Baking is like a therapy for me. I absolutely love every bit of it. It’s almost magical to witness a few ingredients coming together to create a flavorful explosion in every bite.

The recipe I am sharing is one of my favorites; it is a wonderful fusion of flavors that complement each other, it tastes utterly delicious and it looks absolutely stunning with beautiful green, creamy and red layers of heavenly ingredients.

If you are looking for a celebration cake which is exclusive, full of flavor, made from good healthy ingredients and yet is not complicated to make, this is your recipe.

You may also bake it steps (as in bake the cake one day, make the frosting next day and assemble it a couple of hours before the party) which makes it so convenient and practical.

So what is so special about this cake? Well it does not use any flour..Instead it uses ground pistachios. Pistachios they say are the healthiest among the nuts packed with unique nutrients.

Secondly, this cake does not use any oil or butter or fat for baking!!!

So that makes it unique- gluten free as well as fat free cake base..

So let’s take a look at ingredients. Always remember that the outcome of the cake will always depend on the quality of the ingredients, so the fresher the better. It is equally important to measure the ingredients correctly for the best results.

The following ingredients will fetch an 8 inch Three layer cake

For the cake layers

• Egg White 240 gm ( Egg whites from 6/7 large eggs)*
• Sugar 50 gm
• Ground Pistachios 160 gm**
• Icing Sugar 100 gm
• A drop of green gel food color ( Optional)
• A pinch of cream of tartar (optional)

Cream cheese Frosting 

• Cream Cheese 240gm ( One 8 oz pack)(Room temperature)
• Icing Sugar 120gm
• Whipping cream 200gm

Stock Syrup

• Water 70ml
• Sugar 30 gm
• Zest and juice of ½ lemon

Garnishing

• Pistachios (blanched and pealed) 50gm
• One pint of raspberries

*Wondering what to do with the egg yolks? Don’t throw them away- you can store them in airtight container and freeze them up to 15 days. You can use them for yellow cake /pastry cream and so many other recipes.

** You can grind the pistachios in the blender, I kept the skin on.. it did not really affect the color much..if you want you can peel the skin off or buy blanched pistachios and grind them.

How to proceed

1. Prepare three eight inch baking pans and line them with baking paper.
2. Preheat the oven @350F or 180C
3. Grind ground pistachios and icing sugar in a blender for a minute. This ensures a that the pistachio powder has a fine and even texture and adding icing sugar while grinding ensures that the mixture is free of any lumps.
4. Take a very clean and dry bowl, using hand mixer or stand mixer, whisk egg whites till soft peak adding a pinch of cream of tartar(if using) and sugar (50gm) little at a time and whisk until foamy in texture. You would notice the eggs have doubles in volume.
5. This step takes around 7-10minutes, so be patient. J
6. Gently fold in the dry ingredients (step3) ensuring that volume from the egg whites is not deflated. Incorporate the gel color if you are using at this stage. (I strongly recommend using spatula for this step, it makes folding soooo easy).
7. Pour the mixture dividing it equally prepared baking pans and bake them for around 10-12 minutes or until done.
8. Turn out on wire rack to cool .( be gentle , these are slightly delicate while they are warm) 

If you are planning to assemble the cake next day, you can store these layers at this stage. Let them cool completely, once cooled, wrap them with cling wrap, taking care that they are covered completely and store in the refrigerator.

1. While these are cooling prepare the stock syrup by adding water, lemon juice, sugar and lemon zest, keep it aside.
2. To make the frosting, cream icing sugar and cream cheese till smooth. Having cream cheese at room temperature makes it easier. You can use your had mixer or peddle attachment if you are using a stand mixer for this process.
3. Whip the whipping cream and fold it in the cream cheese mixture and set aside it refrigerator till you are ready to assemble the cake.

Now to assemble the cake

• Place one layer of the cake on the serving plate spread some of the stock syrup evenly on the cake. Use a pastry brush if you have or just use back of the spoon to spread it.
• Spread a layer of cream cheese frosting evenly (using one third of the frosting)
• Now arrange one third of the raspberries and a few blanched pistachios.
• Repeat the same for second and the third layer.
• Decorate the top layer with raspberries and pistachios.
• I personally prefer the rustic look , showing nice colorful layers of the ingredients, however you can ice the cake completely if you prefer it that way.

End Result

There you have a stunning pistachio raspberry cake. It is an excellent celebration cake; the colors are full of life and would be a stunner at your dinner party. 

Outcome is lip smacking, full pistachio flavor!!!Flavors so well mingled and nothing interferes with pistachio , in fact the lemony syrup, cream cheese frosting that is not overly sweet, the tangy sweet raspberries, crunchy pistachios not only gave the cake flavor but an enhanced fragrance as well as texture boost.

I made it for my husband’s birthday who is a huge pistachio fan and he loved every bit of it.