Lemon Pistachio Loaf Cake
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The “don’t worry, be happy” cake
This lemon pistachio cake is out of this world!! With a super soft and tender crumb, is a cake perfect for snacking and sharing around. I promise you can get a prettier swirl than mine, but you have to keep reading to understand why is that! The point is that this is another wonderful loaf cake recipe that you need to have on your repertoire for those moments you want a classic simple cake.
I have to admit I was pretty hesitant about sharing this cake. It has been sitting in my computer for a few weeks now. It was addictive and so good! But being my own director, cinematographer production assistant and talent while filming videos has its consequences, haha! For some reason I had to rush the process a bit while filming and forgot about swirling the vanilla and pistachio batter. When I cut the cake it didn’t have the pretty swirl that had been living in my mind since I decided I wanted to make this cake. Instead, two horizontal green lines showed up.
You can’t even imagine my frustration! It’s a lot of effort and work that goes behind each recipe, photography and video and, as I sliced the cake and saw the inside, it was like those hours and amount of work turned into water in a matter of seconds. I was shocked and disappointed at such a blunder!
The thing was that the cake was so good!!! Soft, tender, crumbly enough to feel light but still a bit dense that you can enjoy a rich bite. Look at the crumb in the pics! The base of this cake is my Pink Grapefruit Cream Cheese Pound Cake. It’s one of the best pound cakes I’ve ever had, and not because it’s my recipe! It’s really, really good!
In a place in time where flawless results are made to be seem effortless, it’s really scary to show and share something that is not exactly there. In the middle of my frustration, I kept cutting the cake, and what were two horizontal lines transformed into a pistachio smile shape. It was as if the cake was smiling at me, reminding me that it was OK! It was supposed to be that way. It’s cake, for God sake! Its whole purpose is to make me happy, and its big smile was a nice reminder of that!
So, instead of throwing all the content away and not sharing it, I finally decided to put it out on this world, if not for how tasty and delicious it is, at least for that big funky smile, reminding you that everything is gonna be fine. We are blessed in so many ways, and there are many things way more important than the look of a cake. And I didn’t want to punish you by not sharing this recipe just because I couldn't deal with a less than perfect result. It wasn’t fair for you. Or for this cake!
Just please, remember to swirl the batters before placing it in the oven, okay? Okay!
Now, for making this cake you can use homemade or store bought pistachio paste. I used this store-bought pistachio paste and I really loved the results. For making homemade pistachio paste, just grind pistachios in a food processor. You will need to scrape down the creeping nut pieces and keep grinding for several minutes and even add a bit of vegetable oil if the nuts are not releasing enough oil to make a paste. For me it was easier just to use already made paste. Here how it’s done:
How to make this Lemon Pistachio Pound Cake
Start by rubbing lemon zest with sugar to release their wonderful oils.
Mix cake flour with the salt and baking powder to make your dry ingredients mixture. If you don’t have cake flour, you may use all-purpose as well. The texture will be a tad chewier and dense but not in a bad way. It will still be soft and tender.
Butter here is important. European style butter works better because it has more fat content and less water than American style, but use what you have on hand. Butter should also be soft but still a bit cool to the touch. Don't let it become warm before mixing with the lemon zest sugar.
I added a bit of cream cheese for creaminess and tartness and it really helps the texture of this cake.
Add the rest of the wet ingredients according to the recipe, except the pistachio paste.
Take out about ⅓ of the batter and mix it up well with the pistachio paste. Pour some of the vanilla batter on the bottom of the pan. Pour half of the pistachio batter as much as possible in the center. Pour half of the remaining vanilla batter, trying not mix it up with the pistachio batter as much as possible. Repeat with the remaining pistachio and vanilla batter left. If you can scrape a bit more of the pistachio batter, drizzle a bit on the center at the top.
And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for (hahaha!) using a large toothpick or chopstick, slightly swirl the batter right to left and up and down a couple of times.
This is totally optional, but for a deep golden brown top brush some melted butter on top of the batter right before baking.
Bake for about an hour in 325°. I love baking cake at a lower temperature because they retain more moisture.This one is a perfect example of that.
You can make a simple glaze with lemon or you can make my blueberry glaze for a tangy and fruity note, which if you ask me is the perfect touch for this nutty cake.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container. It can be in a dry cool place, not necessarily on the fridge.
What you’ll need:
This is the Pistachio Paste I used here.
A beautiful loaf cake pan. Mine is a bit old but I found this one pretty similar.
A RELIABLE kitchen scale. Emphasis on reliable if you didn’t catch that up! This one is the one I use and has the tare function so you can keep adding Ingredients in the same bowl.
Pre-cut parchment paper for the win (for easy cleaning)!
