Recipe: White Chocolate and Rosewater Cake

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Pistachio and Rosewater: This is my absolute favourite cake! I always forget till I'm shelling them and sneaking them into my mouth just how good pistachios are... Rosewater, pistachio and white chocolate are a perfect combination- unlike many cakes, it isn't too sweet- instead it is musky, with a Middle Eastern flavour, and with the green and purple of the pistachio against the white buttercream, it's absolutely stunning to serve up. Perfect for a summer afternoon tea party!

So here we go...

Ingredients

75g / 3 oz whole shelled pistachios, finely chopped
225g / 8 oz caster sugar
225g / 8 oz unsalted butter
4 large eggs
225g / 8 oz self raising flour, sieved
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 level tbsp rose water

For decorating the cake

125g / 4 oz unsalted butter
225g / 8 oz icing sugar
1 tsp rose water
200g / 7 oz Belgian white chocolate, broken into pieces
25g / 1 oz pistachios, slightly crushed

Start by beating the sugar and butter til light and fluffy and white in colour. Then beat some more. The more effort you put in here, the lighter the resulting cake will be. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs and then add spoonful at a time into the mix, beating well between each addition.

Next, with a metal spoon, fold in the flour, baking powder, rose water and pistachios until just combined. It's kind of as simple as that. Spoon the mixture into a prepared cake tin and bake for an hour at 140C. You can also do these as cupcakes- I do regularly and they're fantastic. For this, simply spoon the mix into cupcake cases using an ice cream scoop and bake at 180C for 18 minutes.

When the cake is cooked, leave to cool completely. Whilst you are doing this, prepare the buttercream simply by creaming together the butter and icing sugar. Add 1 tbsp boiling water and 1 tsp rose water. I would test it at this point and check it. You may want it a little stronger if you prefer, but be careful as it can be a little overpowering!

Spoon the buttercream onto the cake and roughly smooth over to completely cover. Blitz the pistachios and white chocolate until rough then sprinkle over the top of the cake. The cake is now ready to serve!


Enjoy :)

xxx