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cardamom pistachio layer cake

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Nik Sharma

Hey Friends, I’m a multi-award-winning and best-selling cookbook author and photographer.


cardamom and pistachio layer cake |A Brown Table

Fall is an exciting time, for many reasons. It gets cooler and I’m ready for summer to end. I tend to fry a lot more (learn how to make kale pakoras at my column, A Brown Kitchen at the San Francisco Chronicle) this week.  But it is also an exciting time because a lot of wonderful cookbooks come out this season including this gorgeous book, Bravetart – Iconic American Desserts by Stella Parks from Serious Eats. If you follow her column on Serious Eats, you already know how Stella gets into the nitty gritty details of the science behind desserts and sweets and she shares her experiments and tips which have made me a better baker. 


Kale Pakoras for SF Chronicle |A Brown Table

I made this layer cake for the Game of Thrones season finale since “Winter is here” using the recipes from the Bravetart book. Stella’s marshmallow frosting is one of the best buttercream recipes, I’ve tried so far and a keeper. Her layer cake recipe is also a good one to have on hand and just like I’ve changed the flavors in this cake, you can easily do the same.  I’ve also included her tips too because they were really useful).  

My kept the decoration really simple, a simple border with silver balls and then did a little interpretive freestyle in the center. Just remember to keep your cake chilled and do a good crumb coat before you slap the frosting on.

I have one copy of the Bravetart book to giveaway to one lucky US reader. The giveaway will run for a week from October 3rd to October 10th, 2017. To enter, leave a comment below and your contact info and tell me the name of your favorite cake. I will pick a random winner and notify the winner via email. You will have 24hrs to respond, after which I will pick a new winner. 


Bravetart cookbook| A Brown Table


cardamom and pistachio layer cake |A Brown Table


cardamom and pistachio layer cake |A Brown Table


cardamom and pistachio layer cake |A Brown Table

cardamom pistachio layer cake

Yield: one 8-by-5-inch three-layer cake; 16 servings | Active time: about 45 minutes | Downtime: 90 minutes to cool

For the Cake

4 cups | 16 ounces bleached cake flour such as Swans Down

2 sticks | 8 ounces unsalted butter, pliable but cool—about 65°F

2/3 cup | 4 ounces virgin coconut oil, solid but creamy—about 70°F

21/4 cups | 16 ounces sugar

21/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (half as much if iodized)

1 cup | 8 1/2 ounces egg whites (from 8 large eggs), brought to about 70°F (See note below

2 teaspoons ground green cardamom

2 cups | 16 ounces cultured low-fat buttermilk, brought to about 70°F

 

To better synchronize the downtime in both recipes, start the Marshmallow Buttercream before the cake. While it’s resting, adjust an oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat to 325°F. Line three 8-by-3-inch anodized aluminum cake pans with parchment and grease with pan spray; if you don’t have three pans, the remaining batter can be held at room temperature for up to 3 hours. (The cakes will brown more and rise less in 2-inch pans.) Sift the flour (if using cup measures, spoon into the cups and level with a knife before sifting) and set aside.

Combine butter, coconut oil, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed to moisten, then increase to medium and cream until fluffy and light, about 5 minutes, pausing to scrape the bowl and beater halfway through. With the mixer running, add the egg whites one at a time, followed by the cardamom.

Reduce speed to low and sprinkle in one-third of the flour, followed by one-third of the buttermilk. Alternate between the two, allowing each addition to be roughly incorporated before adding the next. Once smooth, fold with a flexible spatula to ensure it’s well mixed from the bottom up. Divide among the prepared cake pans, about 22 ounces each.

Bake until the cakes are firm but pale, browned only around the very edges, about 40 minutes (or 210°F). A toothpick inserted into the center will emerge with a few crumbs still attached, and your fingertip will leave a slight indentation in the puffy crust.

Cool until no trace of warmth remains, about 90 minutes. Loosen the cakes from their pans with a knife. Invert onto a wire rack, peel off the parchment, and reinvert. Crumb-coat and frost with Marshmallow Buttercream according to the directions on pages 142–44.

Under a cake dome or an inverted pot, the frosted cake will keep for up to 24 hours at room temperature. After cutting, wrap leftover slices individually and store at room temperature for up to 2 days more.

A Note About Ingredient Temperatures in Cake Making:

Butter, buttermilk, and egg whites colder than 65°F or warmer than 70°F can produce a range of problems, from mild tunneling and air pockets in the cake to a heavy crumb or even a gummy layer along the bottom. Given that “room temperature” will vary from home to home, there’s no standard rule of thumb for how to warm these ingredients, but in my 1000-watt microwave, three 6-second bursts at normal power is perfect for softening two sticks of butter; two 6-second bursts will knock the chill off a cup of egg whites; and a 25-second burst will bring a pint of buttermilk to cool room temperature. Alternately, they can simply be brought to room temperature and monitored with a digital thermometer.

