This light and tender Pistachio Cake with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting is the prefect treat to enjoy with your friends and family this spring.
Children slipping and sliding through muddy puddles gives me anxiety. Unfortunately, early spring is full of that with the 5 foot mounds of black snow finally melting. The other day around 4, that very long hour between nap time and dinner, every kid and mom in the neighborhood was out enjoying the warm sun… and muddy grass.
Luckily, my daughter is cautious and doesn’t really go out of her way to get dirty. She’s not even 3 yet so that might change but I’m going to cross my fingers. I don’t like to get messy/dirty… especially my clothes. You’d think I’d be over it by now with two kids who have so generously shared every bodily fluid on me. But let’s talk about something clean, lovely, and delicious– this Pistachio Cake with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting!
The batter for this cake is filled with finely chopped pistachios and then decorated with even more. I’m not gonna lie, it takes some time to remove the shell from that many pistachios (especially when you eat every third one) so if you’re not up for the task you can always buy them already shelled. So much easier and faster to add them to baked goods or salads. If you do decide to buy the pistachios in the shell make sure you don’t throw out the tightly closed ones. Just open them using this trick!
The honey cream cheese frosting on this cake is a little different than your typical cream cheese frosting because it is cooked and made with granulated sugar. Yes, it takes a little longer but it is so worth the wait! It is silky smooth and perfectly sweet (not sickening sweet with a pound of powdered sugar). If you’re looking for more honey frosting, try this one on my cornbread cupcakes.
I added blackberries to the top of the cake mostly because I thought they looked pretty with the green pistachios but they also taste fantastic! Personally, I love berries with my dessert (like this cake) because they make it so refreshing tasting.
Pistachio Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 cup shelled roasted and salted pistachios
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 2 sticks butter
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 whole egg
- 1 tablespoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 3 eggs whites
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
For the Frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 cup 1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
- 6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the Garnish:
- Blackberries
- Pistachios
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (if using a dark colored pan, preheat to 325 degrees F). Grease the bottom and sides of 3 (8-inch) cake pans with shortening and then dust with flour.
- In a mixing bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Puree pistachios in a food processor or blender until coarsely chopped and then take 2 tablespoons and add it to the dry ingredients. Continue to puree the rest of the nuts until it becomes a powder. Mix into the dry ingredients.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, whip the butter for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Mix in the whole egg and the vanilla until just combined.
- In 3 batches, alternate mixing the dry ingredients and milk into the butter. Mix completely before adding each additional batch. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whip egg whites and cream of tartar until it reaches soft peaks. Fold the whipped egg whites into the batter until combined.
- Pour batter into 3 cake pans and smooth the tops. Bake for 28-32 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing and cooling completely on a wire rack.
For the Frosting:
- Mix sugar and flour together in a sauce pan and then whisk in milk and cream. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thick and begins to boil (about 15 minutes start to finish, should be considerably thick). Pour into a bowl or Tupperware, cover with plastic wrap pressing it against the mixture,and then place in the fridge until no longer warm. (If you place it in the fridge overnight, let it sit on the counter and comes to room temperature.) Place in the bowl of a standing mixer and beat on low speed. Add butter a tablespoon at a time and then cream cheese an ounce at a time. Turn up the speed and beat until smooth. Mix in the honey and vanilla until combined.
Assembling the Cake:
- Using a large serrated knife, cut off the tops of cakes to make them evenly flat.
- Place one cake round on a plate or cake platter and then frost the top of it. Top with another cake round and frost again. Add the last cake round and then add a thin layer of frosting (crumb coat) to the top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes and then frost the cake with the remaining frosting (save some of the frosting in a piping bag if you wish to decorate with frosting). Garnish with extra frosting, pistachios, and/or berries as desired.
- Store cake in the fridge until ready to serve.
recipe source: slightly adapted from Eats Well with Others
This recipe first appeared over at Handle the Heat where I’m a contributor.
