My husband loves pistachios and they have raspberry season in my mom’s big garden.
So when I started thinking about how to combine them, I thought of a cake pop.
It’s an empty table and is simple enough to make.
I was a little worried that the raspberry flavor would overpower the whole dish, so I added them in layers to the pan cake batter.
And I wanted to make sure that some of the pistachio flavor would still come through, so I swapped out the flour from a more traditional recipe and substituted nuts that I ground up in a food processor.
Lemon seemed like an excellent vehicle to bring them together.
It pays to use fresh lemon for flavor, but in a pinch you can use bottled juice in the frosting and leave out the zest in the pie.
The resulting cake wasn’t overly sweet, but it was different enough from the standard boxed mix that it seemed appropriate for a special occasion.
Pistachio Raspberry Lemon Muffins 11/2 cups flour plus 2 tablespoons, divided
11/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup (two sticks) butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Zest from one lemon
1/2 cup milk
1 cup pistachios, finely ground, sandy texture
1 cup fresh raspberries, reserving a few for garnish
For the frosting:
Juice of 1 lemon (or 3 tablespoons bottled juice)
1 cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease or line a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Sift 11/2 cups flour and baking powder and set aside.
Using a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time, giving the batter enough time to fully incorporate each addition before adding the next. Add salt and lemon zest and mix well.
Turn off the stand mixer. Little by little, mix in a scoop of flour mixture, a scoop of ground pistachios and milk. Gently incorporate them before adding more.
Toss the raspberries in 2 tablespoons of flour so they don’t sink to the bottom of the cake.
Pour about a third of the batter into the greased pan, then top with half of the raspberries. Add another third of the batter and the rest of the raspberries. Cover with the last part of the dough.
Bake for about 60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. If the top is browning too quickly, cover it with foil to prevent it from burning.
Let cool completely. For the frosting, mix the lemon juice and icing sugar, making sure all the lumps are mixed in. Pour over the cake and top with the remaining raspberries. Goes well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Meg Dickinson is a communications professional who spends many of her waking hours daydreaming about food. To submit a recipe, email [email protected].