After publishing this raspberry pistachio cake recipe a few years back (that you guys LOVED!) I wanted to revisit the recipe and see what other frosting flavors pair well with it. Turns out that pistachio cake and cream cheese frosting are a match made in cake heaven! The pistachio cake layers here are soft and moist with the perfect nutty flavor. The cream cheese frosting is silky smooth and adds a creamy richness to every slice. This is the perfect cake for Springtime, St. Patrick’s Day, the holiday season, and truly any special occasion!
Pistachio Layer Cake Ingredients
To make this pistachio layer cake, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Unsalted pistachios. For the purest pistachio flavor, use raw or roasted pistachios (and always unsalted).
- Cake flour. Since it has the lowest protein content of all baking flours, cake flour yields the softest and lightest texture. For best results, use store bought cake flour. If you can’t find it locally, you can make your own cake flour in a pinch. Just keep in mind that since homemade cake flour uses all purpose flour as a base, it will weigh slightly more than store bought cake flour (207g instead of 184g).
- Baking powder + baking soda. The leavening agents that make this cake rise.
- Unsalted butter + vegetable oil. These are the base fats of the recipe. The butter adds richness both texture and flavorwise, while the oil makes it extra moist.
- Sugar. Not only sweetens the cake but is also responsible for the soft texture.
- Egg whites. I use only the egg whites in this recipe, which are perfect for keeping the cake light. You can substitute the four fresh egg whites for ½ cup of carton egg whites if you prefer.
- Sour cream. This adds richness, tanginess, and tons of moisture. If you can’t find sour cream locally, you can substitute it for an equal amount of plain yogurt or creme fraiche.
- Vanilla extract, almond extract, and salt. These all enhance the overall pistachio flavor.
- Whole milk. The liquid that brings the batter together. Whole milk has the highest fat (aside from buttermilk), and that’s what I recommend for the best texture.
- Green food coloring. This is optional, but if you want the cake to be pistachio-colored, add a couple drops of green food coloring. Otherwise it will be off-white with specks of pistachio (which is not a bad look).
The Best Pistachios for Pistachio Layer Cake
Finely ground pistachios are responsible for both flavoring the cake and adding structure to the crumb. The best kind of pistachios to use in this recipe are raw, unsalted pistachios that have been de-shelled. I recently tried this recipe with roasted unsalted pistachios and they worked great too. Either of those options will give this cake much better pistachio flavor than your average snacking pistachios, which tend to be salted.
You should be able to find raw unsalted pistachios and roasted unsalted pistachios either in the snack section or bulk section of your local grocery store. Natural grocery stores tend to carry the most options, but they can be on the spendy side. The best deals I’ve found are at Trader Joe’s ($5.99 for 8 Oz) and these pistachios on Amazon being a close second ($5.00 for 5 Oz).
Perfectly Silky & Thick Cream Cheese Buttercream
The pistachio cake layers pair beautifully with tangy cream cheese buttercream. After many years of making cream cheese frosting, I have gathered a few tips and tricks to make it the perfect consistency for cake decorating – not too soft or runny, thick without having to add extra powdered sugar, and will pipe details like a dream. Here’s everything you need to know:
- Use full-fat brick-style cream cheese. It’s critical that you don’t use low-fat or spreadable cream cheese, as these variations contain way more water than the full-fat brick kind. That means your frosting will be extra soft, liquidy, and impossible to decorate with. I always use the Philadelphia brand, but feel free to experiment with other brands as long as they meet the general requirements.
- Add extra stability if necessary. Powdered sugar provides structure and thickens cream cheese frosting, but I don’t like to use more than I have to. Instead, I prefer adding buttermilk powder, cornstarch, or meringue powder to add extra stability. This is a good step if you live in a hot/humid environment or simply prefer the frosting to be thicker. More on all of that in this post.
- Use refrigeration. If you find that your kitchen environment is humid or the frosting is still a bit soft, pop it in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes, then re-mix it on low in your stand mixer. The butter in the recipe will solidify a little bit in the refrigerator, so the overall buttercream will feel a bit thicker and easier to work with afterwards.
To decorate, I filled and frosted this pistachio cake with cream cheese buttercream and created a smooth buttercream finish. Then, I tossed some ground pistachios at the cake while the frosting was still tacky and piped swirls on top using Wilton Tip 4B.
Alternative Frostings for Pistachio Cake
If you don’t have access to brick-style cream cheese or simply want to pair this cake with a different frosting flavor, here are my recommendations. You’ll need a double batch of any of these frostings:
- Vanilla Buttercream
- White Chocolate Buttercream
- Raspberry Buttercream
- Strawberry Buttercream
- Mascarpone Frosting
- Lemon Buttercream
- Chocolate Buttercream
Whatever frosting pairing you end up using, I hope you love this pistachio cake as much as I do! Let me know what you think in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram and show me! I love to see your creations and hear your feedback.