The cake was okay, but the frosting was HORRIBLE. I cooked it until it boiled and thickened, but ultimately 2 cups of liquid in any frosting is a really bad idea. Adding powdered sugar doesn’t thicken it, since it just dissolves away into the milk/cream. It was thicker than a glaze, but still too thin to frost a cake, and just dripped down the sides. And it tasted like flour, which is just bizarre in a frosting
Can you please advise whether you use salted or unsalted butter? Thank you!
Hi Ellie, I always use salted butter.
Loved the cake. The frosting didn’t come together for me. I’m not sure what happened- I put it in the fridge overnight so I left it out to come to room temperature like you said, but it was runny, wet, and the butter and cream cheese were not able to mix in properly despite being room temperature. i ended up using the cake and making a simple cream cheese frosting. It was a big hit.
This cake is SO GOOD. I made it a few months ago and my co-workers and sister and I CANNOT stop talking about it. I’m baking it again tonight. Kinda obsessed!
I’m so happy you all enjoyed it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! 🙂
I made the cake but it turned out dry. Any tips on how to counteract this? The flavor was great!
Hey Eva! Cakes will be dry if over baked or if too much flour is used. Make sure you stir your flour and then use a spoon to scoop it into your measuring cup and then level off.
Incredible cake, absolutely delicious, I would definitely make it again. Sadly, the frosting was an epic fail, I’m heartened to hear others had problems too. I ditched it and made a traditional cream cheese frosting.
What size would you recommend if this recipe were made into a sheet pan cake?
We have lots of guests so a square single layer piece would be easier than the triple layer cake.
Thanks!
Loved it….. was so good..thanks for such a good recepie…going to make for my daughter 1st Birthday…. can I add pistachios extract instead of vanilla extract to get more pistachios taste?
Yes, definitely!
Hello,
I made this cake and it is delicious! The frosting is equally delicious. However, what do you mean by “considerably thick”? Mine was gravy like when I took it off the heat and that was after almost exactly 15 minutes. Is it supposed to be more like a paste? My icing was not near thick enough to spread or pipe. I was able to use it as a glaze though and it still turned out beautiful!
Hi there
I haven’t tried making the cake yet, but wanted to know what size cup or ml of the cake is required to make this cake. Thanks preetee
I’m a little confused by your question. Do you mean what size baking pan? You need 8 or 9 inch round cake pans.
This lovely cake–oh my word!!!! I made it last night to see if it passed the test to bake for my bohemian birthday dinner next month…it’s definitely a winner! It’so unique and has just the right amount of sweetness. Never made a cake quite like this before. Thanks for the recipe, Melanie! So happy I came across your site????
That sounds like a fun themed birthday dinner! So glad my recipe made it in the menu. 🙂 I’m happy you found my site! Have a great birthday and party Liz!
hi Melanie,
I’m confused by the batch thing I’m not sure what that means.
Joy, Sorry for the confusion. You just add about 1/3 of the flour mixture, mix, add 1/3 of the milk, mix. Repeat until everything is mixed in.
Hi Melanie,
this cake looks absolutely fantastic, I am excited to try it.
I do have one question, when you say 1 tbsp of vanilla, what kind of vanilla do you mean? E.g. powder, oil, sugar?
Extract.
This cake was delicious!
Thanks Sara! Happy to hear you enjoyed it! 🙂
Thank you for the recipe .Tried it last night everyone loved it .:)
Thank you, Melanie, for sharing this recipe! I was wondering if you sift the dry ingredients. I cheated and used carton egg whites. Do you think that would contribute to a tad bit dryer cake? I may have been not 100% exact with dry ingredient measurements as well!
Also, my frosting resembled more of a slightly separated looking thicker glaze. I made sure to thicken in on the stove and placed it in the fridge. I might have been a bit impatient near the end and place it in a bowl of ice. So it wasn’t just cooled down, but too cold to add the room temperature butter and cream cheese. I’m guessing that’s what contributed to the separated look?
Hi Melanie,
I’m making this cake right now, such an easy recipe. My sisters turkish in-laws are gonna love the pistachios in this.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Awesome Deni! I hope you all enjoyed it! 🙂
Hi Melanie,
I’m thinking of making this recipe in cupcake form, have you ever tried this and do you have any recommendations?
