Rose Cherry Pistachio Cake

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This week's inspiration was one of the new Quaker oatmeal flavors: cherry pistachio. Talk about yum. I also make a box shaped cake. Creative adjectives are not coming to mind. Though, I employ much effort to state that I do believe the structure gives this cake more elegance. Sharp, crisp, clean.

I initially wanted to post this cake last weekend, however catastrophe struck and the cake was a mess. Who knew you could ever have too fluffy of a cake? The layers I baked simply fell apart in my hands. Sad because it did taste good. Sad because I spent so much time whipping up the batter. Sad because the pistachios cost me $14.99 a pound... Back to the farmers market I went so I could post these pictures today. It's been a while since my last post about those strawberries and cream scones. I am determined to keep up with this blog!

I love the color green, perhaps that's why I love pistachios!

I also had to brainstorm what design I wanted to decorate the cake with. I ended up jet doodling sketches of this cake curing calculus. I kid you not, the guy to my right was just doodling memes while the guy to my left checked out into la la dreamland for the period. Within my vicinity I was the most productive. No worries, I will hop right onto calculus studying this weekend!

The funny thing about this cake was that I thought I would have saved money by buying pistachios and shelling them myself. I bought a jar for $5.00 and to my dismay the shelled pistachios fill up a quarter of the volume of the container. Talk about a moment of utter despair when I just stared at the bowl of shells and then the pathetic jar of pistachios. Words of advice, just buy unsalted shelled pistachios. Save yourself the anguish.

This cake has fine crumb almost like a chiffon, but it is also dense. The pistachio flavor came out well, and the green hue is simply delicate. The cherries added a bit of tartness and the rose added a hint of a floral note to tie it all together. I also used the delicious buttercream frosting from Cherry Choc Cupcake. I posted the scaled down version I used below using marscapone, but definitely check out her post. This was definitely a fun cake for me to make despite the bumps in the road. Enjoy!

Pistachio Chiffon

Yields one 20 x 16 inch jelly roll pan

INGREDIENTS

• 120 grams cake flour
• 160 grams sugar
• 50 grams finely ground pistachios
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 egg whites
• 3/4 teaspoons cream of tartar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit

1. Combine the flour, sugar, pistachios, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
2. Whisk together the egg yolks, vanilla, water, and melted butter. Pour this liquid into the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
3. Put the cream of tartar into the egg whites. Beginning on low speed of a mixer, beat the egg whites. Increase the speed gradually to obtain soft peaks.
4. Fold the egg whites into the batter in 3 additions. Pour into a parchment paper lined pan and bake until golden. Roughly 15 minutes for a 20x16 inch jelly roll pan.

Marscapone Buttercream

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 oz marscapone
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature 

DIRECTION

1. Whisk together the sugar, flour, cornstarch, salt, and milk. Pour through a sieve to get any chunks out, and cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly until it becomes thick. Allow to cool to room temperature.
2. On medium speed of a mixer, beat the cooked milk mixture for a few seconds, and then begin adding in the butter a few tablespoons at a time. Once all the butter is incorporated, add in the marscapone.
3. Beat the buttercream until fluffy, and then add in the vanilla. Use immediately.
4. To get the cherry rose filling, add in some finely chopped dried cherries and a drop or two of rose essence depending on how you divvy up the frosting.