This Cardamom Pistachio Cake is light, fluffy, and filled with cardamom flavors and hints of pistachio. It's a perfect cake to enjoy with your tea.
Cardamom is one of my favorite spices because it carries a lot of nostalgia. It is featured in many Middle Eastern dishes, savory and sweet, and was a staple in our home while growing up. This Cardamom Pistachio Cake does not disappoint. It's warm, flavorful, tender, and fluffy, and it was designed to be a perfect cake to enjoy with a cup of tea.
The Cake is made in an 8 inch pan, which produces a nice height. It's filled with ground cardamom, crushed pistachios, and milk and oil, both contributing to it's tender and moist texture. It's a cake anyone will love, and it's perfect for the upcoming Eid celebrations to include on your dessert table.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy: There is no creaming butter and everything comes together in a short amount of time. It bakes up nice and flat and doesn't require a frosting.
- Flavorful: The cardamom and pistachio flavors go so well together. The cake is filled with cardamom (which can be adjusted to your liking), with subtle pistachio flavor.
- Perfect Tea cake: This is a perfect afternoon tea cake or after dinner cake to enjoy with tea or coffee.
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Ingredients You Will Need
For Cardamom Pistachio Cake
- Granulated sugar: Regular granulated sugar in this cake to sweeten up and moisten the cake.
- Eggs: 3 large eggs provide color, structure, and helps the cake rise, as well as gives it a better flavor.
- Vegetable oil: You can use any neutral oil in this cake, but it's essential to create tenderness in the cake.
- All purpose flour: This cake is best use with all purpose flour. Be sure to properly measure.
- Baking powder & Baking soda: Both are used as leavening agents in the cake.
- Cardamom: The star of this cake is a lot of ground cardamom.
- Pistachio: Crushed pistachios are used to add more flavor, albeit subtle. I use Wonderful Pistachios and you can pick them up at just about any grocery store.
- Salt: As always, need salt in baked goods.
- Milk: I've used both dairy-free as well as regular milk, and both work great.
For Topping
- Powdered Sugar
- Crushed & whole pistachios
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Cardamom Pistachio Cake
Combine: In a small bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cardamom and salt, mix and set aside.
Beat: In a medium bowl, combine sugar and eggs and beat using a hand mixer for about 2 minutes until light in color. Add vegetable oil and mix until combined.
Alternate: Alternate dry ingredients and milk until just barely mixed.
Fold: Using a spatula, fold in the pistachios.
Bake: Add batter to the prepared pan and bake for 38-45 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Hint: Don't over mix the batter, otherwise the cake could turn out dry.
Substitutions You Can Make
Milk: You can use any type of milk you like in this recipe. I've used both regular whole milk, as well as dairy-free milk and they turn out great. I would suggest a more rich dairy-free milk like a creamy oat milk.
Butter: If you don't like oil in your baked goods, you can try using melted butter, but make sure it's the same amount.
Whipped cream topping: Instead of sprinkling with powdered sugar, you can add a dollop of whipped cream to your slice of cake and enjoy a light dessert.
Cake pan: Instead of an 8 inch cake pan, you can use a 9 inch pan. The cake will take less time in the oven, so you should start checking at around 25 minutes (but it could take longer) and the cake will not be as tall.
Variations You Can Try
Almonds: Instead of pistachios, you can use almonds.
Storing Cardamom Pistachio Cake
Store the cake in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days.
If you want to freeze the cake, wrap completely in saran wrap, then aluminum foil (or insert into a freezer bag) and freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before taking it out to come to room temperature.
Pro Tips
- Measure Flour Correctly: As always, with any recipe, use a kitchen scale, as it is the best form of measuring your ingredients. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, fluff your flour, scoop flour with a spoon into a measuring cup and level off.
- Don’t over mix: Once the dry ingredients are incorporated, stop mixing, and fold in the pistachios with a spatula to avoid over mixing the batter.
- Don’t over bake: Start checking the cake at 35 minutes by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean, remove them from the oven. Depending on your oven, it could take longer. Mine take closer to 50 minutes.
- More or Less Cardamom: I think ¾ of a teaspoon of cardamom is perfect, but if you think that's too much, you can add less.
Other Recipes You Might Like
📖 Recipe
Cardamom Pistachio Cake
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1½ cup (180g) all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom you can use less if you don't like too much cardamom flavor
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup milk regular, or dairy-free
- ½ cup crushed pistachios* see notes
Topping
- Powdered sugar
- Crushed pistachios
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and prepare an 8in cake pan by greasing with your favorite cake release or baking spray, then add a layer of parchment paper at the bottom. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, and salt, mix and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine sugar and eggs and beat using a hand mixer for about 2 minutes until light in color. Add vegetable oil and mix until combined.
- Alternate dry ingredients and milk until just barely mixed. Then using a spatula, fold in the pistachios.
- Add batter to the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Start checking your cake at 35 minutes. Every oven is different.
- Let cool at least 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar and sprinkle pistachios on top and enjoy with tea.
Besma says
So yummy!! Perfect with tea or coffee.
Hakima says
Thank you so much for the review. I'm so glad you like the cake. 🙂
Susan says
Are the rose petals decorating the top of your cake fresh or dried?
Hakima says
They are dried petals. They weren't eaten. Just for pictures.