Pistachio Cake
This 3-layer Pistachio Cake is a moist, light, and perfectly nutty dessert topped with delicious cream cheese frosting. It bakes in less than 30 minutes and is great for spring brunch, to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, or to enjoy any time!
Servings 12 servings
Calories 1205kcal
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups unsalted shelled pistachios finely ground (170g)
- 4½ cups cake flour (540g)
- 2¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups unsalted butter softened (340g)
- 2 cups granulated sugar (400g)
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups whole milk room temperature, (480ml)
- 3 to 6 drops green food coloring (optional)
- Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray three 9-inch cake pans with nonstick baking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-low speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the vanilla and almond extract.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture followed by half of the milk. Continue with another third of flour, the remaining milk, then the remaining flour. Stir in food coloring, if using, until the desired color is reached. Fold in the pistachios. Divide the batter among the prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 25 minutes until the top is golden brown and the edges of the cake start to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the cakes cool in the pans for about 15 minutes before removing and cooling completely on a wire rack. Remove the parchment paper.
For the Assembly:
- Place a cake layer on a cake plate. Top with 1 cup of Cream Cheese Frosting, and spread into an even layer to the edge of the cake. Repeat with another cake layer and frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread the remaining frosting on the tops and sides of the cake.
- Garnish with additional finely chopped pistachios around the top and bottom edges of the cake. Keep the cake refrigerated until ready to serve. Keep any leftovers, loosely covered, in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Properly measure the flour. I always recommend using a scale to measure your flour in baking recipes to prevent using too much, which can make the cake too dense. If you don’t have a scale, gently fluff the flour with two spoons before measuring it out in your measuring cups, and then use a knife to level off the top to prevent overpacking.
- Bring all wet ingredients to room temperature. Cold ingredients don’t mix as well in cake batter, which can make the cake texture gummy when overmixed. You’ll get the best-textured cake when you bring the wet ingredients to room temperature before adding them to the recipe.
- Don’t overbake. Be sure to use the center rack in the oven when baking the cakes so they cook evenly. The crumb will be soft and tender if baked properly. Overbaking will dry it out!
- Cool completely before frosting. Let the cake layers cool to room temperature before applying the frosting. This will prevent the frosting from melting when spreading it and give you the best, beautiful frosted texture.
- Double the frosting. This powdered sugar-sweetened cream cheese frosting recipe yields 5 cups, which is great for a less frosted, naked cake look. But if you want a fully covered look, double the recipe for plenty of frosting to decorate as you wish! Alternatively, try my buttercream frosting recipe!
- For an extra dose of pistachio flavor, spread a thin layer of pistachio butter in between each layer on top of the frosting.
Nutrition
Calories: 1205kcal | Carbohydrates: 168g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 57g | Saturated Fat: 23g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 12g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 112mg | Sodium: 650mg | Potassium: 314mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 126g | Vitamin A: 897IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 133mg | Iron: 1mg