Pistachio Orange Cake
Because it’s almost spring.
Because St. Patrick’s Day is next week.
Because we could all use a mid-week pick-me-up.
Because I can’t stop buying bags of pistachios.
Because you never really need a reason for a beautiful layer cake.
For these and many more reasons, say hello to Pistachio Orange Cake!
I know layer cakes aren’t the most practical dessert for a family of 3, but they’re still one of my favorite things to make. The endless combinations of cake and frosting flavors, the decorating opportunities, and oh yeah, the fact that cake is freaking delicious…all of these reasons make cake a regular occurrence at Chez LaBau. So when I was brainstorming some fun green recipes for St. Patrick’s Day next week, I knew one of them had to be a green-themed cake.
It’s a little hard to tell in the photos, because I used a gentle hand with the food coloring (for once!) but the outside of this cake is actually a beautifully soft and subtle light green. Next time I might go a little darker, so that it’s closer to the color of the cake layers—subtlety has never been my jam.
The cake is topped with more goodies to reinforce the pistachio and orange theme: crushed and whole pistachio nuts, chopped candied orange peel, and then a big pile of chocolate truffles that have been rolled in crushed pistachios and orange powder. If you’re thinking right now that chocolate truffles don’t belong on top of a cake, we probably can’t be friends. Chocolate truffles are welcome everywhere.
So here’s the catch. To get that bright green pistachio color, the nuts need to be shelled and skinned, meaning the brownish papery skin that usually covers the pistachios has to be removed. I always buy pistachios in shells, because the pre-shelled pistachios I find almost always have a darker brown color that makes it hard to get truly green nuts.
To skin them, first remove the outer shells, then bring a pot of water to a boil. Dump in the pistachios and let them boil for 1 minute, then drain them. Wait a minute or two until they’re not scalding hot, then pinch the nuts—the heat will have loosened the skins, and the nuts will slip right out when you pinch them. The good news is that it’s an easy process, the bad news is that you’ll have to repeat it a approximately a bajillion times. Beauty is pain!
To make the pistachio frosting, I used pistachio paste, which is a mix of finely ground pistachios and sugar (and sometimes a few other ingredients.) It has a smooth texture, like peanut butter, so it blended beautifully into the frosting and made it extra-rich and creamy. I used Love ‘n Bake paste, but there are other options available on Amazon, so if you use a different brand, I suggest starting with less paste and then adding more to taste, since different brands have very different intensities.
I’ve also made my own paste in the past, following this recipe. It’s a good option if you can’t track down the store-bought stuff, but it’s probably equally expensive, since you’ll need a lot of pistachios, and I’ve found that the flavor isn’t as strong. When I make my own pistachio paste, I like to add a few drops of Lorann Pistachio Oil, to boost the flavor, but that’s optional as well.
And with that, I’ll wish you the happiest of Wednesday, the sweetest of cakes, and the luckiest of weeks-before-St-Patrick’s Days. (That sentence got grammatically complicated, fast.) I’ll be back in a few days with a fun recipe for Pi Day!
⇒ Click Here for the Recipe - Pistachio Orange Cake
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