Lemon Pistachio Cake

July 24, 2024 /

This last weekend, we celebrated the birthdays of Ted’s mom and uncle, who are one day short of 15 years apart in age. We had a Mexican theme, with lamb birria tacos, grilled shrimp salsa, guacamole and so on, but I’m here today to tell you about the cake. Ted’s cousin Sewdaye made a beautiful Lemon Pistachio Cake, and frosted it with a lemon ricotta whipped cream frosting. I am generally not a big fan of cake, I’m much more team pie or ice cream, but this cake was amazing and has absolutely changed my mind. Of course, we did serve it with ice cream – pistachio gelato, lemon marionberry, and vanilla. So, so good. I wish I had been smarter and brought a piece home for a snack the next day, it would have been so good with a cup of tea.

She got the cake recipe here, and the frosting recipe here, and modified the frosting by adding gelatin to make it thicker, as in this recipe. Note: The link to the cake recipe makes a sheet cake with cream cheese frosting, and Sewdaye doubled it and made a 2 layer cake, and used a different frosting. The recipe below is the doubled version, with the frosting she used.

Lemon Pistachio Cake

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup finely ground roasted salted pistachios
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • 1 cup full fat yogurt
  • 4 teaspoons lemon zest
  • 1/2 cup milk at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2 round baking pans with parchment paper.
  • Make the cake batter. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Add sugar and ground pistachios and whisk until evenly blended. NOTE: you can grind the pistachios in a small food processor – I suggest grinding about 1 cup of whole roasted pistachios and use the extra for decorating.
  • Combine oil, egg, yogurt, lemon zest, milk and vanilla in a medium bowl and whisk until completely smooth.
  • Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with dry ingredients and gently fold it all together being sure to get down to the bottom and bring up any dry pockets. Stop right when the batter is fully combined and be careful not to over mix.
  • Spread batter evenly into the prepared pans and bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 20 minutes in the pan and then transfer cakes to a cooling rack. Once cool, frost the cake, and press the sides with crushed pistachios.

Ricotta Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
  • 1 15 – 17 oz tub of ricotta cheese
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Instructions

  • Place a large mixing bowl in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes before starting.
  • Sprinkle gelatin into a microwave safe measuring cup or other small microwave-safe dish (preferably one with a spout to make it easy to pour later on).
  • Add water and whisk gelatin and water together until all gelatin has been absorbed. Set mixture aside to sit for 5 minutes.
  • In a mixing bowl beat together the ricotta cheese and powdered sugar. Beat this for at least five minutes to allow it to get fluffy. Then stir in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
  • Remove the bowl from the refrigerator. In the refrigerated bowl, whip the whipping cream until thick, but just short of soft peaks.
  • At this point, check your gelatin. It should have solidified. If so, pop it in the microwave just until the mixture has re-liquified, 5-10 seconds. The mixture should be liquid, but should not be very hot. Use a whisk to briefly stir the contents together to make sure they are smooth.
  • With electric mixer on low speed, drizzle liquid gelatin into the cream. Slowly increase speed to medium/high then continue to beat until you have reached stiff, fluffy peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the ricotta mixture, and frost immediately.

16 Comments

    • J

      July 24, 2024 at 6:01 am

      Baking is almost always too worky for me. I think Paul and Mary would have said this was a ‘good bake’.

  • Margaret

    July 24, 2024 at 8:22 am

    I would love to try a slice of that although I’m not generally a fan of lemon cakes. (or pies for that matter) I’m on team Carrot or Hummingbird. 🙂

  • Ernie

    July 24, 2024 at 9:28 am

    If a cake can get you on team cake, then it must be great. It sounds amazing and it looks too good to eat. I don’t know that I’ll make it. My people love the desserts I work through the birthday rotations and I am hesitant to add another labor intensive option for them. 😉

    But maybe if they are all on their good behavoir, I’ll cave one day.

  • Ally Bean

    July 24, 2024 at 3:28 pm

    The frosting alone sounds delicious and that’s before the cake itself. Thanks for the recipe.

    • J

      July 24, 2024 at 6:55 pm

      It was really good, esp if you like lemon! It wasn’t a STRONG lemon flavor, but if someone were not a fan, they wouldn’t like it.

    • J

      July 26, 2024 at 5:49 am

      The pistachio flavor is not terribly strong, I think you’d enjoy it if it were served to you at a party!

  • San

    August 2, 2024 at 9:48 am

    Happy birthday to the family members… and what a beautiful cake. I have never had pistaccio cake and cannot even imagine what it would taste like, but I’d be willing to try a piece 🙂

    • J

      August 2, 2024 at 9:51 am

      San, I had never had it before either! It’s very mild, mostly tasted like a lemon olive oil cake, with a hint of something extra.