Lemon-Frosted Pistachio Cake Recipe (2024)

Please, please provide weight measures. Do that many people really cook by volume these days? Save yourself the trouble of converting to volume, NYTimes Cooking, & save us all the guesswork & hassle of looking up conversion tables for the weight of pistachios. 1C + 1T? Love you, but the volume measures in SO many recipes on this otherwise wonderful site are mind boggling. Of course I still slog my way through when I really want to try one out, but it's frustrating. Thank you!

I made this cake with a few changes and the result was delicious! Based on previous reviews I used half salted pistachios, and half unsalted pistachios; only half of the amount of orange juice, and I added ground cardamom. I could distinguish each of the flavors, yet the taste was subtle and delicate. I baked a test cake, which was fine without the icing, but decided to add it to the cake I served my guests. Either way, it was great!

One cup almonds/pistachios: is that one cup *ground*, or one cup before they are ground? Thank you.

Why does Slater always leave salt out of his baked good recipes? And don't you agree that it leaves them tasting a little flat?

Could you substitute all almond flour or almond meal for the ground almonds and pistachios?

Reduced butter to ~6 oz. and added a teaspoon of baking powder. Used granulated sugar because that's what I had (could have made it by burring regular sugar in a food processor). Did not add rosewater since I don't care for it, but made as written otherwise. Cake was really good, I love that nutty texture. Will add a bit of salt next time. The recipe is not well written. Butter should be softened. Need orange juice quantities. Need to specify that the nuts are 1 cup ground.

I replaced the rose water with Grand Mariner, and added some to the icing ; the orange flavor was wonderful! Also used salted pistachios, no problem. Was the only homemade dessert at our potluck and definitely the biggest hit!

I really screwed up this recipe and it still came out delicious. I accidentally used the amount of butter - 4 oz not 8. I can’t imagine this cake with a half lb of butter. Then I thought I had superfine sugar and didn’t so I used regular granulated. To top it off I put in the eggs with the butter instead of the sugar first. Despite all that it was wonderful. As a side/topping I made a mixture of creme fraiche, honey and cardamom. It was delicious with the cake.

If you use salted butter, that will be more than enough salt for the cake. A cup of salted pistachios would be overwhelming. And more than a cup of sugar seems like too much for an 8" round cake if you want to taste any nuanced flavors (like rosewater). I do plan to try this, though it isn't easy to find unsalted pistachios.

I subbed the flour for Passover cake flour, and used a tangerine because I was out of oranges. It was delicious--a nice change of pace for a Seder dessert. After 40 minutes it was completely done, 35 would probably have been better. I will make this again but will watch the time more closely. I used salted pistachios btw, and they were just fine.

Totally agree. And coming from Australia, the ‘sticks’ of butter drives me crazy. After disastrous efforts at converting, I now only cook the recipes with accurate measurements. Baking is such a fine balance of chemistry with ingredients, you just can’t wing it and hope for success. So, I echo your request for actual measurements.

Smitten Kitchen blog as a great and even simpler pistachio cake recipe. The entire batter is made in a food processor. I have made it without any changes many times.

This cake was very special indeed. I didn't change anything but next time I plan to add 2x the orange zest and increase the rosewater. A winner I will make it again and again.

Our daughter made this for my wife's birthday. It is absolutely DELICIOUS!

I’m always cutting down the sugar in recipes and did so here as well, and left off the frosting. The pistachios I had were roasted salted and I was concerned that it would be too much salt (used salted butter too) but I think it actually helped balance things in the end. People loved the cake but I thought the texture was a little too gritty; next time I’ll process the pistachios even finer. Really good flavor though.

I doubled the recipe to make a this a layer cake for my daughter’s birthday. She is a serious foodie, and I’m not, so she is hard to impress. But this time, the day after I dropped off the cake, she texted me “Mom, that cake was a triumph!”

Used rose water instead of lemon for the icing, since I wanted more of those flavor scents in the cake. And oat flour instead, adding a quarter more. Plus a tea spoon of baking powder and some cardamome because of all the other notes. Came out beautifully.

I used six ounces butter and added vanilla and almond extracts (half a teaspoon each) as well as cardamom and nutmeg. Wonderful.

Make the Food52 version instead: it uses juice and zest of a Meyer lemon instead of the orange and adds 1tsp cardamom. Just bake it for 30 min and check!

This cake got raves from dinner guests, and it is fast and easy. Like others I reduced the butter to 6 oz. and I may use less next time. I also reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup and it was plenty sweet with the lemon glaze. I don't have a mixer, so I used my food processor for everything but the final step of folding in the flour.

Came out beautifully! I added a pinch of salt, omitted the rosewater, and replaced the orange with a large Meyer lemon, accordingly ca 7/8 c (regular) sugar (otherwise I'd have used even less). I drizzled the glaze over a mix of pistachios and pomegranate arils. My dad asked why I didn't separate the eggs and beat the whites separately for more loft, but this version was still delicious, had a nice texture, and was FAST! Next time I'll try the eggs differently.

This might more aptly called a nut loaf. Everyone loved it.Used one cup of whole pistachios when measuring. Added a whole tangerine peel in bits when I ground the nuts, saved a step. Super easy and delicious and stays moist for days if it lasts that long. Great snacking cake.

Just baked & served this cake for the third time and it was perfect. Although I did not use a kitchen scale, I understand why people opt for using weights in a recipe like this b/c the balance btn flour + ground nuts is really important to get right. Add lemon zest--tasty. I found success in using a spoon to load my measuring cups to avoid packing them and thus ruining the proportions. I baked the cake in a festive Nordicware bunt pan & let the cake cool overnight before icing the next day.

Make this quite often and mostly as is. I reduce sugar by ⅓. Lovely cake to serve at teatime and with the rosebuds and pistachios, it is pretty, too!

This is a delicious cake, and a great choice for special occasions. I’ve made it several times with no changes to the recipe, except to dot the iced cake with beads of rose petal jam before serving. It makes for a beautiful presentation, and an irresistible desert.

6oz butter 150 g sugar (granulated)1/2 orange zest 1/2 orange juice 1 tsp orange blossom water

Made it exactly as the recipe reads. Delicious. A big hit and make it often. Thanks!

forgot to put the cardamon in the batter so I added it to the icing. Awesome cake!