Pistachio Cake Revisited

   Let me push your memory for just a moment. You may remember around a year ago I made a Pistachio Cake for my best friend Natalie? Well a year on, she's still such a good friend and still finds herself on the receiving end of the baked goods that come from my oven.  One of her favourite cakes that I make is this Pistachio Cake.  I never tasted it myself, but this time decided to. And wow, was I blown away. I am not crazy about pistachios normally but in baking these little nuts make such a wonderful addition.  The saltiness of the nuts along the sweet icing, paired with the perfect texture of the cake is pretty darn addictive.  The sides of the cake have an ever so slight crispiness where as the interior is moister with a lovely nutty crumb.  I am so glad I revisited this recipe and tried it myself this time around. Just a note, don't make the mistake of covering the cake in green icing like I did last time (you can witness it by clicking here) and definitely don't make the mistake of bypassing this recipe altogether!

Ingredients for Cake
70g shelled pistachios, salty is fine
170g unsalted butter, at room temperature
170g caster sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
110g self-raising flour

Ingredients for Icing
1 egg white
150g icing sugar, sifted
3/4 tsp lemon juice
extra ground pistachios, salty preferred

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan-forced) and grease and line one round cake tin. Finely grind the pistachio nuts in a food processor, then set aside. Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the ground pistachios, then sift the flour on the top and fold in. Spoon the cake batter into the tin and bake for approximately 40 minutes. Test with a skewer to check. Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. To make the icing, gradually whisk the icing sugar into the egg white until thick and glossy. Then beat in the lemon juice. Pour icing over cooled cake. Top with ground pistachios, salty ones preferred to get that wonderful sweet and salty contrast.