Pistachio and Apple Cake

The best part of our wedding planning was the day we went cake tasting. We had decided to go for cupcakes instead of a traditional cake, and our baker had prepared quite a few different cupcakes for us to select 4 or 5 to serve. She included a pistachio cupcake on the list and I assumed I wouldn’t like it. Much to my surprise, it was one of my two favorite options. I had not had a pistachio cake again until one day during quarantine when I realized I had a giant bag of pistachios laying around. I decided it was the right time to try a pistachio cake! And because we had a handful of apples around, I thought combining it with an apple filling was worth a shot! It turned out great so I decided to record the recipe! The cake batter recipe was inspired from a different pistachio cake found here. Enjoy!

Ingredients

For the cake:

1. 1 1/2 cups flour
2. 3/4 cup unsalted finely ground pistachios de-shelled (roughly half pound with shells)
3. 2 tsp baking powder
4. 3/4 tsp salt (omit if pistachios are already salted)
5. 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
6. 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
7. 3 large eggs at room temperature
8. 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
9. 1 cup milk at room temperature

For the filling:

1. 4 to 5 Apples, peeled, cored, and diced
2. 1/2 cup of brown sugar
3. 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4. 1/4 tsp salt
5. 1 tsp vanilla

For the icing:

1. See vanilla buttercream icing recipe.

Directions

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9” (or three 6”) cake pans and line with parchment.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, ground pistachios, baking powder,and salt until well combined. Set aside.
3. Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx 3mins). Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla.
4. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of milk). Fully incorporating after each addition.
5. Bake for approx. 35-40mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
6. Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto wire rack. Allow cakes to cool completely.

For the filling:

1. Combine ingredients in pot over medium heat, stirring regularly until apples are soft (about 15 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool.

For the icing:

1. See vanilla buttercream icing recipe.

Assembly

1. Using one cake layer, apply a thin layer of icing.
2. Using a slotted spoon, strain apples and place on top of the icing layer
3. For the next cake, ice the bottom of the cake and place face down on the apple mixture, creating a cake -> icing -> apple -> icing -> cake layer.
4. Repeat again if more than 2 layers.
5. Ice the top and decorate elegantly with ground pistachio and apple.