Pistachio and Almond Rose Cakes

Minneapolis is the home of Nordic Ware and that means the home of the Bundt pan.  In recent years they’ve expanded their basic Bundt pan line into all kinds of shapes, sizes, and designs:  Roses, daisies, castles.  They’re on a roll and these pans are very popular.  They’ve put Nordic Ware back on the map.  Nordic Ware also makes hard-to-find ethnic pans, such as rosette Irons, ebleskiver Pans and krumkake Irons.  If you’re lucky enough to live in the Twin Cities you can visit the Nordic Ware outlet store and maybe score a 1/2 price pan like the one I bought to make the little 2″ rose cakes pictured above.  Aren’t they darling?  I was motivated to buy it because I had just bought the recent issue of Donna Hay magazine, which featured an entire article on using the different kinds of Bundt pans available.  What’s so cool about this is that Donna Hay is published in Australia!

I used the pan to make Pistachio and Almond cakes.  I thought it was kind of an unusual recipe.  I assumed that the egg whites would be whipped before folded into the batter, but I was wrong.  I mixed the cooled melted butter with the egg whites to make an emulsion before stirring into the dry ingredients.  I was a little worried that they wouldn’t turn out but they really did.  These cakes are dense and moist; I think the word to describe them would be toothsome. They’re small, but they are a really satisfying treat.  I’m sure it would also work to spoon the batter into muffin tins, but I wouldn’t use muffin liners.

Pistachio and Almond Cakes

Adapted from Donna Hay magazine, Issue 44

1/2 cup (70g) pistachios
1/2 cup (60g) almond meal (grounds almonds)
1/2 cup (75g) all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 cups (240g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
175g butter, melted (about 12 1/3 Tbsp.)
6 eggs whites
Juice from 1 lemon
Confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 355F.  Place the pistachios in a food processor and process until finely chopped.  Place in a bowl with the almond meal, flour, confectioners’ sugar and lemon zest and mix to combine.  Mix together the cooled butter and egg whites to make an emulsion.  Add to the dry ingredients and mix well to combine.  Pour the mixture into 12 x 1/3 capacity well-greased Bundt tins and place on a baking tray.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.  Turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool.

Mix lemon juice and confectioners sugar to taste to make a glaze.  Don’t make it too thick because you want it to soak in and not cover the details of the rose petals.  Brush over the top of the cakes or dunk rose side down into the glaze and let the excess drip off.

Makes 12