Pistachio Saffron Cardamom Cake
A melange of flavors old and new
Pistachios, saffron and cardamom - a mix of spices and nuts that probably goes back millennia, lasting through history because of its memorable flavor.
The use of saffron, the world’s most expensive spice, probably dates back 3,500 years or longer and possibly originates in Mycenae or Crete or possibly Anatolia. Ancient frescoes from Greece and Crete show saffron being harvested by women.
Saffron is the dried stamen of a fall blooming crocus (Crocus Sativus) that grows in coolish, dry climates. The cost of saffron comes from the fact that the stamens need to be gently harvested by hand when the crocus is fully open. And it doesn’t stay open for very long. That red fiber in the flower is what makes saffron. It takes somewhere between 140,000 and 2000,000 flowers to yield 1 kilogram of saffron and each fiber
must be gently picked by hand. Most of the world’s saffron (about 88%) is grown in Iran. The rest comes from places like Afghanistan, India, Spain and the smatterings from other places.
Pistachios are another dry climate crop originating in the cooler central massif of Asia from Iran, Afghanistan up through Central Asia. Archaeological evidence seems to show pistachios being consumed over 6,500 years BCE. The Romans are alleged to have taken the Pistachio back to Europe and north Africa. USA is currently the largest producer of pistachios in the world and 99% of those come from California.
Cardamom, itself one of the 3 most expensive spices in the world is the seed of a member of the ginger family that grows in wet tropical climates like South India, Guatemala, Sri Lanka, etc.
The combination - pistachios, cardamom and saffron probably originated from Iran, but is ubiquitous in Indian cuisine. The three can appear in both savory and sweet dishes though the combination typically stands out in the sweets. Indian sweets often use that combination and they even use it as a standard ice cream or kulfi flavoring. (Kulfi is a sort of creamy frozen dessert).
These were the inspirations for this dessert. I do add a layer of my own raspberry jam to offset some of the sweetness of the cake and frosting.
A word on jams. Fruit concoctions like jams form a gel because of the setting action of pectin. All fruit has pectin - it’s what lets a fruit keep its shape. But to be reactivated pectin needs free sugar, an acidic environment and heat. You can make a jam out of any fruit with some lemon juice, half the sugar most other recipes will suggest and some judicious heating. You don’t need extra pectin, or the fruits weight in sugar or the pressure cooking and other nasty stuff that people talk about. I’ll give a recipe for raspberry jam below.
Pistachio, Saffron and Cardamom Cake Recipe
Ingredients Jam 1 kg frozen or fresh raspberries (If I'm making jam I'm going to make some) 450 gms sugar Juice of 4-5 juicy lemons (you want about about 6 tablespoons of juice) Cake 300 gms ( about 11 oz) shelled pistachios 300 gms cake (or all purpose) flour. Cake flour is just lower gluten 3.25 teaspoons baking powder 10-12 green cardamom pods 1 teaspoon salt 175 gms of unsalted butter 250 - 275 gms of sugar (this is a matter of taste. I like less sugar. You could want more. We will be adding sweetness with the jam and frosting too. If you were looking for a traditional pound cake type type thing you'd add a lot more sugar) 6 large egg whites (bring these to room temperature while making the jam) 120 grams of sour cream or yogurt 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract 1 cup half and half (or whole milk) at room temperature Frosting and topping 2-3 packs of cream cheese at room temeprature (about 450-675 gms) depending on how much frosting you want. Watch the rest of the ingredients because they're given for the 2 or 3 pack amounts. 110 - 165 gms of softened butter 350-520 gms of sugar (again I like a little less sugar but you can adjust this to taste) 1/2 cup of half and half or milk 1.5 - 2.25 teaspoons of good vanilla extract 2-3 liberal pinches of a good saffron. If you're going to pay for this spice might as well get the best stuff. I've normally found the best prices on saffron at Indian, Pakistani or Middle Eastern grocery stores. Don't buy the junk they such sell at the regular supermarket. 