Gluten-Free: Replace cake flour with 8 ounces (11/2 cups) cornstarch, 6 ounces (11/4 cups) white rice flour, 41/2 ounces (1 cup) tapioca flour or arrowroot, and 11/2 teaspoons potato flour.

Yield: about 6 cups; enough to fill, crumb-coat, and frost three 8-inch cake layers or 24 cupcakes | Active time: 1 hour | downtime: 2-hour rest

Pistachio marshmallow Buttercream Frosting

1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons | 1/4 ounce) unflavored gelatin powder

1/4 cup | 2 ounces cool tap water to bloom the gelatin

1 tablespoon pistachio extract 

3/4 cup | 6 ounces water for the sugar syrup

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons | 10 ounces light corn syrup

2 cups | 14 1/2 ounces sugar

1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (half as much if iodized)

5sticks | 20 ounces unsalted butter, soft but cool—about 65°F

Make the marshmallow base

In a small bowl, mix the gelatin with 2 ounces (1/4 cup) cool tap water and pistachio extract, if using. 

Combine remaining 6 ounces (3/4 cup) water, corn syrup, sugar, and salt in a 3-quart stainless steel pot and set over medium heat. Stir mixture with a fork until bubbling, about 5 minutes, then increase heat to medium-high. Clip on a digital thermometer and cook, without stirring, until the clear syrup registers 250°F, about 8 minutes.

Transfer thermometer to the bowl of a stand mixer and pour in the hot syrup all at once, scraping the pot with a heat-resistant spatula. Cool to exactly 212°F, about 8 minutes, then add gelatin. With the whisk attachment, mix on low speed until the gelatin is melted, then increase to medium-high and whip until thick, snowy white, roughly tripled in volume, and beginning to ball up around the whisk, about 10 minutes. Scrape into a greased 4-cup container, cover tightly, and let stand at cool room temperature until thick and firm, at least 2 hours, or up to 1 week.

Make the buttercream:

Transfer marshmallow base to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whipping on medium speed, begin adding the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, waiting for about 5 seconds after each addition. The fluffy creme will cling to the whisk at first but loosen as the butter is incorporated. Once combined, scrape the bowl with a flexible spatula and whip a minute more. The buttercream should be light and creamy but thick enough to hang upside down from a spoon. If it seems stiff or dense (feeling greasy rather than melting on your tongue), scoop a cup into a small bowl and microwave until completely melted, about 30 seconds.

Return the melted buttercream to the bowl and whip 15 seconds on medium-high. Conversely, if it seems loose or gooey, refrigerate the entire bowl 15 minutes, then whip 3 minutes on medium-high. For more details, check out the Buttercream Troubleshooting Guide on page 113.

Use according to the directions on pages 110–11, or set aside at cool room temperature for a few hours, until needed, and rewhip before use.

Make ahead

In an airtight container, the buttercream can be refrigerated for up to 3 weeks, or frozen for 6 months. Soften to about 66°F at room temperature (about 5 hours if refrigerated or 12 hours if frozen), and rewhip before using.

Troubleshooting

Marshmallow depends on an accurate digital thermometer, so if things go wrong, you can bet the readings were off. This can happen if you misread an analogue thermometer or fail to fully submerge the probe in the syrup, or simply when good thermometers go bad (a sad fact of life). It can also happen when the batteries start to fade. Test the accuracy of your thermometer by making sure it reads 212°F in a pot of boiling water.

In winter months, the hot syrup may harden along the bottom of a chilly mixing bowl. Warm the bowl in hot water to prevent this problem, and dry well before use.

NOTE: Pistachio Extract – there are quite a few good brands available online, Beanilla is my favorite brand.

Recipes adapted from BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts by Stella Parks. Copyright © 2017 by Stella Parks. Reprinted with permission of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

43 Responses

  1. The cake sounds wonderful! I may make it as my birthday cake. 🙂 One of my favorite cakes is a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Email is thorpe.kristin at gee mail dot com

  2. Wow! This cake looks absolutely stunning. I have to try this sometime. I am a fan of Bavarian cream tortes. My absolute favorite is raspberry Bavarian cream torte and sometimes mango bavarian cream torte.

  3. My all-time fav cake was the coconut chiffon w/ coconut frosting my friend made on my thirtieth birthday — it tasted like magic! (Not from the US, just wanted to share my fav!)

  4. The name of my favorite cake is triple ginger carrot cake from ‘Sweet Sugar Savory Spice.’

    Thank you for holding this giveaway!! It would be incredible to win.
    You can reach me at shjohns12@gmail.com.

