Pistachio-Blueberries-Lemon Cake

What is a better way to start your week than with a fresh warm cake coming out of the oven enjoyed with a good cup of coffee? Time with my girls. And just a moment to slow it down.

Yesterday I woke up in a mood to make a cake and decided to hop into this adventure with a few of my favorite ingredients: Pistachios, Blueberries, and Lemon. For this cake, I was inspired by a recipe I saw on Keren Agam's blog. I really loved the use of a flour blend consisting of ground pistachios, semolina, and white flour which really takes it to a whole new level. It gives a wonderful color and texture to the cake! I also wanted to enjoy the blueberries in every slice of the cake so I spread them in between a few layers of the cake batter. I couldn't be happier with the result. Moist, sweet, yet balanced green-ish cake decorated with blue dots. Such a perfect bite to start your week with!

Ingredients:

For the cake-

180 gr white sugar

160 gr pistachios (raw, peeled)

100 gr semolina flour

90 gr white flour

90 gr melted butter

80 gr dried blueberries

50 ml canola oil

50 gr yogurt

8 gr baking powder

4 free-range eggs

1 lemon

For the simple syrup-

50 ml water

50 gr sugar

1 lemon

For the decoration-

150 gr powdered sugar

40 ml milk

1/2 lemon

Lemon zest

Shredded pistachios

Method:

Starting with the cake:

- Preheat your oven to 350F or 175C.

- In a blender, grind the pistachios in pulses until you get a rough powder.

- In a stand mixer's bowl add the eggs and the sugar. Beat at high speed for 3-4 min until the mixture gets firm. If you do it by hand- pay attention you'll need to beat the mixture for a little more. The height of the cake is depended on how airy your egg mixture will be.

- Stop the mixer and add in the melted butter and the canola oil. Beat on medium speed for about a min until they incorporate in the dough.

- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix for a minute or two, just until combined. You don't want to overwork the batter, otherwise, you start to develop the gluten structure which will result in a hard cake.

- Cover a cake mold (I used an English cake mold) with butter or oil. Place a baking sheet in the pan to help you easily remove the cake from the pan once it's ready.

- Pour about a third of the batter in the pan and spread some dried blueberries on top.

Repeat one more time, then cover with a third layer of the batter.

- Bake the cake for 40-45 min, until you stick in a toothpick and it comes out dry.

- In the meantime, prepare the simple syrup. Simply combine all the ingredients for the syrup in a small pot and hit until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool down.

Remember- you pour cold syrup on a hot cake. Not cols syrup on a cold cake. And not hot syrup on a hot cake.

- Remove the cake from the oven and immediately pour the syrup on it.

- Let the cake cool down for about 20 min before removing it from the pan.

- Let the cake cool down completely before pouring the glaze on top.

- Preparing the glaze- simply combine the powdered sugar, milk, and lemon in a bowl and whisk well until you get a smooth homogenous icing.

- Eventually, when the cake has cooled down- pour the icing on top. Zest lemon and shred pistachios on top.

- Slice and enjoy with your lovers.

- YASSS.

BenGingi.