Near our house in Bahrain, there’s this fabulous bakery and tea room called The Orangery, and they have a beautiful cake called the 1001 Nights cake, which is pistachio with rose buttercream. That sounded amazing to me, and I wanted to create something similar for our rug flop (sort of like a Tupperware party, but for handmade carpets) that combined pistachios, rose water and cardamom. I also added some freshly squeezed orange juice for a little extra zing.
This was actually the second time I baked a pistachio cake. The first time, I was baking a birthday cake for my good friend Patty’s husband, Mike, and though the cake turned out beautifully, I swore that I would never bake it again. The problem was that I had gotten unshelled pistachios, so I had to shell all of them, and then I blanched them to get the skins off. It worked, but it took FOREVER.
This time, I bought slivered pistachios, so all I had to do was pulse them in the blender a little bit and they were good to go. If you can buy pistachio powder, that would be even easier.
You’ll also need rose water for this cake, which is readily available at grocery stores in Bahrain, but may be slightly harder to find outside of the Middle East. Make sure you don’t get rose syrup, which is different.
For the frosting, I always recommend adding some powdered sugar and flavoring and then tasting the frosting before adding more. That way, you don’t end up with overly sweet frosting, and you get the right amount of flavoring.
If you can find some dried rosebuds, they look lovely on top of the cake. I bought mine at the spice souk in Dubai, but you may be able to find some at a tea or spices store if you don’t live somewhere with a souk.
Honestly, the only reason I didn’t frost the sides of this cake is that a lot of people had already arrived by the time I started putting the cake together, and I wanted to get out of the kitchen quickly. We also had an amazingly talented henna artist, Farheen, at the party, so I wanted to get my hands washed and ready for henna. But I think the cake actually looks pretty cool like this. Obviously feel free to frost and decorate as you wish. And enjoy!
Pistachio-cardamom cake with rose-orange buttercream
Cake (Adapted from Epicurious, makes a three-layer 8- or 9-inch round cake)
1 1/2 cup unsalted shelled pistachios (about 8 ounces)
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon rose water
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at or near room temperature
2 cups sugar
6 large eggs
3 tablespoons finely grated orange zest (from 2-3 medium oranges)
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter three 8- or 9-inch round metal cake pans, then line bottoms with wax paper or parchment paper. Butter the paper and dust the pans with a little flour, then thwack the sides while holding the pan upside down to get rid of the excess.
Place the pistachios in a food processor or blender and pulse until the nuts are finely ground (don’t process for too long or you’ll make pistachio butter). Add the flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt and pulse two or three times to combine (Note: I didn’t have my food processor available, so I dumped a bunch of pistachios in the blender, then measured the ground up nuts and stirred them together with the flour and spices, which worked fine).
Stir the rose water into the milk and set the mixture aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand-held electric mixer), beat the butter and sugar together for a few minutes on medium-high speed, until the mixture is light colored and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each.
Turn the mixer down to low and add one third of the pistachio mixture and beat until it’s barely combined, then add then half of the milk mixture and beat until combined. Continue alternating (another third of the pistachio mixture, the other half of the milk mixture, and the rest of the pistachio mixture) until it’s all just combined. Grate the orange zest into the mixture and mix briefly to combine.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans (I like to use a food scale to get the layers even, but you can also just eyeball it) and bake until the center of the cakes bounce back when pressed lightly with your finger, about 30 minutes.
Allow cake to cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before turning onto wire racks to cool completely before frosting.
Rose-orange buttercream
Three sticks unsalted butter, at or near room temperature
1 1/2 to 2 pounds powdered sugar
Rose water (at least one teaspoon)
Orange juice (at least half an orange)
Dried rosebuds and extra chopped pistachios for decoration
Beat the butter on high speed in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl if using a handheld electric mixer. Once the butter is light and fluffy, add about half a pound of powdered sugar and beat on low for about 30 seconds to combine, then add another half pound and beat to combine. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat for about a minute, then add 1 teaspoon of rose water and half an orange worth of orange juice and beat for 30 more seconds.
Taste the frosting and add more powdered sugar, rose water, and/or orange juice if necessary. Once the frosting tastes amazing (and is as sweet, rosy and orangey as you’d like), beat it on high speed for a few minutes, until it’s incredibly light and fluffy. Assemble and frost the three-layer cake, then use dried rosebuds and chopped pistachios to decorate it. Serve at room temperature.