Rose Raspberry Pistachio Cake

Get ready to wow your friends and family by serving this Rose Raspberry Pistachio Cake after dinner this weekend. The base is a festive almond, coconut, and pistachio flour cake topped with vanilla bean frosting, pistachio butter, candied rose petals, raspberries and chopped pistachios!

⭐ Why You’ll Love This Recipe 

What really sets this homemade cake recipe apart is the flavors - the nutty pistachio-based cake topped with rosewater buttercream and decorated with a number of additional ingredients that add all kinds of textures and colors.

One-layer snack cakes are some of my favorite desserts to enjoy, as they are the perfect size for a small family! My salted caramel date cake, honey almond plum cake, orange chocolate cake and semolina cake are some of my favorites!

❓What is pistachio butter?

Pistachio butter is made by simply grinding or processing toasted pistachio nuts in a food processor for 10-15 minutes while constantly taking moments to stir the pistachios every few minutes or so. It's creamy and luxurious - a lovely addition to the top of our rose raspberry pistachio cake!

Is it your first time making nut butter from scratch? Here's another recipe to try, my Chocolate Hazelnut Nut Butter to get started and use it on all sorts of recipes, like spreading into my S'mores Babka and adding a dollop into a bowl of Coconut Granola with Hazelnuts!

🍴Ingredients

• Ground Pistachios - To make your own pistachio flour, toast pistachios in the oven at 350F for 6 minutes and allow to cool. Then, place them in the food processor and pulse until the pistachios have been processed into a fine flour.

• Coconut Flour - You can find coconut flour at the grocery store near the flour! It's a lovely addition to a nut forward tasting cake.

• Almond Flour - We need oil to help the cake become moist and rich. Coconut oil won’t make the cake taste like coconut but in case you don't have it on hand, replace it with melted butter.

• Vanilla extract - For warm, rich flavors and balance. Try making your own vanilla extract at home!

• Candied Rose Petals - Made with egg whites, granulated sugar and rose petals you have a lovely garnish for your cake!

• Pistachio Butter - Decorate the rose cake with different layers of toppings and garnishes, like chopped pecans, walnuts, cacao nibs, and whole nuts.

📖 Step by Step Instructions

Step 1: Whisk dry ingredients. Combine the ground pistachios, almond flour, coconut flour, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, ground cardamom and sea salt into a large mixing bowl, whisking to combine. 

Step 2: Whisk the butter and sugars. In a small separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, butter and vanilla extract

Step 3: Mix the dry and wet ingredients. In the bowl with the dry mixed ingredients, add the wet ingredients and mix until a thick and a sturdy cake batter forms.

Step 4: Bake. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and use a spoon or an offset spatula to smooth the top. Bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick that has been placed into the center of the cake comes out clean. 

Step 5: Let it cool. Be sure to let the pistachio rose cake cool completely on a wire rack before moving on to assembly and decorating.

How to make rose and vanilla bean buttercream

Step 1: Cream the butter. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter until very pale and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl before continuing.

Step 2: Add rose water and cream. Add in rose water, vanilla bean paste and 3 tablespoon heavy cream and mix in powdered sugar.

Step 3: Preferred consistency. Add additional cream to reach desired consistency then set aside until you're ready to decorate the cake. 

Assembling the cake

Step 1: Frost. Once the cake has cooled, spread as much of the buttercream over the surface of the cake as you like.

Step 2: Decorate. Feel free to use a spoon or offset spatula to texturize the buttercream (I used a small spoon to create a swirl starting from the outside of the cake and continuing into the center).

Step 3: Garnish. Don’t forget to add all those glorious toppings! Finish your cake with layers of toppings, like fresh raspberries, lemon zest, raspberry jam, candied rose petals, fresh fruit and chopped pistachios. Then once decorated, enjoy the cake chilled or at room temperature.

👩🏻‍🍳 Expert Tips

• For a smaller, single-layer cake, you can bake the cake in a 6-inch cake pan. You’ll just need to increase the cooking time a bit.
• Use room-temperature eggs and butter for the best results and even baking.
• Don’t overmix your batter! An overworked batter may result in a tough, chewy cake. 

💭 Recipe FAQs

More cake recipes to try

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