Pistachio Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Pistachio Cake
- 1 1/2 Cups (190g) unsalted raw or roasted pistachios (de-shelled)
- 1 3/4 Cups (184g) sifted cake flour* DIY recipe in notes
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 Cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 Cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/3 Cups (267g) granulated sugar
- 4 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1/4 Cup (60g) sour cream, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 tsp almond extract
- 3/4 Cup (180ml) whole milk, room temperature
- 1-2 drops green food coloring (optional)
Cream Cheese Buttercream
- 1 Cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 Cups (16oz, 452g) full-fat brick-style cream cheese, room temperature NOT the spread
- 8 Cups (960g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 Cup (32g) buttermilk powder or cornstarch* optional, for thickening
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Garnish
- 1/4 Cup ground pistachios
Instructions
Make the Pistachio Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/177ºC. Prepare three 6-inch (15cm) or two 8-inch (20cm) cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and fitting a parchment paper circle to the bottom of the pan.
- Using a food processor, grind the pistachios into fine crumbs (see the photo above for a visual). You’ll still have about 1 and 1/2 cups of crumbs. Place 1 ¼ Cups (160g) of the pistachio crumbs into a medium bowl and set the rest of the crumbs aside in a smaller bowl to use as garnish on the decorated cake.
- In the medium bowl with the pistachio crumbs, add the sifted cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high for two minutes until it’s light and creamy. Add the sugar and vegetable oil, then continue to mix on medium-high for another two minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed. Turn the mixer to low speed and add the egg whites one at a time, mixing until well combined. Add the sour cream, vanilla extract, and almond extract and mix for two minutes on high speed. Scrape down the bowl and paddle once more.
- Turn the mixer to low and add in the dry ingredients all at once. When they’re just beginning to combine, add the green food coloring (if using) and the whole milk in a slow, steady stream. Continue to mix on low until incorporated, about 1 minute.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans and bake for 28-32 minutes. They’re done when they spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for five minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack for an additional few hours of cooling.
Make the Cream Cheese Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese on medium-high until light, fluffy, and uniform (no lumps), about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sift together the powdered sugar and buttermilk powder or cornstarch (if using).
- Turn the mixer to low speed and add the powdered sugar mixture a few cups at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed. Add the vanilla and salt and mix on low for another minute, until fully combined and smooth.
Assembly
- Once the pistachio cakes are completely cooled, level them to your desired height. Add a swipe of cream cheese buttercream onto a cardboard cake circle and place the first cake layer on top. Add a layer of cream cheese buttercream as filling, then repeat the filling and stacking process with the final cake layer. Crumb coat the cake with cream cheese buttercream, then place it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to let the buttercream set firm.
- To create the design pictured, frost a smooth finish on the cake with cream cheese buttercream. While the frosting is still tacky, toss ground pistachios at the cake and/or press them in until they stick in random formations. Finish by frosting swirls on top of the cake with the remaining cream cheese frosting and sprinkling with more ground pistachios.
Notes
- The pistachio cake layers can be baked ahead and stored at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to two days. Alternatively you can store the cakes in the freezer for up to two months.
- The cream cheese buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-mix in your stand mixer to bring it back to smooth buttercream consistency.
Hi I can’t seem to get block cream cheese in the UK, is there anything I can use instead?
either soft cream cheese or would mascarpone work?
thank you for your help – I love your cakes
Hi Karen! I have never tried straight substituting mascarpone BUT I just made this whipped mascarpone frosting and LOVED it. It would pair so well with this cake: https://ofbatteranddough.com/mascarpone-frosting/ hope that helps!
Thank you so much Whitney, I will try this – do you think the mascarpone frosting will also go well with the Hummingbird cake? thank you for your website and recipes, whenever I Mae your cakes they are always a hit and have encouraged me to bake more xx
Hi Karen! Yes, the mascarpone frosting would taste amazing with hummingbird cake. So happy you’ve been loving my recipes and they’ve inspired you to bake more!
Beautiful can l reduce just the quantity of pistachio in the cake?
Hi Buwa! I’ve never tried it with less pistachio, so it would be an experiment. You could probably get away with reducing by 1/4 cup or so. Hope that helps!
This might be the best pistachio cake I’ve ever made! Used two (2), seven inch round cake pans and the cake came out so cute!
Yay, Melanie! I’m so happy you loved this pistachio cake as much as I do 🙂 thanks for letting me know!
Can’t wait to make this beautiful cake! It’s on my “to do” list!