This Pistachio Raspberry Cake is made of layers of moist Pistachio cake, with Raspberry Jam and Pistachio Ganache as fillings, topped with Pistachio Buttercream.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cake, pistachio, raspberry
Prep Time 2 hourshours
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
Total Time 2 hourshours40 minutesminutes
Servings 14slices
Calories 250kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Pistachio Cake
2 1/4cupall-purpose flour287 grams
2tspbaking powder
1/2tspbaking soda
1/2tspsalt
8tbspunsalted butterroom temperature (113 grams)
1/4cupvegetable oil60 ml
1 1/2cupgranulated sugar300 grams
2large eggsroom temperature
2tspvanilla extract
1/4tspalmond extractoptional
1 1/4cupbuttermilk295 ml
3/4cupground pistachios90 grams
1dropgreen food coloringoptional
Raspberry Jam
2cupsraspberries280 grams
1/4cupsugar 50 gramsor any sweetener, you can use maple syrup or honey as well
2tbsplemon juice
1 1/2tbspcornstarch
3tbspwater
Pistachio Ganache
1 3/4cupwhite chocolate297 grams
2/3cupheavy cream157 ml
2/3cuppistachio pastehomemade or store-bought 161 grams
Pistachio Buttercream
1 1/2cupunsalted buttersoftened (339 grams)
3 1/2cupspowdered sugar437 grams
3/4cuppistachio ganacherecipe above
1/4tspalmond extractoptional
2tspvanilla extract
To decorate
Fresh raspberries
Chopped pistachios
Instructions
Pistachio Cake
Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper on the bottom and grease the parchment paper. Set aside.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and set aside.
Beat the butter, oil, and sugar together with a mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Add the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract, beat for another minute to combine. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add half of the flour mixture to the bowl. Stir on the lowest setting just until combined.
Add half of the buttermilk, stir to combine.
Next add the remaining flour mixture and stir.
Add the remaining buttermilk and mix.
Finish by adding the pistachios and fold with a spatula to combine. Also add the food coloring if using. Only one little drop of food coloring will go a long way and help enhance the color of the cake and keep it a vibrant green.
Divide the batter evenly between the three pans.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool down for 10 minutes, then flip onto a cooling rack and let them cool down completely. If not assembling the cake on the same day, wrap the cakes individually in plastic wrap and place them in the fridge or freezer. They will store well in the freezer for up to 2 months, or in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Raspberry Jam
Place raspberry, sugar, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes. If mixture becomes dry, add a tablespoon of water (or more lemon juice), to the pan.
Dissolve the cornstarch in the water.
Add it to the pan and cook for 1 minute until the jam is thick.
Remove it to a small bowl, you can strain if you don’t like the seeds. Let it cool in the fridge until completely chilled.
Pistachio Ganache
Mix the heavy cream and pistachio paste together.
Heat up the mixture until 175ºF, or until very hot in the microwave, before it comes to a boil.
Pour the cream into the white chocolate through a strainer, to retain any bits of pistachio nuts in order to obtain a smooth ganache. Squeeze the mixture well to ensure only the bits of nuts are being retained by the strainer. Mix with a whisk until the chocolate melts entirely.
Let the ganache cool down at room temperature for about 2-3 hours, or place it in the fridge. If you place it in the fridge it should take about 1 hour to thicken, make sure to give it a stir every 10 minutes or so.
You can leave the ganache in the fridge for longer or make it ahead, if the ganache gets too hard, let it sit at room temperature until it softens up.
Pistachio Buttercream
Beat the butter with a mixer for 3 minutes on medium high speed, until fluffy.
Add the powdered sugar and start mixing on low, then add the pistachio paste and continue mixing.
Raise the speed to medium and whip for three minutes until fluffy.
If the buttercream looks dry, add a bit of heavy cream to make it smoother. And if the buttercream looks too runny, add a bit more powdered sugar to firm up the consistency.
Add the vanilla and almond extract and mix to combine.
The next step is optional but can be helpful, mix the buttercream on low speed with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes, or by hand using a spatula for about 5 minutes or for as long as you can mix it by hand, this will eliminate air bubbles and make the buttercream silky.
To assemble
To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on the cake plate or turntable. Pipe a ring of buttercream around the edges, to contain the filling when stacking.
In the center of the cake, add about 1/2 cup of ganache and spread around. Then spread some jam on top.
I actually piped the ganache on a spiral, and then piped the jam inside, but you can spread the ganache on the bottom and then spread the jam on top.
Top with another cake layer. Repeat the filling.
Top with the final cake layer.
Spread a generous amount of frosting around the cake, and use a bench scraper to smooth the sides, and an offset spatula to smooth the top, by swiping the edges with the spatula coming towards you at a slight angle. I just kept the cake semi-naked by spreading just one layer of frosting around it.
You can do a thicker frosting coating on the cake if you wish.
To decorate the top, I piped some buttercream and placed some raspberries and chopped pistachios on top.
Storage
Store the cake in the fridge covered for up to 3 days.
To freeze: slice individual slices and wrap each individually in plastic wrap, place in an airtight container or freezer bag, and freeze for up to 3 months.
You can also freeze the whole cake. I made miniature cakes from this recipe and froze the whole frosted mini cake by wrapping it in plastic and placing in an airtight container in the freezer.
Notes
Pistachio paste: You can use store-bought pistachio paste or make your own. Here is the recipe for making your own pistachio paste.Simple syrup: You can brush the cake layers with simple syrup when assembling it. To make simple syrup simply bring to a boil 100 grams of sugar and 100 grams of water, then let it cool down completely. When assembling the cakes, brush them with the syrup. I love brushing my cakes with simple syrup, but it's completely optional and this cake is moist enough that doesn't need it. If you like an extra moist cake, you can brush it with the syrup.Ganache: Use good quality white chocolate when making the ganache, with at least 20% cocoa butter.Pistachios: The pistachios used in the recipe can be roasted and even salted. I like to get pistachios with the shells on, so I can remove them from the shells and skin them before using in the recipe. In this recipe it won't make that much of a difference to use skinned pistachios or not. Using skinned pistachios usually just helps with keeping the green vibrant color.Almond extract: It's optional to add almond extract to the cake batter and frosting. The almond extract actually helps enhance the pistachio taste, so we only add a very tiny amount, but you can leave it out if you don't have any, or don't want to use it.Buttermilk: If you don't have buttermilk, simply substitute the same amount with regular whole milk. Add a teaspoon of vinegar to the milk and let it sit for 2 minutes before adding to the recipe.Pistachio Buttercream: When making the Pistachio Buttercream, you could leave the ganache out and add 1/4 cup of pistachio paste instead, or 1/2 cup of pistachio flour. In either cases, remove from 1/2 cup to 1 cup of powdered sugar, and then add more powdered sugar as needed to firm up the consistency, but most likely you won't need as much powdered sugar if not adding the ganache, and adding the paste or the pistachio flour instead.