Once it's fall everyone starts bringing out the pumpkin spice, caramel, and apple desserts and I love it. So, today, I'm adding another one to the list: apple cardamom cake with pistachio cream. I wanted a moist cake similar to a coffee cake but loaded with apples. Pair it with a warm spice like cardamom and top it with a cinnamon sugar streusel and it's pure heaven. Unless you go the extra step and make the pistachio cream too, then it's game over. Ready to make another apple dessert?
Recipe
Apple Cardamom Cake with Pistachio Cream
Ingredients
Apple cardamom cake
- 1 cup vegetable oil (190 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup Greek yogurt, plain (105 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (295 grams)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- 4 apples, peeled, cored, chopped (465 grams)
Cinnamon sugar streusel
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted (14 grams)
Pistachio cream
- 1 cup pistachios, roasted (145 grams)
- ¾ cup powdered sugar (90 grams)
- 2 tablespoon water
- 1 cup heavy cream (250 ml)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch cake pan.
- Make the apple cardamom cake batter. Whisk together vegetable oil with 2 large eggs, Greek yogurt, and vanilla until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour with 2 cups sugar, 2 teaspoon cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cardamom. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Fold in the chopped apples and pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Make the cinnamon-sugar streusel. Combine ¼ cup sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon cardamom, and 1 tablespoon melted butter until well combined. Sprinkle the streusel on top of the cake.
- Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
- Meanwhile, make the pistachio cream. In a food processor, grind the pistachios until smooth, about 7-8 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and process until combined. Add 2 tablespoon water and process and until smooth and thick, another 1-2 minutes. Add 1 cup heavy cream and process until creamy and thick, about 3 minutes. Chill the pistachio cream until ready to serve.
**Helpful tips and common mistakes
If you ever made a coffee cake, this apple cardamom cake will be a cinch for you to make. Heck, even if you haven't, this cake will still be easy to tackle. It's really just the basic step of mixing your wet ingredients, combining your dry ingredients, and then stirring everything together.
For the apples, I chose pink lady apples but you can also use Braeburn, honeycrisp, Fuji, and even Granny smith apples. As long as the apples hold their shape and don't turn into mush when baked, you can use them.
Gently stir the apples into the batter and pour it into the prepared cake pan. Make the cinnamon sugar cardamom and sprinkle a generous amount over the cake. This streusel will add a lovely little crunch and add texture to the apple cardamom cake. Plus, when does it ever hurt to add a little extra cinnamon sugar goodness on anything, am I right?
Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. As tempting as it is, let the cake cool before digging right in. You can serve this cake warm but I would advise against cutting into it straight out of the oven.
Now we can just stop there and serve the cake as is but we're going to go one step further and make pistachio cream. I am a diehard fan of pistachios so it was a no-brainer that I would make this accompanying cream.
To make the pistachio cream, simply process shelled roasted pistachios until the nuts are finely ground. Add the powdered sugar and continue to process the nuts. Add a touch of water to the mixture and puree. At this point, you should have a paste.
To turn it into a cream, add heavy cream and continue to puree until the mixture is thickened and creamy. It will thicken up a bit as you chill it in the fridge. You can also make the pistachio cream a couple of days in advance. I made a double batch and ended up smearing this on scones, muffins, cookies, pretty much any baked good I can find.
Dust the apple cardamom cake with powdered sugar and place a big dollop of the pistachio cream on top. I loved this cake warm but you can also have it at room temperature. The cardamom shines through and compliments the apples perfectly while the pistachio cream makes it just a wee bit fancy. Delicious all around!
For more holiday dessert inspiration check out this caramelized honey cheesecake with cherry compote!
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