• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Dessert First

a san francisco food and travel blog | all things sweet

  • About Me
    • about pastrygirl
    • faq
    • press
    • Contact Me
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
  • My Books
  • Recipes
    • Breads
    • Cakes
    • Candy
    • Chocolate
    • Cookies
    • Custards
    • Fruit
    • Ice Cream
    • Pastry
    • Tarts
  • Sweet San Francisco
    • Sweet Spots
    • SF Events
  • Travel
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • California
    • Hawaii
  • reviews and recs
    • Cookbooks
    • Chocolate
    • Tools
  • Conversions

{Cookbook Review}: Sugar and Spice and a Pistachio and Chocolate Cake

Sep 16 by Anita 13 Comments

Pistachio Chocolate Cake

After a ridiculously steamy (even by Bay Area Indian summer standards) heat wave last week, we’re finally settling down into some autumnal baking weather. There’s even rain in the forecast! What better setup for a warm cozy afternoon in the kitchen making something sweet and rich and comforting?

It’s also fall cookbook season, so I have a new huge pile of books in my bedroom that I’m happily perusing and bookmarking. See the right sidebar on this blog for a list of my current favorites (disclosure: these are Amazon affiliate links) that I hope to bake from in the next couple of months. One that I’ve already tried and love is Samantha Seneviratne’s The New Sugar and Spice.

Samantha is a fellow dessert blogger and an amazing baker – check out her gorgeous site. Her debut cookbook showcases her love of spices with unusual, inspired twists on classic baked goods quite literally spiced up with everything from peppercorns to nutmeg to cloves. She draws on her Sri Lankan heritage, using stories of her life to illustrate how the flavors of the food she grew up eating have influenced her baking. Although you may be used to making a batch of gingerbread or mixing chiles with chocolate, Samantha brings her own delightful perspective and presents some very original combinations.

I was immediately drawn to the Pistachio and Chocolate cake, before I even knew it was the cover image of the book. It’s the sort of simple, homey-looking butter cake that’s anything but plain when you taste it. The pistachios make it incredibly rich and moist, but it’s the cardamom that lends a spark of the unfamiliar, and makes you reach for a second piece before you know it.

Pistachio Paste

I had all the ingredients for the cake on hand save the pistachio paste. Every time I go into a professional pastry kitchen I drool over what’s in their pantry, like giant boxes of Valrhona chocolate and tubs of ground almonds and pistachio paste. In the regular consumer world, pistachio paste can be a little harder to find (or frustratingly expensive – pistachios aren’t cheap!) You can always order online, but if you can find raw pistachios, you can make pistachio paste yourself. I did so because I didn’t want to wait for an online order, plus there’s something viscerally satisfying in seeing these vibrant green nuts get turned into a rich, smooth paste and then get folded into a golden, fragrant cake.

If you can find shelled pistachios, it will make your life easier and shorten the prep time. But if you can’t, that’s fine – you get some meditation time in the kitchen while you shell the nuts. Once that part is done, the rest is fairly quick. Although you can probably make pistachio paste just by grinding them up in the food processor with a bit of oil, I like using the praliné method, where you coat the nuts in hot cooked sugar, and then grind the caramelized nuts into powder. A bit of oil and that’s all you need to create a beautifully smooth pistachio paste.

Note that in looking up methods on the internet I’ve seen some pistachio pastes that turned out more on the brownish side. If you want your paste to stay as verdantly green as possible, try to remove as much of the pistachio skins as possible as they are what’s adding the brownish tint. If you’re having trouble removing the skins, you can blanch the pistachios and rub them in a dishtowel to get them off.

Pistachio Chocolate Cake batter

Here’s the cake ready to bake in the oven. It’s already gorgeous with the pistachio paste folded in to give it a pale green hue, and more nuts sprinkled on top. There are bits of chopped chocolate swirled in as well. As this is not an extremely sweet cake, I find the recommendation of 60-70% cacao chocolate to be spot on. You don’t want to use too bittersweet a chocolate as there isn’t much sugar in the rest of the cake to balance it out.