Alyssa, This would be great as cupcakes! I’d start to check for doneness at around 15 minutes. Oh and fill the cupcake liners with about 1/4 cup (a trigger ice cream scoop works great) batter. Also, some people have had some trouble with the frosting forming lumps so I recommend letting the cooked portion of the frosting just cool in the fridge until no longer warm or if you put it in overnight, let it come to room temp on the counter.
The recipe asks for 1/3 cup of cream. Is that heavy whipping cream? Sorry, I am new to baking, and cooking in general! Ha!
Yes. Heavy whipping cream. Sorry, I should have been more specific. Fixed!
I was given a challenge by a co-worker to make a non-vanilla, non-chocolate, non-carrot cake, cake. So I found your recipe and made this. It was such a hit! I was told to quit my job and become a baker. An absolutely amazing cake. Thank you for sharing Melanie. I will make this again, no doubt!
Awesome Wendy! I love hearing stories like this! I’m so happy you and your co-workers enjoyed it. 🙂
Very elegant cake…I like the contrasting color of the blackberries and pistachio.
Makes great cupcakes too! Thanks for the recipe
Awesome Grace! I’ll have the make them as cupcakes too sometime.
I tried to make into cupcakes. The cupcakes came out fantastic! The frosting portion had major issues though. I couldn’t get it to hold together at all. Definitely didnt break or anything. Seemed like the right consistency, but would drip off my cupcakes. Any ideas? Suggestions?
Hmmmm. Thats weird it was falling off the cupcake. It sounds like your frosting wasn’t thick enough. Maybe you didn’t make the cooked thickening portion thick enough? Since the frosting does have a little less sugar you could add some powdered sugar to thicken it but then it would taste sweeter.
I made the icing and thought I let it cook long enough and it was way to thin to ice the cake. . the flavor was amazing
If adding powdered sugar to thicken, ADD A SMALL PINCH OF SALT to cut the sweetness, but start sparingly. That is a rule of thumb when countering too much sweetness in frosting and other baked goods.
Also, the BUTTER ingredient listed did not specify if it is salted or unsalted. Since SALT was also an ingredient, I will use Unsalted butter to be on the safe side. That is always my theory. It just seems to make sense to me because of the salt listed to use.
I just found this recipe and am intrigued with this frosting. I will be making this very soon and have a feeling that both recipes will be keepers; along with being new basic recipes to test different & additional ingredients to develop multiple flavor profiles! I love almond extract and cardamom (spice), so that will be in my first test round!
I always advise people to print the recipe, make as directed, then make test recipes; noting the changes. For new bakers, BAKING is SCIENCE and you should be careful making changes until doing some homework. Altitude and weather conditions affect recipes too.
I’m excited to use these two recipes and start reading through this website!
OMG! Just baked the cake. It’s our son’s 3rd birthday tomorrow and it tastes delicious but will eat together with frosting tomorrow because he hasn’t seen it yet. He is sleeping now. Will write complete report again later. Thank yiu so much Melanie for this recipe. Stay forever blessed
Hi Melanie, can the cake be baked in only 2 pans? Thanks:)
What if I have pistachio paste, could I use that?
I’ve never used pistachio paste so I’m not exactly sure. It looks like pistachio paste has oil and sugar in it as well and I’m not sure how much of that is in there. You’d be missing out on the little chunks of pistachio but I think it should be okay and will just add extra moisture.
Thank you!
Hi – the cake looks excellent. My wife is about to cook it for my birthday but we wonder whether the sugar in the cake is granulated or confectionery as it does make a fair difference to how much we put in.
Many thanks
Richard
Richard, Sorry for the confusion. Whenever I mean granulate sugar I just write “sugar” but I edited the recipe to make it more clear. You use granulated sugar for both the cake and frosting.
this is as beautifully decorated as it must be delicious! really nicely done!
Oh, it really is. Thank you Grace!
This is beautiful, Melanie!
That honey cream cheese frosting looks seriously amazing and pistachios in cake is genius!
Thank you Medha! The pistachios are so yummy in the cake because they add some saltiness.
This cake is so pretty! The honey cream cheese sounds amazing! I’ll have to try that soon!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Thank you Paige! It is delish!