  5. Hi,
    I love your above cake icing and simple gorgeousness! I am not a baker and having moved to the US it would be fabulous to own a perfectly written scientific baking dessert book especially one that is personalized with a signature. Thanks for all your other recipes as well! I would like to be entered as a contestant for winning this book.
    Thanks and Happy Deepavali to all of you!🎂
    Starfishmdatgeemail dot com

  6. I love pistachio. The cake sounds wonderful. I will have to try it soon. my favorite cake is a rich chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and raspberry filling. Contact: sinini85[at]gmail[dot]com
    Good luck to everyone.

  7. Nik, your cake looks divine, it reminds me of the lovely cakes we get back in India especially the pistachio and cardamom flavors😋👌
    My fav cake today would be a gooey chocolate cake..something like a death by chocolate cake
    deepashrin@gmail.com

  8. That seems like a pretty fancy cake to me! Love your photos- and your Indian cookbook library!

    My current favorite cake : Peanut butter cake covered in chocolate ganache. I made it for my Ohio friends and called it buckeye cake👌🏽
    Thomashug5@yahoo.com

  9. Your cake sounds as delicious as it is beautiful. I love a good almond poppyseed cake, well, anything almond really.

  10. What a wonderful combination of flavors! One of my all-time favorites is a devil’s food cake with chocolate ganache frosting.

  11. That sounds delicious! I love anything pistachio. My favorite cake is carrot and cream cheese, an American classic

  12. Stunnng Cake! My favourite? Tough one but will have to say Raspberry Tart and anything chocolate and Hazelnut! (mimi35@mac.com)

  13. Did you use tweezers to decorate the cake? I can barely use them to maintain my eyebrows, I may have to go with sprinkling the cake with black sesames to save on time, but I love cardamon so I am giving this a shot! Happy decorating and feasting!

  14. Normally I am not a fan of cardamom, but this cake is gorgeous enough for me to give cardamom another chance. My favorite cake is coconut cake. My Mom made it especially for me. I miss those cakes.

  15. Stella’s White Mountain Layer Cake w/ Marshmallow Buttercream. "Light, fluffy, and never, ever dry." I saw a picture and it was love at first sight! (achnss at gmail dot com)

  16. My favorite cake? That is HARD – really hard! There’s my Mama’s Fresh Coconut Cake – the one my Grandma used to send my Mama when she was in college. I make it only for Christmas. And then there is the White Fruitcake that I keep on hand a good part of the year – even in summer. It was my wedding cake (well, a different one but you know what I mean) and a slice is lovely with a cup of tea. And there is the Chocolat Roulade from Julia Child & Jacques Pepin. Easy as pie and glamorous beyond words. (Everybody thinks you slaved for hours!) I mustn’t forget the Applesauce Cake that a friend who used to throw parties for me when I was a Tupperware Lady always served. Easy, rich, luscious. Or my other Grandma’s Mayonnaise Cake – the one my cousins and I all learned to make by third grade or so. But now that I think about it, my most favorite has to be 1234 Cake with Fudge Frosting – real fudge. Our neighbor, who I knew as Aunt Beulah, always let me help her "cook" and this was always what we made – several times a week since she had a houseful of boys, all with bottomless leg This was the first cake I ever baked. When we moved I would sit on the counter and tell my Mama what to do while she ran the mixer. I was 2 going on 3. That was also the year I painted every inch of her shiny new white kitchen (1950s) bright red because I thought all white kitchens were ugly. 🙂

  17. Can you please share the name of the brand of pistachio extract that you use…? And possibly the company web site..?

    I haven’t been able to locate any pistachio extract where I live, and I would love to purchase some to make this cake! Thx!!

  18. My favorite cake is Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake!
    It easy to make. Impossible to mess up. and so freaking delicious!
    With cream cheese frosting.
    And in season strawberries.

  19. Hi! This cake is so beautiful and sounds delicious. Thank you for sharing! My favorite cake is a chocolate with ganache and fresh raspberry icing. I follow you on fb so I’m going to pm you my email address. I don’t want just anyone to have it. Thanks!
    Casey

  20. This cake looks incredible! Thank you for sharing this with us! My favorite cake is a cuatro leches cake (the traditional tres leches cake gets an addition of coconut milk to make it “cuatro”). My email is anjali.patel@gmail.com Thank you!

  21. Late but hopeful new follower. Have you tried any of the other pistachio extracts on the market you allude to and if so, would you recommend any? Beanilla is truly the only palatable one I have tried thus far, but it is more of a "very nice almond extract" to my palate. Pistachio and sesame extracts are holy grails of mine…

    1. Hi Catherine,
      I’m still on team Beanilla. However, I recently tried Turkish pistachios which are much greener and fragrant, if you can get your hands on those, you won’t need food color or an extract.

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