From Scratch Pistachio Bundt Cake
This pistachio bundt cake is made from scratch with real pistachio butter creamed right into the batter and loaded with chopped roasted pistachios for the most incredible pistachio flavor. It’s then finished with a salted pistachio glaze on top. If you’re a pistachio person, this cake was made for you.
I am honestly surprised it took me this long to make a pistachio bundt cake from scratch, especially since I have so many homemade bundt cake recipes. This bundt is not made from a box mix and there’s no pistachio pudding in sight, this is a real, from scratch pistachio cake with actual pistachio butter baked right into the batter.
I totally thought this one would come together easily since I adapted it from my tried and true vanilla bundt cake recipe, but it did not cooperate on the first try! The first version had a pistachio butter swirl baked into it, which sounded beautiful in theory. But when I pulled it out of the oven? The swirl completely disappeared into the batter. And on top of that, the pistachio flavor just wasn’t coming through the way I wanted it to.
So I went back and made two major changes. I upped the pistachio butter significantly and dropped the oil completely so the cake wouldn’t turn out too dense. And I added a full cup of chopped pistachios mixed directly into the dry ingredient- that keeps them from sinking to the bottom and means you get pistachio in every single bite.
As a trained pastry chef, going back to the drawing board is just part of the process, and this one was so worth it. When my husband tasted it the first thing he said was that it was “very pistachio-y”, which is exactly what I was going for!
NAILED IT!
Pistachio Butter
This recipe uses roasted, salted and unsweetened pistachio butter. Thats not the same as pistachio cream which is sweetened like Nutella, or pistachio paste which is just ground pistachios turned into a paste. Make sure you buy the right one! This is the pistachio butter I like to use for my pistachio recipes.
How to make it
This cake is seriously so moist and has the best texture. It’s fluffy but has a great crunch from the chopped pistachios.
Because the cake is made from real ingredients, the color is not bright green. I don’t recommend adding in food coloring to this- the dark brown sugar in the recipe will make it hard for the color to really come through.
I am also a fan of weighing my dry ingredients- it’s the most accurate way to measure and will ensure your recipe comes out right every time!
Lastly, make sure any of your refrigerated ingredients are at room temperature. This will make sure that the ingredients blend well together and maximize the flavor and texture of the cake.
From Scratch Pistachio Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter , 227g at room temp
- 1/2 cup pistachio butter
- 1 1/2 cups sugar , 300g
- 1/2 cup brown sugar , 100g
- 3 large eggs, at room temp
- 1 tsp almond extract, sub vanilla
- 1 cup pistachios, roasted, salted, chopped
- 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour , 330g
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cup milk, at room temp
Pistachio Glaze
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp pistachio butter
- 2 tbsp milk
- Extra pistachios for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Heavily spray a 10 cup bundt pan with baking spray.
- In the bowl of a hand or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add the 1 cup butter, 1/2 cup pistachio butter, 1 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar and mix on low-medium speed to cream for 2 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time on medium speed, mixing in between. Add in the 1 tsp almond extract and mix.
- Chop 1 cup of roasted and salted pistachios, or pulverize into chunks in a food processor.
- In a separate bowl or on a large piece of parchment paper combine the 2 ¾ cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, and ½ tsp kosher salt and mix lightly. Add the chopped pistachios to the dry ingredients and dust with the flour.
- In a measuring cup add the 3/4 milk.
- Alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients by thirds starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt cake pan. Spread out the batter evenly with the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the cake is set and the sides are pulling away from the pan.
- Cool for 15-20 minutes, then flip the cake over a cooling rack to release and cool completely.
- Make the glaze. Combine the 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 2 tbsp pistachio butter and 2-3 tbsp milk in a measuring cup and mix until smooth.
- Drizzle over cooled cake.
