Pistachio Cake With White Chocolate Buttercream

"This recipe is fabulous! It is the kind of cake that brings WOW's from your guests! ;) I've had it for eons just never posted! The caramelized pistachio shards make the cake look & taste like it was specially baked in a high-end bakery! BH&G Magazine, published in 2002, Meredith Corp. It has an hour chilling time and an hour standing time, for which I didn't factor in the time..It has a long laundry list but you will see it all goes together quite nicely, as it has a few item repeated.;) It is truly worth it!! :)"
 
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photo by aviya316 photo by aviya316
photo by aviya316
Ready In:
1hr 20mins
Ingredients:
23
Serves:
12
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ingredients

  • CAKE

  • 1 23 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 12 teaspoon baking soda
  • 34 cup butter, softened (no substitutes)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 cup buttermilk or 1 cup sour milk
  • 6 egg whites
  • 1 12 cups toasted chopped pistachio nuts
  • 2 teaspoons finely shredded orange peel (can use other citrus peel or leave out)
  • WHITE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM

  • 12 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1 12 cups milk
  • 1 (6 ounce) package white baking bar
  • 1 12 teaspoons vanilla
  • 12 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 cup butter, softened (no substitutes)
  • CARAMELIZED PISTACHIO SHARDS

  • nonstick cooking spray
  • 1 tablespoon chopped pistachios
  • 13 cup sugar
  • 12 teaspoon hot water
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directions

  • PREPARE PISTACHIO CAKE:

  • Preheat oven to 350º F & grease and lightly flour three 8x1-1/2-inch round baking pans; set aside.
  • Stir together flour, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.
  • Beat the 3/4 cup butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.
  • Add the 2 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 teaspoon almond extract; beat until fluffy.
  • Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk or sour milk, beating on low to medium speed just until combined.
  • Thoroughly wash and dry beaters.
  • In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight).
  • Gently fold beaten egg whites into batte;.fold in the pistachio nuts and the orange peel.
  • Pour batter into prepared pans.
  • Bake in preheated oven 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center of each cake comes out clean.
  • Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.
  • Remove cakes from pans and cool thoroughly on wire racks.
  • PREPARE BUTTERCREAM:

  • Combine the 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour in a medium mixing bowl; add egg yolks.
  • Beat mixture with a wire whisk until combined; set aside.
  • Heat the 1-1/2 cups milk in a heavy saucepan over medium heat just to boiling;.remove from heat.
  • Gradually beat hot milk into egg mixture with the wire whisk; return entire mixture to saucepan.
  • Cook over medium heat until bubbly, whisking constantly; cook 2 minutes more & remove from heat.
  • Add white baking bars, 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla, and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.
  • Let stand for 1 minute; stir until smooth & transfer mixture to a bowl.
  • Cover surface with plastic wrap to prevent skin from forming; cool to room temperature.
  • Beat the 1 cup butter in a medium mixing bowl on medium to high speed until fluffy.
  • Add cooled baking bar mixture, one-fourth at a time, beating on low speed after each addition until combined.
  • Spread between layers and over cake.
  • If desired, pipe decorative lines along the edges and down the sides of the cake, using a decorating bag fitted with a star tip.
  • Serve immediately or cover and store cake in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
  • Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
  • Just before serving, if desired, top with Caramelized Pistachio Shards.
  • PREPARE CARAMELIZED PISTACHIO SHARDS::

  • Preheat oven to 350ºF & line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil; coat foil with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Sprinkle 1 tablespoon chopped pistachios onto prepared foil.
  • Bake in preheated oven 6 to 8 minutes or until lightly toasted.
  • Meanwhile, place 1/3 cup sugar in a heavy 10-inch skille & heat over medium-high heat until sugar begins to melt, shaking skillet occasionally to heat sugar evenly.
  • Do not stir.
  • When sugar begins to melt, reduce heat to low.
  • Cook for 2 minutes more or until sugar is melted and lightly golden, stirring as needed with a wooden spoon.
  • Remove pan from heat.
  • Stir in 1/2 teaspoon hot water.
  • Immediately pour over nuts on hot baking sheet; let cool for 1 minute.
  • Using two forks, gently pull caramel mixture as thinly as possible, lifting slightly as you pull.
  • Let cool thoroughly on foil.
  • Break into pieces; store tightly covered.
  • Enjoy!

