Persian Almond Cardamom Pistachio Cake

This aromatic spongy Persian Almond Cardamom Pistachio Cake has been freely spiced with cardamom and is heavy on the eggs for a dense but moist cake. Instead of vegetable oil, we use FIVE Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

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Hey my friends, this week I have for you my new “favorite” coffee cake. I originally found it during my research for Passover desserts and unique desserts of Jewish holidays throughout the year. This cake recipe was featured in an article by An Iranian Seder in Beverly Hills with the name “Almond Cake With Cardamom and Pistachio.” This article is about an Iranian Jewish family who settled in California in 1979.

Here is a little history lesson I learned from reading this article:

“Iran has one of the oldest known Jewish communities, going back over 2,500 years to when Jews fled the land of Israel after the destruction of the First Temple.”

It’s pretty amazing to learn other country’s traditions. “Food and feasts were a part of life for us,” said Angella Nazarian, one of Mrs. Maddahi’s daughters, who has just published a memoir of the Iranian Jews’ arrival in the United States, titled “Life as a Visitor”. If you want to read more about this fantastic article, go to the New York Times.

Persian Almond Cardamom Pistachio Cake Photoshoot

This cake is easy to make, but the best part was taking the photographs of the cake.  Most of the time when I shoot food, I do it in the morning because the sunlight is more stable. My condo faces the city of Miami – the west side – and after 12:00 pm the sunlight hits my whole place and the light is too intense. So the mornings are best for a lot of indirect sunlight. Sometimes when there are a lot of clouds, the quality of lighting is unstable as the sun comes out, then behind a cloud, then back out again. Besides being extremely frustrating during the picture taking, the post-shoot editing part becomes too difficult to achieve the look I want.

This time I decided to shoot for the first time early in the evening to get a dark background with a bright food. It was a lot of fun and I got so excited that I ended up taking over 200 pictures.  It was crazy!

I really love the flavor of this Persian Almond Cardamom Pistachio Cake. I love adding cardamom to any dish, savory or sweet, to give it an extra warm taste and aromatic fragrance.

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If you are looking for more Jewish traditional dessert recipes for Hanukkah or Passover, check out these recipes.

• How to Make an Easy Rugelach with Jam Walnut Filling
• Walnut Macaroon Thumbprint Cookies with Fig Preserves
• Lemony Almond Macaroons
• Hazelnut Citrus Torte

This is a flour-less cake made with almond meal, and to accentuate the flavor I added almond extract. One thing that is different from the original recipe is that I use FIVE Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil instead of vegetable oil.

Check out some of my other amazingly delicious recipes using FIVE Greek EVOO:

• Stuffed Roasted Chicken with Artichoke Lemon Pesto and Butternut Squash Puree
• Naan Bread
• Kohlrabi Salad with Edamame, Chickpeas, Apple, and Cilantro Dressing
• Pumpkin Hummus with Cumin & Garlic

Have a fun week!

Carlos

Check out more cake recipes in the links below :

• Pistachio Tiramisu Cake with Whipped Mascarpone Cream & Cardamom Syrup
• Pumpkin Tiramisu Cake with Pumpkin Spice Mascarpone Cream
• Pumpkin Carrot Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
• Pecan Pie Bundt Cake
• Death by Chocolate Cake
• Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

Persian Almond Cardamom Pistachio Cake

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★★★★★

5 from 11 reviews

• Author: Carlos Leo ; Adapted from NYT-Cooking
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 50 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hours 30 minutes
• Yield: 10-12 servings 1x

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Description

Persian Almond Cardamom Pistachio Cake is a moist and aromatic dessert recipe. It can be served during Passover using Kosher’s confectionary sugar and matzo meal instead of almond flour. If you want more of an Iranian flavor, add two TableSpoons of rose water. This cake is delicious with a hot Persian Tea (Chai) or Turkish coffee.

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Ingredients

• ½ cup FIVE Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus additional for pan which you can order from our online shop
• 7 large eggs, separated
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 TableSpoon almond extract
• 4 ½ cups plus 1 TableSpoon almond flour
• 2 teaSpoons ground cardamom
• 1 to 2 TableSpoons confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
• 3 to 4 TableSpoons finely chopped pistachio nuts, for garnish

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Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 9-inch round or square pan and set aside.
2. Using a stand mixer, whisk egg whites until stiff but not dry, and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar, and whisk to blend. Whisk in almond extract and oil. Add almond flour and cardamom.
4. Gently stir a third of the whites into the batter, then gently fold in the rest until just incorporated.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling on a rack. To decorate, dust with confectioners’ sugar and chopped pistachios.

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• Category: Dessert
• Cuisine: Middle East

Nutrition

• Calories: 524
• Sugar: 2 g
• Sodium: 55.1 mg
• Fat: 29.4 g
• Carbohydrates: 61.4 g
• Fiber: 25.7 g
• Protein: 20.8 g
• Cholesterol: 108.5 mg

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