Happy Mother’s Day to all the lovely mamas out there. It’s your day and we deserve this now more than ever. This Mother’s day needs an over the top celebration in a way that makes perfect sense to you ( read as the day off for me). Mothers all over the world have gone beyond even the extraordinary the past few weeks, taking care of kids, homes, work, husbands and everything else, as the world we know is staying home.
To celebrate Mother’s day, the boys and I baked a cake together because it’s one of our favourite things to do; make memories in the kitchen. Check my Instagram account, where tomorrow I will be posting a video of us baking this cake. The chaos is real.
Although in a different city right now and unable to spend Mother’s day with my mother, I picked a flavour I thought she would love. It just felt like the thing to do. This rose and pistachio loaf is elegant, graceful, full of warmth and beautiful, inside out, it couldn’t be any more perfect to celebrate Mother’s Day.
I’ll be honest about the rose flavour. Rose was never a favourite until I made Baklava at home. That changed everything for me because ever since I can’t get enough of it. This followed by the Semolina Cake, cemented my love for rose, forever.
If you love the flavour of rose, be generous with it in this recipe and if you don’t, use it anyway, you are going to fall in love with it. I say this because I know it.
Don’t have the pistachios to make this cake right now? Try the slightly fancier Banana Peanut Cake I posted last week or the humble Apple cake from before, I promise you, these are absolute winners too.
Pistachio & Rose Cake
Ingredients:
For the cake:
190 gms butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp rose essence
2 tbsp yogurt/hung curd
3/4 cup pistachios, roughly chopped
For the glaze :
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp water
1/4 cup pistachios finely chopped
- Begin by preheating the oven to a 170 C.
- Grease a large loaf pan with butter and then dust it with flour. Keep aside.
- In a large bowl, mix the butter and the sugar. Using a handheld mixer, beat the two ingredients on medium speed until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one by one, continuing to beat with the mixer just enough to blend in the egg after each addition.
- Sift in the flour and the baking powder and mix the ingredients on low speed.
- Add in the hung curd, vanilla and rose essence. Mix with the beater on low speed.
- Turn off the beater. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix the batter.
- Add the chopped pistachios and mix well, using the spatula.
- Scrape the batter into the loaf tin, and bake in a preheated oven for 45-55 minutes.
- The cake is done, when a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack.
- To make the glaze, in a small bowl, mix the icing sugar, finely chopped pistachios and the water. Stir together with a spoon, until it forms a slightly runny mixture. If it is too thick, add water, a drop or two at a time.
- Pour this glaze over the completely cooled cake immediately. Your cake is ready to be served.
