PISTACHIO LOAF CAKE

I didn’t know blueberries and pistachios were such an amazing match until I tried this pistachio loaf cake ♥ This cake takes the best of both nutty and berrylicious flavors and the result is a lovely sweet, but light coffee cake. This cake is vegan and very easy to make.

Vegan pistachio loaf cake

I saw a pistachio cake recipe made by a Finnish chef and I didn’t get too excited about it. The cake was basically just butter (200 grams), flour and sugar with just a handful of pistachios sprinkled inside. I bet this is a delicious cake, but I also think it’s boring and “safe”. When you combine lots of fat, flour and sugar you pretty much know what to expect.

I don’t fear oils nor vegan butters anymore (I used to, when I was orthorexic), but I sometimes want to design recipes, which are more than just fat, flour and sugar. So here’s what I did with this amazing pistachio loaf cake:

Vegan baking – butter substitutes

• I used vegan yogurt instead of lots of vegan butter or oil to make a lush texture. I prefer soy yogurt (the brand Alpro makes excellent yogurts for baking)
• Pistachio flour: A tip I’ve learned during my years as a food blogger is to grind nuts into flour and use this flour in addition to regular flour to make the cake richer. So I used about 1/2 cups + 1/4 cups pistachios to make pistachio flour. A regular small food processor or the bowl part of an immersion blender is good for grinding.
• Oil: I think the texture of this cake is better with a little oil so I also used about 1/4 cups of melted coconut oil (olive oil or canola oil would work too) and that’s a lot less fat than in the pistachio cake recipe I saw. This cake might work as a totally oil-free version too!

I have similar loaf cake recipes on the blog if you want to try other flavors:

Raspberry almond cake

Chocolate cardamom cake

Happy baking!

♥ Tiina

Pistachio loaf cake

Pistachios and blueberries are an excellent match in this rich and delicious loaf cake.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 50 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: vegan

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 100 grams (2 dl) / 3,5 oz unsalted shelled pistachios
• 230 grams (3,5 dl) / 8,1 oz all-purpose flour
• 170 grams / 2 dl 6 oz sugar I use fine baker's sugar but any sugar is okay
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
• 0,5 tsp salt
• 200 grams (2 dl) / 8 oz vegan yogurt Soy yogurt works best. I use a mildly sweet Alpro.
• 2,5 dl / 1 cup plant-based milk
• 0,5 dl / ~1/4 cups melted coconut oil or other neutral liquid oil suitable for baking
• 140 grams / ~2 dl 4,9 oz fresh or frozen blueberries I use frozen wild blueberries
• 50 grams / 1 dl 1,8 oz unsalted shelled chopped pistachios

Glaze

• 120 grams (2 dl) / 4,2 oz powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp juice from blueberries I pressed a few thawed frozen wild blueberries with a spoon to get the juice
• ~1 tbsp plant-based milk Use more if needed.

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 190 C / 374 F. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil.
2. Grind pistachios into flour and combine with flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
3. Add yogurt, milk and melted oil. Mix well.
4. Fold blueberries and chopped pistachios into the cake batter.
5. Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for 50 min. Test with a cocktail or toothpick (or similar) from the highest part of the cake and if it still is under baked, place a parchment paper or foil to cover the cake (so that it won't get too dark) and bake for another 10 minutes.
6. Let cake cool for 15 min before removing it carefully from the pan. You might want to use a knife (be sure not to scratch the baking pan) to loosen the edges of the cake.
7. Mix glaze ingredients and pour on top of cake. Enjoy!

Which measurements to use in baking: US cups / deciliters – Ounces / grams?