A rich and nutty pistachio pound cake topped with vanilla lavender strawberries and fresh whipped cream. This is a wonderful dessert to enjoy in the evening with a cup of coffee.
If I had to pick my favorite form of social media, I would have to pick Instagram. That is where I discovered Yossy Arefi, who is the blogger behind Apt 2B Baking Co. Yossy is another blogger who recently released a cookbook, and I am completely smitten with it! The book is called Sweeter off the Vine is divided by season and by fruit.
Yossy’s photography is gorgeous, and the cookbook reflects her style. If anything, the book is just a pleasure to thumb through. But don’t just do that because the recipes are as delicious as they are beautiful. It was so hard for me to decide on a recipe to try first, but once I looked at the strawberries speckled with vanilla beans on top of a thick slice of pistachio pound cake, I knew that had to be it. I was expecting the desserts to have fruit as a part of each dessert. I was expecting the strawberries to be in the pound cake, but I am pleasantly surprised at this more sophisticated way to use seasonal strawberries.
The pistachio pound cake is rich, nutty, and surprisingly moist. But what makes this pound cake amazing is the addition of the strawberries and fresh whipped cream. It turns it into a complete dessert with an incredible flavor profile. The strawberries are macerated in a vanilla bean and lavender infused sugar. The strawberries alone make a perfectly light dessert on its own. My daughter ended up stealing the bowl to snack on the berries by herself!
Pistachio Pound Cake with Vanilla Lavender Strawberries
Ingredients
Strawberries
- 1 ½ lbs fresh strawberries
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon lavender
- ½ vanilla bean pod beans scraped
Pistachio Pound Cake
- 1 cup shelled pistachios unsalted*
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup whole milk room temperature
- Fresh sweetened whipped cream
Instructions
- Hull, wash, and halve the strawberries. Mix together the sugar, lavender, and vanilla beans from their pod. Toss the strawberries in the sugar and set aside in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 loaf pan.
- Add the pistachios to the food processor and blend until it resembles flour. Be careful to not over blend or else it will turn into butter!
- Mix together the pistachio flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating very well between each addition – at least another minute. Beat in both extracts.
- Alternate between adding the flour and the milk into the butter mixture. Begin and end with the flour which should be added in three additions, while the milk should be added in two additions.
- Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 45 – 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes in the pan before taking out and putting on a wire rack to cool completely.
- To serve: cut a thick slice of the pistachio pound cake, then top with the strawberries and top with the whipped cream.
Nutrition
I received this book for free to review, all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own!
Gotnoworrys says
Whoever thought to make lavender vanilla strawberries with genius!. I made lavender simple syrup and added a touch of vanilla. Tossed in the strawberries and.. Magic!!!!
Keith @ How's it Lookin? says
I gotta try this. Pistachio flavored cake has to be good, thanks a lot
Hannah Hossack-Lodge (Domestic Gothess) says
This sounds amazing, I don't bake with pistachios very often as they are so expensive but I think this cake would be worth it! Your photos are beautiful as well 🙂
Amanda says
Pistachios are crazy expensive!! I found that Aldi sells them for fairly cheap. They had small packages of pre shelled salted pistachios. You need less than the whole package to make these and I was able to rinse them off and dry them in the oven and it worked so well!!
Heather Kinnaird says
from what I have seen this book is definitely a must have! I think I could live on those berries
Medha @ Whisk & Shout says
I love pistachios so much, but for some reason I rarely bake with them! This clearly needs to change- I would love this pound cake, as you suggested, with a cup of coffee 🙂
Amanda says
I am in the same boat. I rarely ever bake with pistachios, but I am always so happy when I do!