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28 In Desserts/ Italian Inspired

Pistachio Apricot Cake

Pistachio Apricot Cake

Pistachio Apricot Cake is a match make for a lovely and delightful cake.

It’s not something you see at bakeries often so it’s a fun cake to bake and bring to a party or gathering.

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Pistachio and Apricot Cake Recipe

  • Author: Carrie Pacini
  • Category: Desserts

Description

This Sicilian Pistachio Cake is one of my favorites.

Many of you love the Italian Wedding Cake but this Sicilian Pistachio Cake is also a nice one to bake. I researched particular flavors of Sicilian Cakes and decided to create a Sicilian Pistachio Cake with apricots. It turned out perfect.

This cake is very moist and has the exact flavor of a really good pistachio gelato!

Pan Notes: I used three round pans; the bottom pan was a 9 inch round and the top two pans were 8.5 inch rounds. I used the 9 inch round as the base of the cake.

Assembly Notes: If you need to stabilize your cake to transport you can use straws. Cut them to the appropriate size and stick them in the center. This will secure the cake.

Icing the Cake: Assemble your layers on a cake stand or plate. Cut strips of parchment paper and place them around the base of the cake. This helps to keep the icing off of the cake stand or plate. After you ice the cake remove the parchment and you will have a nice clean finish at the bottom.


Ingredients

Scale

Cake Batter

  • 2 Cups of Sifted All Purpose Flour (I like to use Farino Tipo 00 – An Italian Flour, note: you can also use Cake Flour)
  • 2 Cups of Sugar
  • 1 Stick of Butter
  • 3/4 Cup of dried apricots diced up (I used my food processor to chop them into tiny pieces)
  • 1 Cup of chopped Pistachios + 3/4 cup to sprinkle on the iced cake and in between the iced layers
  • 5 Egg Whites (beat until stiff peaks)
  • 5 Egg Yolks
  • 1/2 Cup of Olive Oil
  • 1 Cup of Buttermilk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
  • 1 teaspoon of baking soda

Cake Icing

  • Three 8 oz Containers of Cream Cheese
  • 1/2 cup of Whipping Cream
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup of Powdered Sugar

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. If your oven browns quickly then take it down 15 to 20 degrees. Grease and flour three round cake pans
  2. Cream butter with sugar and add vanilla
  3. Next add 5 separated egg yolks and 1/2 cup of olive oil – mix and beat until fluffy
  4. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients: Sifted flour and the baking soda
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the mixture a little at a time alternating with the buttermilk (about 1/4 cup at a time)
  6. Next mix in 1 Cup of Pistachios and 3/4 cup of the Apricots
  7. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until you have stiff peaks
  8. With a spatula, gently fold your egg whites into the batter by making the figure 8 pattern
  9. Spoon the batter into your three pans and make them as even as you can. Bake until light brown, which should be about 30 minutes (use a toothpick in the center and make sure no batter is on the stick)
  10. When the cake layers are finished baking let them cool before you take them out of the pans.
  11. Once the layers are cool, place them on parchment paper and use a brush to dust off the crumbs (easier to ice).
  12. Now for the Icing: Cream with a hand blender the three containers of Cream Cheese + 1/4 of powdered sugar + 1/2 cup of whipping cream (a little at a time) + vanilla until you have it all mixed together.
  13. After the icing is mixed, start to assemble the cake by taking one of the layers of cake and making it your base. Stick strips of parchment paper around the bottom of the cake
  14. Ice the top of it and add the next layer of cake and ice the top of it, to then add your final layer of cake
  15. Now start to ice the sides and the top of the cake until covered.
  16. Use chopped pistachios to decorate the top and sides
  17. Refrigerate the cake until you are going to slice and serve!

Keywords: Desserts, Cakes, Italian Dishes

 

Sicilian Pistachio Cake

 

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28 Comments

  • Reply
    Jeanette
    April 3, 2012 at 12:32 am

    Do you use dried apricots or fresh apricots? Thanks! This looks sooo good!

  • Reply
    myfudo
    April 3, 2012 at 8:46 am

    I am gonna try this with dried apricots…So excited to try your recipe.

  • Reply
    Carrie Pacini
    April 3, 2012 at 8:49 am

    @Jeanette I used dried apricots, I added it to the recipe thanks for asking!

    @myfudo Let me know how it goes. Everyone thought the cake was very moist and flavorful.

  • Reply
    LInda
    April 3, 2012 at 9:21 am

    Hi – Do you use fresh, dried, or canned apricots? I didn’t see a note about that – sorry if I missed it.

  • Reply
    Cindy
    April 3, 2012 at 10:20 am

    What s white chocolate cream cheese?

