JWWC posted
In addition to gardening, I'm also an avid baker. It's my turn to provide birthday treats for the lab (for another student's birthday) and he asked for something with pistachios. I improvised this one a little bit based on a dessert I had at an Indian restaurant:
Pistachio-Cardamom Bundt Cake with Rosewater Glaze:
3/4 c raw pistachios (shelled)
2 cups a.p. flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 - 3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cardamom - less if you are using fresh.
1.5 sticks of unsalted butter brought to room temp.
1.5 c granulated sugar
3 large eggs - the closer to room temp the better
1.5 c milk
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp almond extract
To start, I pulsed the pistachios in a small food processor to make them as finely ground as I could without turning them to a paste. I probably could have taken them further but oh well - I only had enough for one shot!
Set 2-3 Tbsp of the ground nuts aside for topping later.
Next, I creamed the butter and sugar in my stand mixer for several minutes until they were well mixed and fluffy. I scraped the bowl and added the eggs and extracts.
Sift together the dry ingredients. Add half to the butter mixture and mix slowly to incorporate.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the milk. Mix until everything is incorporated. I stopped 2 times to scrape the bottom of the bowl.
Add the remainder of the dry ingredients and the nuts and stir until just incorporated.
Pour into a pre greased bundt pan (baker's joy is your friend here!) and bake at 350˚F for 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Once it was cooled, I glazed the cake and topped with the remaining chopped nuts.
For the glaze I mixed
1/4 tsp rose water
3 tbsp milk or cream
1.5 c powdered sugar
(edited this post and the next one because I posted them out of order
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