We’re celebrating 15 years of serving our community this June, and we wanted to mark the occasion by sharing a wonderful cake recipe with you.
This birthday cake may have come about by thinking “outside the box,” but what fun is it to always color inside the lines? You’ll find that the warm and bright citrus notes blend beautifully with the rich and nutty pistachio flavor, wrapping this cake up into one wonderful present. We hope you enjoy this creation, from us to you.
Ingredients to prep:
4 sticks of unsalted butter
2 cups Field Day pistachio kernels, dry roasted and unsalted
4 organic navel oranges, 1 set aside (if using bottle orange juice, you only need 1 orange)
4 eggs, yolks and whites separated
Ingredients for the cake:
⅔ cup softened butter (10 tablespoons)
1 ½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 cup orange juice
⅓ cup milk
4 egg whites
2 ⅔ cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Ingredients for the pistachio pastry cream:
¼ cup granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
1 cup milk
3 tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
½ cup ground roasted pistachios
Ingredients for pistachio french buttercream:
1 ⅓ cups softened salted butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup ground roasted pistachios
¼ tsp salt
Instructions:
Before you start, you will begin to soften your butter. Remove the 4 sticks of butter you will need from the refrigerator and set them aside to warm up as you do your preparations.
First, prepare your pistachios. Divide the two cups of pistachios. Set one cup aside.
Put one cup of pistachios in a food processor or blender and blend until a powder forms. This may take 5 to 6 minutes. Once blended, set aside. You will use this powder to flavor your French buttercream and pastry cream.
Roughly chop the other cup of pistachios and set it far aside. You will use the chopped pistachios for decorating your cake.
Next, take three of your navel oranges. Zest one of them, and set the zest aside.
Juice the three navel oranges, including the one you zested, if you are using fresh orange juice.
Strain the orange juice and discard the pulp. Set aside.
Finally, separate your egg yolks from your egg whites.
Have two mixing bowls at the ready. You will put your egg yolks in one bowl, and your egg whites in the other bowl.
I recommend breaking your eggs very gently, so as to not pierce the yolk. After the egg is opened, hold the egg over your egg white bowl and pour it into your hand very gingerly. Allow the egg whites to fall from the spaces between your fingers and down into the bowl. Pass the egg yolk between your hands very gently until all the white has fallen into the bowl. Then gently set the remaining yolk into your egg yolk bowl. Repeat this process for all four eggs.
Set your egg yolks and egg whites aside.
Now that you have finished your prep, it’s time to move on to the cake.
Set your oven to 350℉.
Grease two 9-inch cake pans and line the bottom with a round sheet of parchment paper. Set them aside.
Sift together your flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Cream together your butter and sugar until fluffy. You may use a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer.
In a separate bowl with a clean mixer, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
Add your milk to the butter mixture. Mix well.
Pour in your orange juice and orange zest to the butter mixture. Mix lightly. It will not fully incorporate, and that’s ok.
Fold your flour into the butter mixture, gently. Mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
Gently fold in your egg whites to the batter. Mix in a figure-8 pattern, folding gently. Mix until just combined. Do not overmix. It is ok to see slight streaks of fluffy egg whites in the batter, so long as it is mostly mixed. If you overmix, you will lose all the fluffiness the egg whites will lend to the finished cake.
Pour the batter into the two cake pans, spread evenly.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven. The cake is done when a fork inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges are slightly browned.
Once baked, remove the cakes from their pans gently and allow them to cool completely.
While your cakes are baking, you can make the pistachio pastry cream for the filling.
First, you will need a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, you can make one using a large pot and a heat-safe bowl that fits on top of the pot without falling inside of it.
Take the large pot and fill it up halfway with water. Bring the water to a boil and place the heat-safe bowl over the pot.
Once boiling, turn the heat on the double boiler to medium.
In a measuring cup, measure out your milk. Add your flour and cornstarch to the milk and mix well until combined. Set aside.
In the bowl, add your egg yolks and sugar. Whisk until combined.
Pour in your milk mixture and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens.
Once your pastry cream has reached a thick, creamy consistency, remove it from the heat.
Stir in your ground pistachios until completely combined.
Cover the pastry cream and refrigerate until you are ready to assemble your cake.
You may now work on your French buttercream frosting.
Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream the butter in a large bowl, until the butter is easily spreadable. Set aside.
In the double boiler on medium heat, add your eggs and sugar. Whisk constantly.
Keep whisking until the egg mixture reaches 160℉. If you don’t have a thermometer to measure the temperature, a good rule of thumb is to mix for 8-10 minutes. The egg mixture will be clear, with all sugar dissolved, and foamy. When you take a bit from the whisk and let it cool to room temperature, it will easily form a sugary bead.
Once done, take the egg syrup off the heat. Allow it to cool down to room temperature, whisking occasionally to make sure a skin doesn’t form on the surface.
Once cooled, add the egg syrup to your butter. Mix until completely combined.
Finally, add your ground pistachios. Mix until incorporated. Set aside until you are ready to assemble your cake.
Once all your ingredients are prepared and cooled down, it’s time for assembly.
Fill a piping bag with your pistachio French buttercream. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can use a plastic bag with a small part of the tip cut off. Set aside.
On a large cake plate, place your first layer of cake, pan side down.
Pipe a tall border of French buttercream on the edge of the cake.
Fill the French buttercream border with your pistachio pastry cream. Smooth it out into an even layer.
Place your second layer of cake on top, pan side up.
Pipe French buttercream into the gap between the layers to fill, if needed. Spread it with an offset spatula to smooth it out and pack it in.
Pipe the French buttercream on the sides and top of the cake. Smooth gently with an offset spatula until the cake is covered in a layer of frosting.
Stick your chopped pistachios onto the side of the cake to cover it. You can do this by taking small handfuls and squishing them onto the sides. Some will fall, but you can pick up the stragglers and use them again.
Put more chopped pistachios on the top outer ring of the cake.
Cut your orange into wheels. Cut one wheel into quarters.
Take some of the quartered orange wheels and cut away the fruit and the white pith as much as you can, leaving just the orange peel. Twist the peel around your finger gently to make it curl. The more of the oil that you squeeze out of the peel, the more it will hold its curl.
Arrange the quartered orange wheels and curled orange peel as desired.
Allow the cake to sit in the refrigerator for an hour before serving. Keep cold before serving.
-Delaney Blomstrom
