I did that thing again where I take the night off work, and am suddenly compelled to bake something. Bob and I found ourselves back home after a wonderful trip to Vancouver island, and thrown back into the busyness of life. I took the night off so I could get my life organized and do some laundry. Once the laundry was tossed in, though, I figured I might as well enjoy my Friday too!
Bob has teased in the past that I’m not “allowed” to make cakes unless we have company coming. We don’t need to eat a whole cake to ourselves, and that usually ends up being the case. (Our roommate will taste some, but aside from that, we end up eating a whole cake between two of us. Shit.) With this in mind, I of course had to invite my best friend over. I promised her martinis, and then subtly mentioned baking a cake too. She was thrilled! Olya is one of my favorite accomplices in the kitchen.
This recipe was incredibly easy to toss together while enjoying some dirty martinis, and then our take on an Amaretto winter sour, and then a muddled citrus vodka “pairing” that accidentally got crushed before we even glazed the cake. Whoops… at this point Bob of course had to be the adult and make sure the cake was presentable for photos. We were too busy having fun, as per usual.
The original recipe called for rose water, but we didn’t have any on hand and opted instead for orange blossom water. (A great twist!) With our cake glazed and coffees in hand, we sat down to enjoy.
Another nice evening with friends!
Shan
- 2½ cups flour, sifted
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup room temperature unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup greek yogurt
- ½ cup pistachio paste (to make your own, follow the link below the recipe)
- Pistachios for garnish
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- ORANGE BLOSSOM GLAZE
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- 1½ cups icing sugar
- 1½ tbsp milk
- 1 tsp orange blossom water
- Zest of ½ and orange (for garnish)
- Preheat oven to 350F, butter and flour a bundt pan.
- In a mixing bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt together.
- Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter for 2 minutes on medium speed, add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. One at time, beat the eggs in until fully combined. Add vanilla.
- Mix half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then half the yogurt, followed by the rest of the dry ingredients, then the rest of the yogurt.
- Stir in pistachio paste.
- Pour batter into bundt pan and bake 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool on wire rack. Once cooled, remove from bundt pan.
- While the cake is cooling, make the glaze.
- In a bowl, mix together icing sugar, milk (or water), and orange blossom water. If the glaze is too thick add more water, if too thin, add more icing sugar. Depending on the brand of orange blossom water you use, you may want to add slightly more, until you are satisfied with the flavour. (We have found some orange blossom water is far stronger than others)
Recipe adapted from Glazed & Confused.
To make your own pistachio paste, check out this recipe.
