Pistachio Cake with Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

The underrated cake flavor that is bursting with a montage of flavors. There's nothing artificial about this Pistachio Cake. It gets its amazing flavor from good old fashioned home cooking with real ingredients.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword pistachios,almond extract,vanilla,raspberry,

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Total Time 50

Servings people

Calories 471kcal

Author Nicole Crocker

Ingredients

For the Pistachio Cake

3 Cups Cake Flour
1 ,8 ounce bag Pistachos ,ground in a food processor
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
1 3/4 Cups Unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 Cups Sugar
5 Large Egg Whites
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Almond Extract
1 Cup Milk ,Room temperature
Small amount Green food coloring ,optional, if using just add a 1-2 drops at a time until desired color is achieved

For the Raspberry Puree

2 ,6 ounce packages Fresh raspberries ,pureed and strained to removed seeds
1/2 Cup Sugar

For the Raspberry Swiss Merringue

1 1/4 Cups Sugar
4 Large Egg Whites
3 Sticks Unsalted butter ,softened
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Raspberry Puree ,Remove 1/4 Cup of puree for topping cake, remainder gets added to buttercream

For the garnish

chopped or ground pistachios ,optional
Freeze dried raspberries or fresh raspberris ,optional

Instructions

For the Pistachio Cake

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Line the bottom of three 8 inch pans with wax paper or parchment and grease and flour pans. Set aside.
Pulse the pistachios in a food processor to produce fine crumbs. ** Just be careful not to blend so much that it turns into pistachio butter. Use 1 1/2 Cups of the ground pistachios in the cake. Set aside the leftover for garnishing the cake.
In a large bowl whisk together, 1 1/2 cups of ground pistachios, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl beat butter and sugar together with hand held mixture on high speed for about 3 minutes scraping sides and bottom of bowl occasionally. ( You can also use a stand mixer)
Add egg whites and beat until smooth and creamy. About 2 minutes.
Beat in the sour cream, vanilla and almond extract. Beat until well combined.
Add food coloring if using and mix until color is uniform.
Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed to incorporate. Continue to scrape sides and bottom of bowl periodically.
Pour milk into the mixture and mix until smooth. Do not over mix.
Pour batter evenly between your three pans. Place in preheated oven on center rack. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the Raspberry puree

Blend raspberries in blender or food processor to create a puree. Push through a fine mesh sieve to remove seeds.
Place your puree in a small saucepan with sugar and cook over medium heat. Once it begins to bubble reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool completely to room temperature.

For the Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Add Egg whites and sugar to a medium sauce pan. Heat over medium heat stirring constantly with a whisk until sugar has completely dissolved. If you can rub the mixture between your fingers and no loner feel the gritty texture of the sugar, it's done.
Pour mixture into the bowl of a stand mixture fitted with whisk attachment. Mix on high speed until mixture has completely cooled and stiff peaks are formed. ** (Be sure it is completely cool or you will melt your butter when its added.)
Add butter a tablespoon at a time. Mix on high until a spreadable consistency is achieved.
Add all but 1/4 Cup of cooled Raspberry puree and mix to incorporate. Use a spatula to scrape sides and bottom of bowl periodically.
Frost cooled cakes with buttercream and top with remaining 1/4 Cup of raspberry puree. Decorate with piped rosettes, ground pistachio and freeze dried raspberries or fresh raspberries.

Notes

*I used a Wilton 2D tip for piping.

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