An explosion of citrus aromas and pistachio in a light and delicious round pound cake!
ingredients (cost about 5 € for the whole cake)
- 125 g butter
- 125 g sugar
- 125 g eggs
- 125 g pastry flour
- 10 g baking powder
- 1 orange (zest and juice)
- Pistachio finely chopped
- Candied peels from oranges and/or other citrus fruits for garnish
- A little orange blossom water for drizzling
This cake is delicious! It is a classic pound cake made in NO time and relatively light. What makes the difference, are the candied citrus peels that, as we have seen before, we make ourselves from the cups, which are left over from the juices we squeeze. And of course the incomparable pistachio, this miracle of taste and color, which, in addition to having an erotic relationship with orange, offers crunchiness and complexity in the mouth! If you want it to be less sweet, you can perfectly reduce sugar to 100 gr (we normally do).
First of all, we prepare our ingredients. We cut the butter into dices, put it into the mixer bowl and leave it there to warm up and soften slightly. We beat the eggs lightly and set them aside. We grate the zest of an orange and we squeeze its juice. We sift together the flour and the baking powder.
We preheat the oven to 160o C in the fan function. We grease well a 22cm aluminum round cake tin, we line the bottom with parchment paper, we re-butter the paper, taking care not to leave spots without lubrication and sprinkle with sugar everywhere.
We beat the butter in the mixer for about 2-3 min, starting from low speed and slowly increasing to medium-high, until it acquires a creamy texture and glossy appearance, then pour the sugar in a steady and slow stream and beat for another 5 minutes, until the mixture becomes very pale yellow, almost white and light and fluffy (like whipped cream). We add the beaten eggs, in a steady slow stream, and beat on medium to high speed for 3-4 minutes, until the eggs are completely incorporated and the mixture is light and fluffy again.
We stop the mixer, we add the orange zest, then incorporate the sifted flours and the orange juice (in alternating batches, starting and finishing with the flours) by folding them gently into the mixture, being careful not to remove air. We do not work the mixture too much, we only want it to absorb the ingredients.
We pour the batter into our prepared mold and bake it for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven, giving a turn at halfway through to ensure an even baking.
When ready, we remove from the oven, allow it to cool completely, then unmold by turning over on a plate. We drizzle the surface with a little orange blossom water, then sprinkle with chopped pistachio. We garnish with strips of candied orange and/ or other citrus fruit peels.
NOTE: You can make your own citrus fruit peels. Find out how, HERE