3 recipes I think you’ll love if you’re loving this one:
Pink Grapefruit Pound Cake
Sour Almond Loaf Cake with Hibiscus Glaze
Puerto Rican Style Sweet Cornbread
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Sharing this cake is making me smile. It’s making me so happy! I know it will make you smile and make you happy too!
And remember that keeping happiness to yourself is bad karma so make this, share it with the world and don’t forget to tag me in Instagram (@devamadeo) and Facebook (@DevAmadeo), and now on Threads (@devamadeo). Until the next recipe!
(Remember to leave your email when you make a comment to receive a notification as soon as I get back to you. Don’t worry, this will not add your email to my email list.)
Lemon Pistachio Loaf Cake
Ingredients
◯ Lemon zest - 1 TBSP, about the zest of 1 lemon
◯ Natural granulated sugar - 1 ⅓ cup, 269g
◯ Cake flour, preferably unbleached (NOT self-rising flour) - 1 ½ cup, 200g
◯ Fine sea salt - ¼ Tsp
◯ Baking powder - ⅛ Tsp
◯ Salted butter European Style, preferably made of milk from grass-fed cows, softened- 14 TBSP, ¾ cup, 198g, plus 2 TBSP for greasing the pan
◯ Cream cheese, softened - 4oz, ½ block
◯ Vegetable oil - 1 TBSP, 14g
◯ Large eggs, at room temperature - 3
◯ Vanilla extract - ½ TBSP
◯ Almond extract (optional) - ¼ Tsp
◯ Pistachio paste - ¼ cup
◯ Melted butter to brush on top (optional) - 2 TBSP
Lemon Blueberry Glaze
◯ Blueberries (optional) - ½ cup, 90g
◯ Lemon juice - 1 to 2 teaspoons, a bit more if not using blueberries
◯ Confectioner’s sugar, sifted - ½ cup, 65g
Details
Yield:
a 9” x 5” loaf cake pan
Total time:
1 hour 25 minutes
Active time:
25 minutes
Baking time:
1 hour
Equipment:
stand mixer or handheld electric mixer, 9” x 5” loaf pan, parchment paper (optional)
Steps:
Making the cake:
Preheat oven to 325°.
Prepare a 9” x 5” loaf cake pan by lining with parchment paper, greasing it with butter or spraying baking spray.
Rub lemon zest with the 1 ⅓ cup/269g of sugar for two to three minutes, just until the zest looks evenly mixed and there are no lumps of it. Set aside.
Over a large bowl sift together the 1 ½ cup/200g of flour, the ¼ teaspoon of salt and the ⅛ teaspoon of baking powder.
With a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (strongly recommended) or with an electric mixer with the beaters, beat 14 tablespoons/198g of butter in high speed (#6 in the Kitchen Aid) for 2 minutes to make it fluffy. Add the 4 ounces (1/2 block) of cream cheese in chunks and beat just to incorporate it with the butter. Add the 1 tablespoon/14g of oil and beat in high speed for 2 minutes. Decrease mixer speed and add the sugar-zest mixture slowly until incorporated.
Stop mixer and scrap down the sides and through the bottom of the bowl to make sure there’s no sugar stuck on the sides or on the bottom of the bowl. Bring speed to high again and beat for 3 minutes. Please take note that if you are using a hand electric mixer, you should add one to two minutes at each step. Add the 3 eggs, one at a time, and beat until they are fully incorporated. Stop mixer and scrape down once more. Beat for 30 seconds to make sure everything is well mixed.
Bring speed to the lowest (#1 in the Kitchen Aid) and add the flour mixture in three additions. Finally, pour vanilla extract and almond extract if using and stop mixing as soon as it has incorporated, probably less than 5 seconds. With your rubber spatula gently mix with a folding motion any streak of flour visible.
Take out about ⅓ of the batter and mix it throughly with the ¼ cup of pistachio paste.
Transfer about ⅓ of the vanilla batter to the pan. Pour over half of the pistachio batter, making sure it stays on the center. Gently pour another ⅓ of the vanilla batter, careful it doesn't blend with the pistachio batter below. Repeat with almost all the pistachio batter and remaining vanilla batter, pouring the little pistachio batter remaining on top. With a large tooth pick or chopstick, swirl the batter back and forth and up and down a few times.
For a deep golden brown top, slightly brush a bit of melted butter.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until top is deep golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when you insert it through the very center of the cake, which would be opened. Do not open oven door before 50 minutes of baking. If cake’s done, turn off oven and open oven door. Wait about a minute or two before taking it out completely.
Let it cool down before pouring glaze (recipe below).
Making the lemon glaze:
In a high speed blender purée the blueberries. Strain the mixture through a colander as much as you can to extract the juice.
Start adding 2 teaspoons of this with some drops of lemon juice to the ½ cup/65g of confectioner’s sugar and mix as much as you can. Add more liquid until desired consistency. Pour over cake.
