Birthday Cake Club: Pistachio Cake

...with apricot and salted white chocolate buttercream.

Hi Bakers!

This March Birthday Cake Club creation is a delight! The fluffy pistachio cake, the sweet/salty buttercream, the dainty icing flowers. Even though there is still a thick layer of fresh snow outside as I type, this cake feels like one step closer to spring. 

As the seasons change, I want to wish all the March babies a special happy birthday. 

Thank you so much to all of our Bake Club subscribers! I hope you are enjoying these epic birthday cakes. If you make one, remember to tag @stylesweetdaily on Instagram so we can see!

Making this cake for someone’s birthday this month? Why not gift a subscription too!

My recipes are often inspired by the seasons. Naturally, I tend to bake more with apples after a fall harvest and juicy peaches and plums in the summer. This cake, however, was developed after a pistachio super sale at the grocery store. Sometimes convenience is the motivator.

I absolutely love pistachios in pastry. Along with passion fruit and Earl Grey, pistachio is truly one of my favorite flavors. I have several recipes using pistachio paste in my book, Icing on the Cake, but pistachio paste can be pricey and difficult to source. 

This recipe grinds whole, roasted pistachios into a flour to make a cake that’s both fluffy and tender. It has a nutty, buttery flavor. While not as pistachio-forward as using paste in buttercream, the flavor is noticeable against the sweet apricot jam and subtly salted white chocolate buttercream. A bit of almond extract enhances the nuttiness.

For the full effect, I added a small drop of green food coloring to the cake batter. The cake is made fluffy by creaming butter and sugar, but also relies on avocado oil to remain moist.

My avocado oil (you could use canola) makes batters take on a yellowish hue, as well as the very yellow/orange egg yolks we get around here. You can also blanch and peel pistachios for a more vibrant green color.

White chocolate can be very sweet. If you remember this banana cake, then you know about the magic of caramelized white chocolate. You could certainly do that here, but simply adding a bit of kosher salt to luscious white chocolate buttercream balances the sweetness of the frosting and jam filling.