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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>Hello all, thank you for visiting My Page but forgive me for&nbsp;it is a work in progress! :) As I am sure you have noticed I changed my Chef Name to Manami which means love &amp; beauty. ;) Just thought I should get with the program - my geisha &amp; my icon! :) Don't fret, I won't change it again! <br /><br />I am 70 years young and I live in a nursing home, which is out of this world, I am treated like a princess and the world is my oyster! I have a private room and during the season I do taxes for most of the staff, as well as my personal clients that have been following me since I left the business world about 25 years ago. I was rear-ended by a van and it turned my whole world upside down. Why dwell on that? <br /><br />I am an American Jew (from NYC) who moved to Havana, Cuba when I was 2 1/2 years old, lived there until a few days after Castro took over and vamoosed it out of that country as fast as my legs would carry me! I&nbsp;was on a forced hiatus from the UofM, due to illness. <br /><br />From there my sister, mother and I went to NYC to work and my father went to Haiti in Port-Au-Prince, where he and my uncle had purchased some tiny cocoa plantations &amp; a chocolate factory - for the choccolate liquer - to make baking chocolate (the real bitter stuff). We joined my father about 2 months later where I spent 2 of the most carefree &amp; wonderful years of my life! It is the stuff that movies are made of! (A la Grace Kelly - even my clothes were like hers)&gt;&nbsp;</p> <p>I then continued my studies in upstate NY and hated it because it was too, too cold!:( Went back to NYC to work and see what I wanted to do with my life - I was all of 20 years old and had to drop out of school because of illness and then because of the weather! Yuck - so I got a job in a Textile Buying Office as a receptionist and soon I found myself buying trimmings! Loved it and was very happy with the work I was doing. <br /><br />However, I got an offer from two young guys who had a factory in Cleveland, Ohio, where they made Maternity Clothes and they wanted me to be in charge of the shipping dept, keep inventory and in my spare time - help with the designing!! I couldn't pass it up - the offer sounded so great and the salary was twice what I was making in the NYC. So I went to Cleveland, got married, had both my children and got a divorce 15 years later. <br /><br />Then my children and I moved to South Florida and have been here since 1978, I can't count that far back :) <br /><br />Learned how to do taxes with H&amp;R Block and worked simultaneously&nbsp;as a Supervisor in 2 offices&nbsp;for them for 15 years. Then after the accident everything went spiralling downwards until I could no longer walk alone even with a walker - so the next step was a wheelchair. Stayed at home with a lot of help (nurses, PT therapists) fixed the bathroom so I could bathe myself and fixed the kitchen so I could help warm-up meals (was taught how to cook in rehab) and so forth and so on. <br /><br />However, the fire department had other plans for me, I called them too often to pick me up off the floor - how embarassing! So they gave me a choice - either a home or they would have to call HRS! :( (very sad) <br /><br />It was there, in my home where I was robbed! <img title=Cry src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-cry.gif border=0 alt=Cry />&nbsp;All my cookbooks (all my Julia Childs Cookbooks, my Settlement Cookbook which had been my mothers - published in 1939 - with all her notes) my mother's cookbooks from Cuba &amp; Haiti, all my handwritten recipes. They also took all my Delft collection, some antiques that I had in the kitchen like my rolling pin, a beautiful old &amp; used wooden bowl, a charcoal-iron that was brought north when my parents left Haiti, it was hand-painted &amp; was gorgeous, as well as all the other things that are too numerous to mention! <br /><br />That proved to be the last straw &amp; from there it was an ALF,<img title=Yell src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-yell.gif border=0 alt=Yell /> which was horrible, and then on to another home where the administrator of that home became the administrator here and voila, here I am. <img title=Smile src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif border=0 alt=Smile /></p> <p>I have a beautiful large private room with a private&nbsp;bath, furnished to my liking: eclectic!&nbsp;<img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /> My room is large enough to house my office and all the other odds and ends with which I like to surround myself.<br /><br />During tax season, mostly, my room is always full (of course I love it that way)! I have a blanket&nbsp;my daughter bought for me in New Mexico and that is on my bed. You guessed it - that is where everbody sits or on my great grandfather's arm chair which is in great shape. <img title=Smile src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif border=0 alt=Smile />&nbsp;Update 01/11/2008 that time is here again :) Have started doing taxes already and not just regular taxes but corporations, partnerships and 1040X - ammended returns! Whoopee! I love the feeling I get when this time comes around and I get into gear!!! I love it! :) <br /><br />The head chef, the kitchen supervisor &amp; the dietician enjoy the recipes from Zaar; the ones that I post, as well as, the others. We are in the process of changing the menu right now - so we have been doing a lot of figuring. The administrator is so cute because every once in a while she asks for a recipe and then she gives me a pack of paper so I can print them. <img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /><br /><br />I am president of the resident council and most of the family members come to me to take care of their grievances - this way I do my part - and the staff can take care of the larger problems! It has been working for 10 years - why change if it ain't broke?<img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /></p> <p>Well, it's time to say hasta luego folks. <img title=Laughing src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-laughing.gif border=0 alt=Laughing /><br /><br /></p>
 
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