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

Print Recipe

Pistachio loaf cake

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

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time1 hr 50 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: vegan

Keyword: blueberries, loaf cake, pistachio

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.

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 190 C / 374 F. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil.
• Grind pistachios into flour and combine with flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
• Add yogurt, milk and melted oil. Mix well.
• Fold blueberries and chopped pistachios into the cake batter.
• 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.
• 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.
• Mix glaze ingredients and pour on top of cake. Enjoy!

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