    • Reply
      Carrie Pacini
      April 5, 2012 at 8:12 am

      @Cindy, you can make your own White chocolate cream cheese by adding white chocolate flavoring to cream cheese or for a short cut you could use Philadelphia Indulgence White Chocolate Cream Cheese that is in the section where the cream cheese is. I used 3 containers of it to ice and layer this cake.

  • Reply
    Heather Mulholland
    April 3, 2012 at 11:21 am

    …. This looks really delicious! I like how it’s different from your typical flavours in a cake.

    • Reply
      Carrie Pacini
      April 5, 2012 at 8:07 am

      @Heather – It is different. The flavor reminded me of a really nice pistachio gelato.

  • Reply
    Renée
    April 3, 2012 at 1:45 pm

    This sounds awesome! I bet it would be really delicious with some apricot jam between the layers, too.

    • Reply
      Carrie Pacini
      April 5, 2012 at 8:08 am

      @Renee, that’s a great idea! It would bring out more of the apricot flavor for sure.

  • Reply
    cindy
    April 23, 2012 at 6:38 pm

    Thank you for answering my question about the white chocolate cream cheese, Do you have the measurements if I were to add cream cheese to the chocolate? I’m wondering if that would cut the cost t make this cake. Thank You Cindy

    • Reply
      Carrie Pacini
      April 29, 2012 at 7:23 am

      @Cindy I don’t have measurements for that. BUT you might try taking the cream cheese and adding the white chocolate extract. 1 to 2 Tablespoons would probably be enough. I think that would cut down on cost for the frosting.

  • Reply
    leah
    December 27, 2012 at 11:46 am

    Hi Carrie! This looks great. I do have one question–did you use salted or unsalted pistachios? Unsalted seem hard to come by. Thanks!

  • Reply
    HoldTheGross
    January 5, 2013 at 11:54 am

    We made this a few times, and it was so delicious we had to make a post about it too! It’s our new go-to cake for special occasions. So unique and delicious! Thank you for the recipe :)

  • Reply
    Marina
    March 14, 2014 at 5:19 am

    This cake was absolutely delicious! A real winner! Thx for sharing.

    • Reply
      Carrie Pacini
      March 14, 2014 at 8:57 am

      Thanks Marina, it’s one of my favorites :)

  • Reply
    Frangis ford
    May 7, 2014 at 3:01 pm

    The cake looks delicious but have problem w/been to big of the cake for us, I can make the recipe in half but how can you breaks 5 eggs in half specially when it comes to egg yolks? Is there any solution to make this cake in half of the size? Thank you if you can help!

    • Reply
      Carrie Pacini
      May 8, 2014 at 2:19 pm

      Use 3 eggs when you are halving the recipe

      • Reply
        Dawn Z
        January 1, 2017 at 3:59 pm

        If you slightly beat the 5th egg in a small bowl, you can easily pour half in with the other two eggs. It is not difficult to do.

  • Reply
    Claire Parsons
    May 9, 2014 at 3:41 pm

    Hey! I am so excited to make this for my mom as well, would using only a 9 inch pan work?

    • Reply
      Carrie Pacini
      May 9, 2014 at 5:43 pm

      I think you might want to use two 9 inch pans or two 8 inch pans. I think it would be too much for 1 pan.

  • Reply
    Lisa
    September 11, 2014 at 9:12 am

    Do you use salted or unsalted pistachio’s?

    • Reply
      Carrie Pacini
      September 11, 2014 at 11:16 am

      Hi Lisa, I used unsalted!

  • Reply
    April Graham
    October 2, 2016 at 3:56 pm

    Made this today for my moms birthday and it was wonderful! One of the previous guests to comment mentioned putting apricot jam between the layers which sounded good so I melted it down to a glaze and added it between each layer along with the frosting. Our store didn’t have the white chocolate cream cheese or the flavoring, so instead I melted white chocolate chips (about 6oz) with about 1/8 c. of the whipped cream. Added the melted white chocolate after it had cooled slightly to the cream cheese and vanilla, then mixed in about 1 – 1.5 c. powdered sugar (leaving out the rest of the cream). It worked out nicely. Mom loved it! It’s a beautiful cake!

  • Reply
    jadie lee
    May 17, 2019 at 9:50 am

    My daughter made this cake for a dinner party. It was magnificent! We added apricot jam, as suggested ,and used plain cream cheese for the icing but added a little more powdered sugar (not too much – it is good if it is not too sweet) and some orange juice.

  • Reply
    Jay
    July 24, 2019 at 5:19 pm

    How can I adapt recipe to use bundt pan?

    • Reply
      Carrie Pacini
      October 4, 2019 at 11:20 am

      Hi Jay, I would make the batter and just use what you need for your bundt pan.

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