Sunday, March 14, 2010

Heavenly Cake - Sicilian Pistachio Cake With Golden Neoclassic Buttercream

ב''ה

I would just like to thank Marie from heavenlycakeplace for schedualing 2 Passover cakes. There is no way I would have been able to plan a non-Passover cake for the day before Passover (the 28th) nor the next week, on Passover. I appreciate being included. I hope I can get my kitchen ready on time...

THANK YOU!! :)

This was just a wonderful cake!


The egg mixture.


Grind the pistachios with the sugar. I used plain old unsalted pistachios. Still it was $25 a pound (I bought 1/2 pound which was more than enough.)




Mix with butter and sourcream etc.

Watch out! The pistachios have to dry after blaching for a long time. I left them out in the paper towels overnight and they were still moist. I toasted them on 150 for an hour or two and they came out nice, dry (and toasted.) :)





You can see the parallel burn marks from the  toaster's top heating element.




-The buttercream.- When the sugar and corn syrup are bubbling I pour straight from the pot to avoid pre-mature hardening.




Mix mix... I left out one of the sticks of butter since I do not like my buttercreams very buttery-tasting.


Ooh La La! Oh wait, that's French...

The pistachio's flavor was unique and delicious. I did not put the pistachios on the top of the whole cake as my kids would not have eaten it if I did. I highly recomend this cake, fancy pistachios or no!

And no, pistachio's are not mentioned in the Bible that I can tell. Sicily is not either (Venice is hinted at, but don't ask me to find it again...)

7 comments:

  1. I found the same issue with the pistachios after blanching them... I had to toast them as well so they harden a bit.

    And I have to agree the cake was delicious, specially after the last couple of cakes were airy and light.. this was totally dense and nutty.

    It looks great!

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  2. looks yummy! I was going to give this cake a miss, after reading your post and Monica's comment, make me want to bake this cake...i'll see if i can bake it tonight after work.

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  3. Very pretty! Both daughter and cake!

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  4. Beautifully done! I love having helpers in the kitchen. oh-I made Hamanstashen yesterday with my girls. Thanks for passing on the recipe.

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  5. love that first photo, with the cake all prettily plated and ready for eating...
    i read your post last night, and thought, well maybe i can bust it out in time? unlike faithy, i did not. oh well!

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  6. ב''ה

    Monica: Thanks. All the effort blanching was worthwhile.

    Faithy: I'm so glad you made this. It feels incomplete when you don't bake along. (actually, I'm not sure if you've missed any) :)

    Vicki: Thanks!

    Virgina: That's so nice that you made hamentashen. I'm really glad you gave it a try. :)

    Evil Cake Lady: Thanks, I don't in general pride myself of my photos. Glad it looked nice to you.

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  7. Glad you liked the cake, even though most everyone said, as you did, that the pistachio flavor was somewhat faint. I'm almost thinking I should try this one with almonds...

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