Election Cakes (ii) - Pistachio Cake

Polling day is fast approaching and tomorrow night will be spent chewing our collective fingernails as we wait to hear whose hands our futures will be thrown into for the next four or five years. As promised, here is my second election cake recipe of the week and, working alphabetically, that means The Green Party's next. This pistachio cake also happens to be gluten free, but with no compromises on taste or texture. Here goes green...

Pistachio Cake:
Preheat the oven to 170 C (150 C Fan) and grease and line a 9" round tin.

Ingredients

3 large eggs
8 oz/ 200 g caster sugar
125 ml olive oil (I like to use 100 ml fruity olive oil and top it up with 25 ml of extra virgin)
4 oz/ 100 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
10 oz/ 250 g pistachios, shelled and finely ground
2 oz/ 50 g cornflour
1 tsp of baking powder (gluten free)
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 orange

Method

• Whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale and fluffy
• Mix the cooled melted butter and oil together and gradually whisk it in to the egg and sugar mixture.
• Add the ground pistachios, cornflour and baking powder and whisk again.
• Pour in the citrus juices and add the zest and stir.
• Pour the cake batter into your prepared tin and bake on the middle shelf of your oven for 50 minutes. The cake should still be under-done in the centre, so an inserted skewer will come out with a little bit of stickiness. The middle of the cake will set on cooling.
• Place the cake, still in its tin, on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out. Leave to cool completely before transfering to your serving plate.

This cake is lovely just on its own, but  a simple dusting of icing sugar, a scattering of strawberries and a dollop of creme fraiche topped with chopped pistachios makes for a perfect Springtime pudding.

Photo to follow tomorrow...