Pistachio Chocolate Cake

The finished pistachio and chocolate cake. A dusting of confectioners’ sugar on top and it’s ready for afternoon teatime, dessert after dinner, or anytime snacking. As a note, because the pistachio paste is very rich and moist, make sure you let this cake fully bake or the center may remain soft and mushy. Overbaking is not as big a concern with this cake; when done perfectly it has a beautiful compact crumb that’s very tender. A delightful, subtle poem of a cake to usher in the cooler season. I’m looking forward to making more from this book.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this cookbook for review.

Pistachio Chocolate Cake

Pistachio and Chocolate Butter Cake
 
Print
Adapted from Samantha Seneviratne's The New Sugar and Spice cookbook.
Recipe type: cake
Serves: (1) 9-in round cake
Ingredients
Pistachio Paste
  • ⅓ cup (75 g) sugar
  • 2 tablespoons (25 g) water
  • 150 g shelled pistachios, with as much skin removed as possible
  • ½ cup (40 g) almond meal or ground almonds
  • 1-2 tablespoons sunflower oil
Cake
  • 1¾ cups (220 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1¾ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground cardamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ⅓ cup (75 g) sugar
  • ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1-in pieces
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • ¾ cup (7 oz) pistachio paste, either store bought or from recipe above
  • ½ cup (120 g) whole milk, room temperature
  • 3 ounces chopped bittersweet (60-70% cacao) chocolate
  • ¼ cup (1¼ oz) shelled raw pistachios, coarsely chopped
  • Confectioners' sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
For the pistachio paste:
  1. Combine sugar and water in a heavy saucepan. Cook on high heat until sugar dissolves and temperature reaches 250 degrees F.
  2. While sugar is cooking, place pistachios in a heavy heatproof bowl.
  3. Pour sugar over the pistachios, tossing to coat evenly.
  4. When sugar has solidified and cooled down, place coated pistachios in a food processor and pulverize to a powder. Add in almond powder and process to combine.
  5. Process until nuts are ground up and mixture is rough and crumbly.
  6. Add in oil, a tablespoon at a time, and process until paste is smooth.
  7. This recipe makes about 9¾ ounces, slightly more than you need for the cake. Store the rest in an airtight container and and keep in refrigerate for a couple of months.
For the cake:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-in springform pan.
  2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cardamon, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
  3. Place butter in stand mixer bowl and beat with paddle attachment until soft and creamy, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add sugar and beat another 3 minutes or so until very light and fluffy.
  5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating to combine.
  6. Add in pistachio paste and beat to combine.
  7. Add in the dry mixture and milk in five alternating additions, starting and ending with the dries. Beat each addition just to incorporate.
  8. Add in the chocolate and fold into batter.
  9. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth out the top. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios over the batter.
  10. Bake for 35-45 minutes, rotating halfway through. Remove when top is golden brown and springs back to the touch, and a tester inserted into the center comes out moist with a few crumbs.
  11. Let cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a butter knife around the cake to separate from the springform pan sides. Remove springform ring and let cake cool completely.
  12. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.
3.3.3070

 

Filed Under: Cakes, Cookbooks, Recipes, Reviews Tagged With: cake, cardamon, chocolate, pistachio, springform

Related Posts

  • Ferrero Rocher Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
  • Yuzu Chiffon Layer Cake
  • Lemon Verbena Cake FlatlayLemon Verbena Cake
  • French Yogurt Cake FlatlayClassic French Yogurt Cake
  • Swedish Visiting CakeSwedish Visiting Cake
« Pineapple Buns (Bolo Bao): A Hong Kong classic
Happy October! Halloween Chocolate Lollipops »

Comments

  1. 1

    brenda@sugarfreemom says

    Sep 16 at 12:11 pm

    I’m a lover of pistachios! This cake looks stunning!

