Pistachio Bundt Cake

Soft, light and buttery Pistachio Bundt Cake made with real pistachios and not Pistachio pudding! Finished off with fun and festive green candy melts topping. Or top with a white chocolate ganache or a silky cream cheese frosting!

You need to try my Pistachio Cupcakes recipe next. Find all my Bundt Cake Recipes at one place.

Pistachio is such an underrated dessert flavor! Pistachio pairs wonderfully with so many other flavors. Vanilla, Almonds, Strawberries, Coconut and Omg Orange!

Desserts taste THE BEST when Pistachio is the flavor in focus. Seriously, don't you love pistachio flavored ice-cream? Or pistachio and vanilla flavored cookies? Coconut-Pistachio layer cake?? Anyone???

I am getting super hungry, need to crack some pistachios open!!! And already getting dynamite ideas for my next post. ;D

Taste and Texture of the cake today:

• Buttery and supremely moist cake with a delicate yet very noticeable pistachio flavor
• Light and fluffy with a tight crumb
• Flavored with pistachios, vanilla and almond flavors
• Tastes like real pistachios and not ARTIFICIAL flavorings!
• Topped with a green, vanilla and white chocolate flavored candy melts topping. You can use a silky cream cheese frosting if you like instead

You will taste buttery and sweet pistachio flavor combined with vanilla and just a slight hint of almond in every bite! And worry not. All the pistachio crumbs will get all soft as they bake into the batter.

Such a lovely Easter tide bake! Or a perfect St Patrick's Day cake if you will. Oh come on do you even need a reason! 😀 😀 😀

Ingredients and Substitutions:

• Pistachios. We aren't using any artificial pistachio pudding in today's recipe. We will ground our beautiful green shelled pistachios and add them in the cake batter. 

• A combination of oil and butter to make the pistachio cake taste buttery and stay ultra-moist and tender for days!
• An egg for binding and structure.
• Greek yogurt for the added moisture and richness. In place of yogurt sour cream can be easily replaced here.
• Almond and vanilla extracts. Because we aren't using any fake pistachio flavors in our cake, we certainly need to amp up the flavor of pistachio with almond extract. Plus pistachios pair supremely well with almond flavor.
• A few drops of Green food coloring to reach that light green pistachio color. You see, pistachios add a hint of green to the cake batter. But if you don't mind food-colorings, I recommend adding some drops for that prettiest pistachio green.
• Cake flour as opposed to all purpose flour, cornstarch present in cake flours produces very light textured cakes. If you want your cake to taste light and look fluffy, use cake flour.

Quick Tip: You can even make DIY of cake flour at home. Just measure a cup of APF, remove 2 tablespoons out and replace with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift 3-4 times. And there you have it!

Rest is the usual gang of leaveners, some salt, sugar and milk. No brainer there!

Recipe Highlights and Success Tips:

Always begin with room temperature ingredients. I am talking specially about butter, greek yogurt, eggs and milk here. Room temperature ingredients combine well together in the batter yielding a perfect bake.

To simplify the cake batter making process, I like to sift my dry ingredients prior to adding them to wet. This also aerates the flour and gets rid of any lumps present in the flour.

For the Pistachios: I have used raw and unsalted pistachios. I bought shelled pistachios as it is time saving! But you can even use roasted ones here if you prefer. Also the reason for using unsalted nuts is, you get to control the amount of salt that goes in your batter. If you decide to use salted pistachio nuts, adjust the amount of salt used in the recipe accordingly.

Use full fat Dairy Products:

As far as milk, Greek yogurt and sour cream are concerned, reach out for full fat versions of each. Full fat ingredients produce the softest and the richest bakes ever!

Once the cake gets baked, don't attempt to take it out of bundt pan way too soon. Allow the cake to cool down in the pan for first few minutes setting it on a wire stand. After 10-15 minutes, run a plastic knife on the edges of pan to loosen the cake  and gently flip the pan over wire rack then.

Your cake will most likely leave the pan then. If now, gently tap the pan a few times to help your cake release. Attempting to release the cake too soon from the pan while its hot can break it in the center! 

Also that topping is so easy to put together, pretty to look at and your cake tastes like pistachios and chocolate! 

What flavors go well with pistachio?

I'd say lemon, strawberry, pomegranate oh and even orange would go perfectly well with pistachio flavor. Of course it tastes so good with white chocolate as well. Try adding these flavors as extracts in your cake batter!

Or You can flavor your frosting with these flavors as well, instead of just adding lemon, orange or strawberry extracts to the cake batter.

How do you enhance pistachio flavor?

If you wish the flavor to be on the nuttier side, try dry roasting them for a few minutes before grinding. Also try adding orange or lemon extract to the batter before baking! They both taste so good here.

