White Chocolate and Pistachio Cake!
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Three layers of white chocolate and pistachio sponges, with white chocolate buttercream, and even more pistachio!
Cake
I realised that on my blog I hadn’t put up that many actual cake recipes, more cookies and cupcakes than anything else and I felt this desperately needed sorting out! I love making EVERYTHING however, sometimes when I fancy a big cake, I just want to make a big cake.
I was trying to decide what cake recipe I should experiment with that would be interesting and utterly delicious… there were so many of them I found it difficult to choose! However, I did think I wanted to try something sweet but not overpoweringly so – enter pistachio and white chocolate cake!
White chocolate and pistachio
Seeing as I have an obsession with pistachios and chocolate, I thought that this would be ideal!The sponge of this cake is dotted with bits of pistachios and chunks of white chocolate – combined with the lightest and fluffiest white chocolate buttercream is utterly delicious.
I tend to enjoy this sort of flavour cake or my carrot cake as a treat with a cup of tea! I decided to add pistachios to the sponge of this recipe as I wanted a bit of crunch! Added bonus is that the green of the pistachios with the delicate sponge and white chocolate buttercream looks pretty!
Serve
I decided to make the cake slightly bigger to make it a celebration cake for a friend of mine – it was her birthday and I thought that it would be perfect! The cake would be ideal on a spring and summer evening for the whole family to enjoy, or especially for a dab of afternoon tea.
Other cake recipes!
If you are a person that prefers something sweeter instead, then I thoroughly recommend my lemon and raspberry cake or even my bakewell layer cake which is superrr tasty! I even have a flavour for the chocolatey lovers – Oreo! If you are as much of a white chocolate and pistachio flavour combination fan as I am, check out my recipes for white chocolate and pistachio blondies and my white chocolate and pistachio cheesecake – flavour heaven!!
White chocolate and pistachio cake!
Ingredients
Cake
- 400 g unsalted butter
- 400 g caster sugar
- 7 medium eggs
- 400 g self raising flour
- 150 ml whole milk
- 150 g pistachios roughly chopped
- 150 g white chocolate chunks/chips
Buttercream/Decoration
- 250 g white chocolate
- 250 g unsalted butter
- 350 g icing sugar sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 50 g pistachios roughly chopped
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F, and line and grease 3 8"/20cm cake tins
- Cream the unsalted butter and caster sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy
- Mix in the eggs one at a time (if it starts to curdle then add a spoonful of the flour and it'll bring it back)
- Once all the eggs are incorporated into the cake batter, add the self raising flour and whole milk to the mix and then whisk again for 1 minute on a medium speed - it'll make the mix light and fluffy
- Fold in the chopped pistachios and white chocolate with a spatula and split amongst the tins
- Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean
- Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then cool on a wire rack until cooled completely
Buttercream/Decoration
- Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmer water
- Set aside to cool whilst you do the rest
- Mix the unsalted butter, icing sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer until light and fluffy like a normal buttercream
- Gradually mix in the melted white chocolate and continue to mix for about 5 minutes until its creamy and delicious
- Spread the icing between the layers and then pipe your buttercream using a 2D Closed Star Piping Tip on the top
- Sprinkle the pistachios on top
- ENJOY!
Notes
- You can easily take a third of the recipe away if you wanted to do only two layers, or make two thicker layers with all of this recipe - it will just take longer in the oven.
- You don't have to use the pistachios and chocolate chunks in the sponges, just use the rest of the recipe as normal, it might just take a tiny bit less time in the oven!
- This cake will last for 3-4 days and will stay just as delicious throughout!
ENJOY!
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J x
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Hi! I want to make this as a 6inch cake. How would you adjust the recipe? I also only have one deep 6 inch tin, do I need to spit it into two/three or can I do one and cut it once cooked? Thank you!
Typically I say to use about 2/3 of a recipe for a 6″ cake (if using an 8″ cake as the base) – but I imagine if you reduce it down and then baked at a lower temp for a long time it should be okay in one, but I’m not 100% sure!
Hi,
I just thought I’d post to say I made this cake, turned out perfectly. But I did substitute the butter in the butter cream for stork block (for biscuits and pastry) and it works just fine, I just add a little extra icing sugar to taste. I know you say there’s no substitute to butter for butter cream but for those with lactose intolerance you couldn’t notice the difference 😊.
Thank you for the lovely recipe it made my sisters birthday!!
Hi Jane,
I am hoping to make this for my Granny’s birthday next weekend but if I change the pistachios for coconut how much would you recommend using? Thank you x
Pistachios and coconut behave very differently in bakes some times, where desiccated coconut becomes part of the cake batter rather than being like a chocolate chip if that makes sense – it would work, but would be different like you say! I would use maybe 50g desiccated coconut? It doesn’t sound much but it is!
Hello! I was hoping to make this for my Granny’s birthday, would it be okay to swap the Pistachios for Coconut? If so, how much would you recommend? I know it is completely different but Coconut and White Chocolate is her absolute favorite! Thank you K x
Pistachios and coconut behave very differently in bakes some times, where desiccated coconut becomes part of the cake batter rather than being like a chocolate chip if that makes sense – it would work, but would be different like you say! I would use maybe 50g desiccated coconut? It doesn’t sound much but it is! x
Thank you very much for getting back to me. Apologies for the double comment, I didn’t think the first, comment had gone though! I will give it a try and let you know how it turns out 🙂 x
Does this recipe not need baking powder?
Not necessarily – you can add some if you want though!
Really excited to try this recipe- would it work If I put some raspberries in the cake mix? I love the combination of raspberries & white chocolate….😍
Thanks x
Yes that should be okay!
Could I make this cake in a 9 inch square tin? I
usually use that for your school cake recipe.
What would the measurements be?
Thanks.
Hi Jane.
I’m planning on making this cake at the weekend but I just have a quick question. In terms of white chocolate, would you suggest I use a high quality one such as Green and Blacks for the icing or will any block of white chocolate suffice?
Thanks 🙂
I usually use cooking chocolate or cheap supermarket own and they both work – green & blacks would be lovely, but it’s not essential!
Thank you for getting back to me. This recipe was a dream to follow and the cake was absolutely delicious – 10/10 all round from the tasters! Thanks so much for sharing! X
I don’t have whole milk can I use semi skimmed?
You can, or you can leave it out x
Hi Jane! Would it work if I iced the sides as well or do you think it’ll be too sweet? I love all your recipes! Thank you!
Hey! Yes that would be lovely! And thanks!
Hi Jane, I am planning on making this next week for my Auntie&Uncles 55th wedding anniversary! I want to make it into 2 layers rather than 3, so will reduce the ingredients by 1/3. With regards to the eggs, do you recommend using an amount of eggs which is as close as possible to the weight of butter/flour/sugar?
Sorry if it seems like a silly question…Im just worried ill end up with a cake either too eggy or a mixture too dry! 😅
Thankyou in advance!
Hey!! Yes basically weigh the eggs in shells and match the sugar/butter/flour to those and get as close to 2/3 as you can haha!! xx
Hi Jane. I made this the other week (2 layers) and I’m going for the 3 layer this weekend. Someone mentioned trimming the ‘crust’ off the cake which I’ve never done before is this something you’d recommend? X
Hey! Do you mean the edges of the cake? I would generally not recommend doing that as it can dry a cake out!
Hi,
rather than 3 layers, would it work doing 2 layers in 9″ tins?