Ground pistachios are used in place of flour, providing a cake seasoned with warming spices and a sweet-tart filling, naturally colored with pomegranate juice. This is definitely not your Bubby’s dessert!
Note: Cardamom is considered kitniyot for Ashkenazim, and is therefore not consumed on Passover.
Pistachio Cardamom Cake with Lemon Pomegranate Buttercream
Servings
12 Servings
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 5 large eggs
- 1 ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups + heaping ½ cup shelled unsalted pistachios, ground
- 1 ½ to a scant 2 teaspoons ground cardamom or the seeds of 12 pods, ground
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- ½ cup pomegranate juice
- 1 cup margarine softened
- 3 cups confectionar’s sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons nondairy milk
Instructions
- Pistachio Cardamom Cake Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 390°F. Line the bases of two 8” cake pans with parchment, and/or spray them with cooking spray.
- Whisk in your eggs and sugar.
- Gradually fold in ground nuts, cardamom, baking powder, oil, lemon juice, and zest. Don’t overmix.
- Bake 25-30 minutes. Let cool 15-20 minutes before removing from pan.
- Lemon Pomegranate Buttercream Instructions:
- Pour one cup of pomegranate juice to a pan, and simmer until reduced to 1/4 -1/2 a cup. (If you cannot find kosher for Passover pomegranate juice, feel free to sub for cranberry, or cut a pomegranate in half and remove the seeds. Crush 1/3-1/2 of the seeds and pass through a sieve to extract the juice.)
- Beat margarine on high speed until fluffy and white, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in sugar and beat in pomegranate juice and milk.
- To assemble:
- Layer cake, buttercream, cake, buttercream. Garnish with pomegranate seeds before servin and optional- crushed pistachios.
Hey Julie! Wish I could have caught you right away- sorry about that! Thanks for pointing out this mistake: it’s 1 1/2 teaspoons
Hope you enjoyed!
The quantity for baking powder is missing, yet it is mentioned in the instructions. I put in 1 tablespoon.
Hi Lisa, great question, it looks like most authorities consider cardamom to be kitniyot, so if you don’t eat kitniyot you won’t be able to make it for Passover this way, you can sub cinnamon when making it on Passover.
Cinnamon is s perfect sub! Thanks Tamar!
Wondering where you have found cardamom which is kosher l’pesach; I have been looking for years, to no avail.