If you happen to have pistachio extract in your pantry (btw you can also buy it from amazon) use that instead of almond extract. If you do not have it or it isn't easily available at your end, simply go with almond extract. I am sure you will love the flavor you get from this cake recipe as written.

Can you bake with pistachios?

Of course! Pistachio nuts taste wonderful in muffins, cakes, cupcakes and breads. They pair wonderfully with lemon desserts too. For more inspiration, make sure to check out all my pistachio desserts.

More Pistachio Desserts:

Pistachio Chocolate Orange Cranberry Muffins

Readers Favorite Date Nut Bars

Pistachio Rose Rice Krispie Rolls

Pistachio Cookies

If you liked this recipe, give it a star review. Also, tell me in the comments below, how did this turn out for you! And don’t forget to share your creations with me on Instagram at #greedyeatsblog Also follow me on Pinterest and Facebook! 

Recipe

Pistachio Bundt Cake

Soft, light and buttery Pistachio Bundt Cake flavored with real pistachios and almond extract. Finished off with fun and festive green candy melts topping!

5 from 43 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

US Customary - Metric

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings 8 Slices

1x2x3x

Calories: 422kcal

Author: Neha

Equipment

• 1 10-12 cup Bundt Pan
• Stand Mixer/Hand Beater

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 and ⅓ Cups Cake flour
• ▢ 2 teaspoons Baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Salt
• ▢ ½ Cup Butter (unsalted, at room temperature)
• ▢ ¼ Cup Oil (I use avocado)
• ▢ 1 and ¾ Cups Granulated sugar
• ▢ 3 large Eggs (at room temperature)
• ▢ ½ Cup Greek yogurt (full fat, at room temperature)
• ▢ 1 and ½ Cups Shelled and ground Pistachios (raw and unsalted)
• ▢ 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Almond extract
• ▢ 1 Cup Milk (full fat, at Room temperature)
• ▢ Few drops of green food coloring (optional)

For the topping:

• ▢ 1 Cup Green Candy Melts
• ▢ Handful of Shelled pistachios

Or go with:

• ▢ 1 batch Cream Cheese Frosting

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease/spray a 10-12 cup bundt pan.
• Prepare your Pistachios: Pulse shelled pistachios in a food processor or a hand blender into fine crumbs.
• Sift cake flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
  2 and ⅓ Cups Cake flour, 2 teaspoons Baking powder, ½ teaspoon Baking soda, ½ teaspoon Salt
• Using a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment or a hand held mixer, beat butter and sugar together on med-high speed until light and fluffy. About 3-4 minutes. Add in oil and beat it in too. Now add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition to combine. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl as needed.
  ½ Cup Butter, ¼ Cup Oil, 1 and ¾ Cups Granulated sugar, 3 large Eggs
• Now beat in yogurt, almond and vanilla extracts. Add the grounded pistachios in. Also add half of the dry ingredients into wet with mixer running on low speed and beat only till dry ingredients get mixed in. Add milk, green food coloring (if adding) and the rest of dry ingredients. Mix just until combined.
  ½ Cup Greek yogurt, 1 and ½ Cups Shelled and ground Pistachios, 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract, 1 teaspoon Almond extract, Few drops of green food coloring, 1 Cup Milk
• Pour batter in pre-prepared bundt pan and bake for 40-55 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool down for 10-15 minutes. Run a plastic knife around the edges of pan. Invert on a wire stand. Allow the cake to cool down completely before tapping and attempting to unmold.
• Make the topping: Melt ½ cup of green candy melts in microwave (30 seconds at a time) and stir in between. Allow to cool slightly and drizzle on room temperature cake. Top with more pistachios to serve.
  1 Cup Green Candy Melts, Handful of Shelled pistachios

Notes

How to store Pistachio Cake:

• Any left overs will stay good at room temp (covered tightly) for 2 days.
• For longer storage, keep in refrigerator up to 5 days!
• This cake can also be frozen for 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight or on counter top for a few hours before serving.

Quick Tips:

If you don't like candy melts you may use melted white chocolate for topping.

Or you can make ganache using white chocolate/white chocolate chips and heavy cream in 1:1 (½ cup cream and ½ cup white chocolate) ratio. Simply melt the chocolate with cream in 30 sec increments in your microwave (stir in between). Cool slightly and drizzle on room temperature cake.

For the Pistachios: I have used raw and unsalted pistachios. But you can even use roasted and salted ones here if you prefer. If you decide to use salted pistachio nuts here, adjust the amount of salt used in the recipe accordingly

Nutrition

Serving: 1Slice | Calories: 422kcal | Carbohydrates: 63g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 18g | Sodium: 280mg | Sugar: 40g

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