1 cup of pistachios blitzed. Method Jam Using a heavy bottomed pan put the raspberries on at medium heat. (I actually prefer frozen raspberries because I think they're blanched and they liquify faster). Keep stirring until they release their liquid. You can help if along with judicious mashing with a large spoon or even a potato masher. Once they're fairly liquid, reduce the heat to low and keep stirring. We're actually trying to cool this liquid down a bit. Add the lemon juice and sugar. The reason we've done this is because we want the sugar to dissolve and not melt. While this is going on put a tablespoon in the freezer on a small plate or saucer. This is going to be used for our drop test. Now turn the heat up to a medium-high heat and bring the jam liquid to a rollicking boil. Make sure you keep stirring so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. Keep this boiling until you start seeing large sticky looking bubbles forming. This is a result of the sugar starting to form a syrup helped along by the pectin (that's what causes the big bubbles). Boil for 2-3 more minutes. Turn off the stove and put a small amount of the jam on the spoon in your freezer. return the spoon back to the freezer (make sure it's level on the saucer). Wait for 5 minutes. Now test if the jam is done. You do this by trying to pour the jam off the spoon. When done it will slowly ooze off the spoon in a wedge. If it comes off the spoon fast return it to the pot and bring to a boil for another 2-3 minutes. Repeat freezer test. Repeat boil. At some stage drop the boil time to 1-2 minutes since you don't want the jam over cooked. When it comes off the spoon slowly in a wedge it's done. Put about 1-1/2 cups of jam aside to cool. Put the rest into Ball jars and refrigerate when cool. Cake 1. Preheat oven to 350F . You can do this part of the way through the prep process since it can be pretty long. 2. Grease 2 9-inch cake pans and line the bottom with greased parchment paper (unless you have non-stick cake pans in which case greasing should be enough). 3. Prep the pistachios. I like to get the husks off the pistachios. The easiest way to do this is roll the pistachios between two dish towels (Or if you have them two burlap sheets) on your kitchen counter. Blow the husks away with a hair dryer or by fanning with an old newspaper or by just rolling the pistachios from one bowl to another while gently blowing on them. 4. Blitz the pistachios in a food processor until fairly fine (If they're not fine they'll sink to the bottom of the cake). Put half of them aside. The other half are processed even further until they become pistachio butter. 5. Lightly roast the cardamom pods in a dry skillet until the outside turn slightly and lightly brown. Don't overdo this. The slight roasting releases essential oils that add lots of flavor. Get the seeds out of the pod and lightly gring with a mortar and pestle, a rolling pin, the back of a steel cooking spoon or whatever else you have that can crush the seeds. You want a coarse grit like coarse black pepper. 6. Cream the butter, pistachio butter and sugar in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or using a hand mixer. 7. Add the egg whites and beat on high until the whole mixture is sort of airy and light. 8. Add the sour cream and milk and mix completely until everything is evenly combined. 9. Add the vanilla 10. Mix the flour, blitzed pistachios, salt, cardamom and baking powder in a bowl and stir around with a whisk or spoon until evenly mixed. fold this dry mixture into the wet ingredients making sure there are no lumps. This will form a fairly thick batter. 11. Bake until done (the old skewer or knife trick). This should be somewhere between 20 and 25 minutes. I'd start checking at around 20 minutes. 12. Cool completely, first for a while in the cake pans then on a rack. Frosting 1. Steep the saffron in the half and half. Start this at the very beginning of your effort on this cake. 2. Beat the cream cheese and sugar in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until completely creamed. (You could use confectioner's sugar, but using granulated sugar forces you to beat the living bejeezus out of the cream cheese, which you do want). 3. Add in the half and half and keep beating. 4. Slowly add in the butter. Assembling 1. Slice the two cakes into halves (So you have four layers). 2. Coat the 3 inner layers with a not too thick layer of the raspberry jam. Don't make this too thick. You want a trace of the jam's tartness to offset the rest and add a slight fruitiness. This is not a raspberry cake. The raspberry should be a hidden undertone. 3. Then add a thin layer of the cream cheese frosting. 4. Stack the layers. 5. Cover the entire ensemble with the cream cheese frosting. 6. Top with the blitzed pistachios 7. Decorate with some berries if you want to. Devour in huge quantities.
This is a long and tedious cake making trip. But it’s worth the time and calories. If I’ve missed something, just ask.
In our house, a very very very fine house, it normally gets sliced up right on the kitchen counter, so I don’t even bother with a cake stand. Enjoy.
Nice, love those flavors