    Reply
  2. 2

    Heather (Delicious Not Gorgeous) says

    Sep 16 at 12:47 pm

    the praline pistachio paste sounds so good! only problem- i think i’ll be eating too many of the candied pistachios to actually make a paste out of them (;

    Reply
  3. 3

    Lana | Never Enough Thyme says

    Sep 16 at 2:34 pm

    What a gorgeous and unusual cake! I really enjoyed learning about making pistachio paste, too.

    Reply
  4. 4

    Lora @cakeduchess says

    Sep 17 at 3:16 am

    I’m a huge fan of pistachios and even love pistachio ice cream! This cake is one I would have a hard time resisting …especially since you used pistachio paste in the batter as well!!

    Reply
  5. 5

    Heather | girlichef says

    Sep 17 at 4:35 am

    The pistachio paste alone has me wanting to make this cake. I love simple cakes (ie, no frosting), so this one is right up my alley.

    Reply
  6. 6

    Heather with WELLFITandFED says

    Sep 17 at 8:25 am

    Your photos are amazing. Talk about fantastic presentation. I want to gnaw on the side of my computer it made me so hungry.

    Reply
  7. 7

    Erin @ Texanerin Baking says

    Sep 17 at 11:48 am

    That sounds like a fantastic book! I love that grams are included. 🙂 And shelled pistachios?! I need to find those! I have top admit I’m way too lazy to do it myself. But this cake, though, it looks worth it!

    Reply
  8. 8

    Cookin Canuck says

    Sep 17 at 3:14 pm

    I could eat that pistachio paste by the spoonful! What a beautiful cake – this is one I’d want to serve for the holidays, for certain.

    Reply
  9. 9

    Kathy | Mom Learns To Cook says

    Sep 17 at 8:39 pm

    Your cake looks so delicious! I definitely want to try making it. I think my husband would love it!

    Reply
  10. 10

    Ashleigh says

    Sep 17 at 11:01 pm

    Oh, yum! Such a wonderful looking recipe! Thank you for sharing!! Have a wonderful weekend ahead!

    Reply
  11. 11

    Clare Speer says

    Sep 18 at 3:45 am

    Wow – looks wonderful! I love pistachios and I wish I could have some of this with my coffee this morning! 🙂 🙂

    Reply
  12. 12

    Angie says

    Sep 21 at 6:03 am

    I love pistachios, so I know I would love this cake. Looks perfect!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. {Cookbook Review}: Grandbaby Cakes' Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake - Dessert First says:
    Oct 7 at 8:23 pm

    […] of spices that speak of grey skies, cooling weather and holiday season to me. Example #1: This pistachio-cardamom cake from a couple weeks ago. Example #2: This cinnamon roll pound cake – or mini cake, to be […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating





About Me
Mentions in the Press
Want to go to pastry school?
Email me

subscribe to receive posts in your inbox

Archives

best of dessert first


The Making of Macarons (Sucre Cuit Style)

Hong Kong Eggettes (Daan Jai)


Tis the Season (Chocolate Mint Macarons)

A Better Brioche


Consider the Humble Chocolate Chip Cookie

A Feast of Figs


Pure Dessert, Pure Inspiration (Chocolate Citrus Tart)

My Own Remembrance of Things Past: Daan Tats


The Slow Drip of Coffee on a Languorous Summer's Day

Still Life of Strawberry Tart

disclosure

This site uses affiliate links. Purchasing through the links will give this site commissions. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

about pastrygirl

Anita Chu, also known as pastrygirl, is a baker, writer, and photographer with a passion for pastry. She trained at Tante Marie's Cooking School and is the author of Field Guide to Cookies, Field Guide to Candy, and Lollipop Love. Anita lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter, and dog Max. More about pastrygirl

my cookbooks



contact me

Please e-mail anita {at} dessertfirstgirl {dot} com with all collaboration inquiries, pastry questions, or just to say hi! I look forward to hearing from you!
  • home
  • my books
  • recipes
  • sweet san francisco
  • reviews
  • conversions
  • shop
  • archives
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

© 2006–2025 Anita Chu. All Rights Reserved. Design by Deluxe Designs