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Writer's pictureDipika Dave

Pistachio sponge cake with saffron cream

Served with fresh berries - a spring highlight!

Yes, I love pistachios, sweet and salty, in curry or in cake. However, it is not always easy to find good quality raw pistachios. Here's a tip for you to order: "Jurassic Fruit" a super crowd farming platform.

My daughter came up with the idea for this delicacy. Served with a few fresh berries, the cake is a fruity treat for the palate.


Ingredients for 10 pieces:

for the dough

- 70 g pistachios, raw and ground

- Handful of pistachios, coarsely chopped for sprinkling

- 80 g flour

- 1 tsp baking powder

- pinch of salt

- 1 tsp ground cardamom

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1/2 tsp ground cloves

- 130 g sugar

- 4 large eggs, separated

- zest of one organic lemon

- a little icing sugar for dusting the finished sponge cake


for the saffron cream

- 350 g cream cheese

- 140 g butter, warm

- 140 g icing sugar

- 3 - 4 tsp "saffron water" (grind a fingertip of saffron threads and add 1 tbsp boiling water; leave to infuse for at least 30 minutes)

Fresh berries to taste, preferably prepared as compote or fruit salad


Bake the sponge cake:

Heat the oven to 190°C convection oven; line a baking tray 30 x 35 cm with baking paper.


First mix the ground pistachios with the flour, baking powder, spices, lemon zest and a pinch of salt. Now whisk the egg yolks with 2/3 of the sugar until light and fluffy and sift the pistachio and flour mixture over the top. Using a dough scraper, gently mix everything together.

Now beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until stiff and also gently fold into the existing batter. The result should be a homogeneous, fluffy mixture.

Gently and evenly spread the sponge mixture on the tray and bake for 15-18 minutes until lightly browned.

In the meantime, provide a sufficiently rectangular cake rack, a fresh tea towel and some icing sugar in a fine sieve.


When the sponge comes out of the oven, pull it onto the cake rack with the baking paper and dust evenly with a thin layer of icing sugar. Then place the tea towel over it and carefully turn the sponge over. Now remove the baking parchment from the base and roll it up from the narrow side with the tea towel. Leave the sponge roll on the rack to cool.


Make the saffron cream:

Cut the room-warm butter into cubes and beat with the icing sugar and the 3 - 4 tsp "saffron water" until fluffy (be careful not to beat too long or the butter will flocculate). Now first fold the cream cheese into the buttercream with a dough scraper and then mix again briefly with the food processor to a smooth cream. Again, do not beat too long or the individual ingredients will separate again. Chill the cream for 20 minutes.


Assemble the cake:

Roll out the sponge roll again and cut lengthwise into 3 equal strips. Now spread each strip with cream (keep 1/3 of the cream to coat the outside of the cake) and roll up the first strip.

Place the already rolled up sponge strip on top of the next strip and roll it up again; do the same with the last one. Now stand the whole roll up and spread with the remaining cream. Sprinkle the cake with the coarsely chopped pistachios and chill for at least 1 hour.



Have fun baking and feasting!

xx Dipika


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