Pistachio & Lemon Glaze Cake
In one of my latest Greek grocery shopping sprees I was lucky enough to find fresh pistachios from the island of Aegina. This tiny little island produces incredible pistachios. If you ever go to Greece, you should make sure you try some.
Fresh Pistachios have the most gorgeous colour and they are undoubtedly my favourite nut variety. They originally come from Iran and that is the reason why they are so present in the middle eastern cuisine. Apparently in Greece they were only introduced around 1850 but my little country quickly became one of the biggest producers in the world.
With these little green jewels, I made a Pistachio and lemon cake. The recipe works well with any unsalted variety you can find. The only difference will be in the colour: the fresher they are the brighter it will be.
This recipe also includes courgettes in the mix which help the green colour pop out more and also make the cake moister. I topped the cake with a simple lemon glaze but it’s so delicious that you can have it on its own!
Emeralds
Ingredients
200g flour
90 g pistachios + a handful for decorating (weigh them after you get rid of the shells)
150 g courgette
140 g seed oil
125g greek yogurt
2 eggs
150 g caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
lemon juice of ½ a lemon
1 tsp baking soda
1 pinch of salt
For the glaze
150g icing sugar
lemon juice
Step by step
Finely grate your courgettes. Wrap them in kitchen paper and let them rest on a chopping board with a plate on top. The weight of the plate will help get rid of the excess water
Get rid of the shells of your pistachios. Bring a pan of water to boil. Drop in your all your pistachios for 5 minutes. Drain them and with your hands peel off the red/purple skin. You will end up having bright green sweet pistachios. That extra layer is sometimes bitter so it’s better to get rid of it
Finely chop your pistachios and mix them in a bowl with the flour, baking soda and salt
In a separate bowl combine the eggs, sugar, sunflower oil, eggs, vanilla, sugar, yogurt, lemon zest and juice. Mix with a hand whisk
Combine the dry ingredients from the first bowl with your second bowl. You can simply mix with a wooden spoon
Grease a 10x30cm loaf tin and bake your cake at 170° fan for roughly 45minutes. Put it on a cooling rack
Roughly chop the remaining handful of pistachios and roast them for a few minutes in a hot non-stick pan
For the glaze, put your sieved icing sugar in a bowl. Squeeze 1 lemon in a separate bowl
Add 1 tbsp of lemon juice in your icing sugar bowl and mix vigorously. When incorporated add a second tbsp and mix again. Keep going until you reach a glaze consistency you are happy with. This process takes place off the hob and does not require any heat
Pour on the cooled down cake and top it with the chopped roasted pistachios
