Everyday dinners
Gluten-free pistachio cake
A simple pistachio cake with finely ground nuts, a light lemon icing and chopped pistachios on top.
Finely ground pistachios give this single-layer cake its nutty flavour and gently speckled crumb. A thin lemon icing adds a little sharpness without covering up the nuts.
Use shelled, unsalted pistachios and stop grinding while they still look like fine crumbs. Their natural colour varies, so expect a muted green cake with a golden crust.
The recipe
Gluten-free pistachio cake
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 45 min
- Total*
- 70 min
- Makes
- 10 servings
*Estimated development timings. Allow about 90 minutes for cooling and 15 minutes for the icing to settle, in addition to the preparation and cooking time.
Ingredients
Tick things off as you go.
For the cake
For the icing
Equipment
- Use a 20 cm round springform cake tin at least 6 cm deep.
- Use baking parchment to line the base and sides.
- Use digital kitchen scales, measuring spoons and a measuring jug.
- Use a food processor to grind the pistachios.
- Use two mixing bowls, an electric hand whisk and a flexible spatula.
- Use a fine sieve, a small bowl and a spoon for the icing.
- Use a skewer, a wire cooling rack, a knife and a chopping board.
Let’s make it.
- 01
Prepare the tin
Heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / gas 4. Spread the 5 g butter over the inside of the tin and line its base and sides with baking parchment. Check that the paper sits against the sides and the base is completely covered.
- 02
Grind the pistachios
Put the 150 g pistachios and 25 g of the caster sugar into the food processor. Pulse briefly, stopping to check frequently, until the nuts resemble fine breadcrumbs with no large pieces. Stop before they become an oily paste.
- 03
Beat the butter and eggs
Beat the remaining 175 g butter with the remaining 150 g caster sugar for 3–5 minutes, until noticeably paler and fluffy. Beat in the eggs individually, scraping down the bowl between additions, then add the vanilla. The mixture should be evenly combined, although a slightly curdled appearance is fine.
- 04
Fold the batter
Mix the flour, baking powder and ground pistachio mixture in the second bowl. Fold this into the butter mixture, then fold in the milk, scraping the bottom of the bowl. Stop when no dry pockets remain and the batter falls from the spatula in soft dollops. Transfer to the tin and spread into an even layer. Do not taste the raw batter.
- 05
Bake until set
Bake on the middle shelf for 40–45 minutes. Start checking at 40 minutes: the surface should be golden, the centre should spring back gently and a skewer pushed into the middle should come out without wet batter. If any of these checks fail, bake for another 5 minutes and check again. The cake must be cooked through before serving.
- 06
Cool the cake
Leave in the tin for 15 minutes, then release the sides and carefully transfer the cake to a wire rack, removing the parchment. Allow about another 75 minutes to cool. Before icing, check that both the middle and underside feel cool; allow longer if either is still warm.
- 07
Ice and slice
Sift the icing sugar into the small bowl and stir in the lemon juice until smooth, with no powdery lumps. Spread over the cold cake and scatter with the 20 g chopped pistachios while the icing is wet. Leave for about 15 minutes, until the icing no longer runs when the plate is tilted slightly, then cut into 10 slices.
Ingredient checks
For a coeliac diet, use flour and baking powder labelled gluten-free, and check pistachios, icing sugar, vanilla and any substitute products for gluten-containing ingredients and cross-contact warnings. Use plain nuts without coatings or flavourings. Choose the specified flour blend rather than a single flour. Clean the processor, bowls, utensils, tin and work surface thoroughly, and use butter and other ingredients that have not been contaminated by bread crumbs.
Allergens: Contains tree nuts (pistachios), eggs and milk.; The specified ingredients do not intentionally include celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, fish, lupin, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soya or sulphites; check every product label for additional allergens and cross-contact warnings..
Make it work for you
For a dairy-free version, replace the butter with the same weight of a firm dairy-free baking block and the milk with 30 ml of an unsweetened gluten-free plant drink; check for soya or additional nut allergens.
Replace the lemon juice with 15 ml water for a plain icing.
Do not replace the flour blend with coconut flour or use sweetened pistachio spread instead of the ground nuts, as these would need different quantities and a revised method.
For another day
Once cool, keep the cake in an airtight container in a cool, dry place and eat within two days; this is a conservative keeping recommendation, not a tested shelf life.
Freeze cooled, uniced slices promptly, individually wrapped inside a sealed freezer container, for up to one month for best quality.
Defrost covered in the fridge and eat within 24 hours of complete thawing; ice after defrosting.
Exploding food
What goes in.
The ingredients, seen a little differently. This image is an illustration of the main ingredients; use the written recipe for the full list and quantities.
See the collection
The miniature kitchen
Tiny chefs.
Big ideas.
A playful look at the same familiar favourite. Meet the little team behind our food illustrations.
Explore the tiny kitchen
