Name: Almond and Pistachio Cake with Pears, Lemon and Cardamom
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 55 min
Ingredients: 50g pistachios, finely ground; 80g ground almonds; 50g plain/all-purpose flour; 125g caster sugar; ½ teaspoon ground cardamom; ¼ teaspoon baking powder; ¼ teaspoon fine salt; 100g unsalted butter, melted; zest of ½ lemon; 2 eggs; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 2 - 3 fresh pears; 100g icing sugar; 1-2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice; 25g pistachios, roughly chopped

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This delectable Almond and Pistachio Cake with Pears, Lemon and Cardamom is bursting with the flavours of spring. A light, moist almond and pistachio sponge with lemon and cardamom is topped with a layer of softly cooked pears and finished with a lemon icing and chopped, roast pistachio nuts. It is ridiculously good.

Photograph of Almond and Pistachio Cake with Pears, Lemon and Cardamom

This cake is delicious served simply with a cup of tea or coffee but it also makes a fabulous dessert, served with cream or ice cream. Andrew is a massive almond and pistachio fan and he LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this cake – in fact, we all did!

Where is this recipe from?

Unbelievably quick and easy to make, and extraordinarily delicious, this wonderful recipe is a slightly adapted recipe from a fabulous blog I follow, called The Brick Kitchen, or on insta as @claudiabrick. The original recipe is topped with apricots, but they were not in season in the UK so I used pears, and they worked perfectly. I will definitely be making it again with apricots in the summer though.

Originally from Auckland, New Zealand, Claudia is a doctor working in Melbourne, Australia. She said she started sharing her incredible food ‘as a creative outlet from anatomy and physiology lectures’. All her recipes are thoroughly tried and tested, from healthy and quick mid-week dinners to decadent cakes and desserts. It is a wonderful site and I really recommend that you take a look. Claudia also shares travel and food guides – the Paris guide, I can confirm, is fabulous!

How to make Almond and Pistachio Cake with Pears and Lemon

Collect all your ingredients together:

Dry ingredients –

pistachios, finely ground
ground almonds
plain/all-purpose flour
caster sugar
ground cardamom
baking powder
fine salt

Wet ingredients –

unsalted butter, melted
lemon
eggs
vanilla extract
fresh pears

To decorate:

icing sugar
fresh squeezed lemon juice
pistachios

How to make this incredible cake:

Weigh out the pistachios for the cake and the topping onto a baking sheet and cook in a preheated oven for 5 minutes and set aside.
Weigh the butter into a microwave safe bowl or jug and blitz, in 15 second increments, to melt. Alternatively, melt in a saucepan on the hob. Set aside to cool.
Tip 50g pistachios into a food processor and blitz until finely ground, like ground almonds.
Weigh all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl – the ground pistachios, almonds, flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom and salt. Mix well.
Grate the lemon zest into the butter and add the eggs and vanilla. Beat to mix.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold to mix. Tip into a lined cake tin and level the surface.
Peel and quarter the pears, remove the core and slice each quarter.
Lay the pear slices evenly on the cake batter.
Bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven for 45 – 50 minutes or until the cake is cooked and the pears are soft.
Remove from the oven and after 10 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack. I leave mine in the baking parchment. Set aside to cool.

Now prepare the topping:

Gradually add the lemon juice to the icing sugar until it is smooth and reaches pouring consistency.
Use the spoon to drizzle the icing over the cake.
Roughly chop the remaining pistachio nuts and scatter over the cake.

Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.