Pistachio Cake

This recipe is very much like the Easiest Chocolate Cake I made a few weeks back.  Which by the way got rave reviews from the people I baked it for.  I am baking this recipe for the same people, we'll see what they think!!  I tasted it and it's moist, a nice green color, and deliciously nutty!! If you love pistachios you will be sure to love this one!!!

Pistachio Cake or Muffins

1 box Classic Yellow Cake mix

8 oz. whole shelled pistachios, grounded. (Be sure to reserve 1/2 cup for decoration on top of the frosting)

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/3 cup water

1 package Pistachio Flavor JELL-O (not prepared)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put aside 1/2 cup of the ground nuts aside for later. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl, whisk to combine well, and pour into a loaf pan, muffin tins, etc.  Bake until a cake tester comes out clean and golden brown.

I made 24 mini muffins, and still had left over batter for a 9x9 inch brownie pan. I cooked the mini muffins for 25 minutes and the cake for about 40 minutes. I frosted the mini muffins with Vanilla Bean Frosting.  The frosting is made with confectioner's sugar and Earth Balance Natural Shortening, it's like a vegan version of butter for baking. (Make sure to get the green package, the other one contains salt.) 

I am not frosting them yet, because I want it to be fresh, but here is the recipe for the Vanilla Bean Frosting.  It can be made vegan if you use non-dairy soy milk and vegan natural shortening!!

Vanilla Bean Frosting

2 cups confectioner's sugar (if you want a really sweet icing add more sugar, to taste)

1 cup butter OR Earth Balance Natural Shortening (at room temp.)

1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste (OR vanilla extract w/the beans of a vanilla bean scraped out)

1 tablespoon milk or soy milk (can be vanilla flavored)

Blend ingredients together and frost cupcakes just before serving.  Sprinkle some ground pistachios on top! (You should have about 1/2 cup leftover from the cake recipe!)

7 minute frosting is not easy...

So I get home this afternoon from work and am really excited to get busy making my cocount layer cake for the anniversary/birthday party dinner tonight at my brothers apartment...well let me tell you, this stuff ain't easy. I do not recommend beginner bakers to attempt this recipe. WARNING: DIFFICULTY LEVEL is HIGH!

So as it was I decided to make my life a little simpler by using a store bought white cake mix, that went great, easy peasy! I did that last night. I followed the Everyday Baking recipe, linked above. I started by placing all the ingredients into a heatproof bowl over a simmering pan of water, like they told me. I started beating and timed 7 minutes, like they told me to do. So the egg whites were cooking and getting nice and white, which is supposed to happen. When the 7 minutes were up the peaks were still not stiff, UH OH! I continued to beat the mixture for another 10 minutes, still no peaks, not even soft one! WTF!?!?! I was really frustrated at this point. I figured, you know what, let's try it again, maybe I did it wrong. Ahhh, here goes trial #2...

So again, I put all the ingredients in the heatproof bowl and start blending away, after 7 minutes no freaking stiff peaks, let alone soft peaks. I take a deep breath and continue to beat. Meanwhile my kitchen looks like a dynamite hit it, there are white specks of icing all over my stovetop and surrounding walls. Of course I wasn't wearing an apron and my jeans were all speckled white too! Great! So now my kitchen and I are all dirty and I still have NO PEAKS!

So I quickly google how to make egg white frosting, just to see if there are any other recipes that are somewhat similar to what I was trying to make, and they all basically were the same. So now I had to really think. I started to think rrrrrrrreeeeeaaaaalllllllllllll hard. I looked in the fridge to see if I had more eggs, cause I just wasted 6 whole eggs in the process. Luckily I did have just enough for one more batch, trial #3. They say three times a charm, right? Well, at least no one can say I didn't try...here goes nothing...

I decided to omit the corn syrup completely and cut down the sugar to a cup (the other two batters were too sweet anyway and I was running out of sugar). I also cut down the amount of water from 1/3 to 1/4 of a cup. I put 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar instead of a 1/2 teaspoon, because I know that cream of tartar is supposed to make things thick, so I didn't think it could hurt this time around. Below is the recipe, adapted from Everyday Baking's recipe, that I used for trial #3, and you know what...IT ACTUALLY WORKED AND STILL TASTED DELICIOUS!

Seven-Minute Frosting, My Way

3 large egg whites

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1/4 cup cold water

1 cup sugar

1. In a medium saucepan, bring 2 inches of water to a simmer. 2. In a large heatproof mixing bowl, combine egg whites, cream of tartar, water, and sugar. 3. Place bowl over simmering water (it should not touch water); with a handheld mixer, beat on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 7-10 minutes. 4. Remove bowl from heat; beat 3 to 5 minutes more to cool. Use immediately

This is the cool cake carrier I got yesterday at Bed Bath & Beyond. No one is touching this cake until it's time for dessert.

Brownie Bites with Marshmallow Meringue Frosting

So I decided to be kind to all my co-workers and bring in a batch of these yummy brownie bites. I can't take all the credit though, I did look to Duncan Hines for some help. The secret is to put some Nutella Spread into the batter for extra fudgy flavor! Feel free to make your favorite brownie recipe and bake them in mini muffin tins, just add the frosting, and there you go!

I left my apartment this morning with 36 mini brownie bites and came home with ZERO! I guess they were a hit, see for yourself...Smiles all around! Enjoy!

Marshmallow Meringue Frosting

3 egg whites pinch of salt 1 cup marshmallow fluff

Beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Gradually add marshmallow creme, beating until stiff peaks form. Bake at 500 degrees for 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve immediately.

Tip: I used a ziploc bag instead of a pastry bag to frost the cupcakes. See photo below.