cream.

 

 

 

Serve cake accompanied by the chocolate and cardamom cream. Sprinkle with edible roses and dust with icing sugar. (I just covered my cake in frosting instead of serving it separately; a frosted cake is such a pretty thing!)