This cake certainly lived up to all of my expectations. The taste was just out of this world and I was in visual heaven with the bright green frosting. I just wish I'd coloured my pistachio swirl a little more vivid. Well, there's always next time. And yes, there bloody well will be a next time!
Marbled Pistachio Cake
(Adapted from Sainsbury's Magazine)
175g soft, unsalted butter
225g golden caster sugar
3 medium eggs
100ml skimmed milk
225g self raising flour
1 1/2tps baking powder
50g ground, unsalted pistachios
50g ground almonds
1tsp almond essence
green food colouring
For the icing
100g icing sugar
1/4tsp almond essence
green food colouring
1tbsp ground unsalted pistachios
Preheat the oven to 190C, fan 170C and butter a 22cm nonstick bundt tin. Cream the butter and sugar together before adding the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Add the milk, don't worry if the mixture curdles at this point. Combine the flour and baking powder and add to the mixture, beat until creamy then divide between two bowls.
Fold the ground almonds & almond essence into one half of the cake mixture and the pistachios & green food colouring into the other. Drop alternating spoon fulls of each mixture into the tin. Gently smooth the surface and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. Let cool in tin for 10 minutes then run a clean knife around the edges of the cake and turn out to finish cooling on a wire rack.
Blend the icing sugar with a tablespoon of water, the almond essence and the green food colouring. Keep adding a few drops of water at a time until you reach a nice, thick consistency. Drizzle over the cake before scattering the top with the chopped pistachios. Leave to set for an hour.... if you can.
