April 7, 2015
White Chocolate and Pistachio Cake!
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Three layers of white chocolate and pistachio sponges, with white chocolate buttercream, and even more pistachio!
I realised that on my blog I hadn’t put up that many actual cake recipes, more cookies and cupcakes than anything else and I felt this desperately needed sorting out! I love making EVERYTHING however, sometimes when I fancy a big cake, I just want to make a big cake.
I was trying to decide what cake recipe I should experiment with that would be interesting and utterly delicious… there were so many of them I found it difficult to choose! However, I did think I wanted to try something sweet but not overpoweringly so – enter pistachio and white chocolate cake!
Seeing as I have an obsession with pistachios and chocolate, I thought that this would be ideal! Added bonus is the that the green of the pistachios with the delicate sponge and white chocolate buttercream looks pretty!
I decided to make the cake slightly bigger to make it a celebration cake for a friend of mine – it was her birthday and I thought that it would be perfect! The cake would be ideal on a spring and summer evening for the whole family to enjoy, or especially for a dab of afternoon tea.
The sponge of this cake is dotted with bits of pistachios and chunks of white chocolate – combined with the lightest and fluffiest white chocolate buttercream is utterly delicious. I tend to enjoy this sort of flavour cake or my carrot cake as a treat with a cup of tea!
If you are a person that prefers something sweeter instead, then I thoroughly recommend my lemon and raspberry cake or even my bakewell layer cake which is superrr tasty! I even have a flavour for the chocolatey lovers – Oreo!
If you are as much of a white chocolate and pistachio flavour combination fan as I am, check out my recipes for white chocolate and pistachio blondies and my white chocolate and pistachio cheesecake – flavour heaven!!
White chocolate and pistachio cake!
Ingredients
Cake
- 400 g unsalted butter
- 400 g caster sugar
- 7 large eggs
- 400 g self raising flour
- 150 ml whole milk
- 150 g pistachios roughly chopped
- 150 g white chocolate chunks/chips
Buttercream/Decoration
- 250 g white chocolate
- 250 g unsalted butter
- 350 g icing sugar sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 50 g pistachios roughly chopped
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F, and line and grease 3 8"/20cm cake tins
- Cream the unsalted butter and caster sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy
- Mix in the eggs one at a time (if it starts to curdle then add a spoonful of the flour and it'll bring it back)
- Once all the eggs are incorporated into the cake batter, add the self raising flour and whole milk to the mix and then whisk again for 1 minute on a medium speed - it'll make the mix light and fluffy
- Fold in the chopped pistachios and white chocolate with a spatula and split amongst the tins
- Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean
- Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then cool on a wire rack until cooled completely
Buttercream/Decoration
- Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmer water
- Set aside to cool whilst you do the rest
- Mix the unsalted butter, icing sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer until light and fluffy like a normal buttercream
- Gradually mix in the melted white chocolate and continue to mix for about 5 minutes until its creamy and delicious
- Spread the icing between the layers and then pipe your buttercream using a 2D Closed Star Piping Tip on the top
- Sprinkle the pistachios on top
- ENJOY!
Notes
- You can easily take a third of the recipe away if you wanted to do only two layers, or make two thicker layers with all of this recipe - it will just take longer in the oven.
- You don't have to use the pistachios and chocolate chunks in the sponges, just use the rest of the recipe as normal, it might just take a tiny bit less time in the oven!
- This cake will last for 3-4 days and will stay just as delicious throughout!
ENJOY!
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J x
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Hiya,
I want to make this into a wedding cake!
I have made it before but it was a bit dense?!
If I add buttermilk instead of milk will it be lighter or fluffier? Or can you suggest why it was dense if the recipe was for a spongy/fluffy cake?
Also, would this cake hold fondant icing and be ‘strong’ enough to be a 3 tier cake?
Thanks so much for any advice!
Hi Jane, this recipe looks delicious I can’t wait to try it this weekend. It’s only my partner and I at home but I would still like to make this cake to size to add the real “wow factor” for his birthday. Is it possible to freeze slices of this cake to enjoy at a later time if we aren’t able to finish it in a few days?
Yes absolutely you can! You can freeze this for up to 3 months! Enjoy x
Hi Jane, how can I make this into a 3 layer 10inch cake please – I’m not very good with scaling up recipes
Hi Jane,
I want to make a white chocolate and orange cake for my mum’s birthday this week and I know that’s very different to this cake, but I can’t find a recipe for one and I always trust your recipes. I’m just wondering if you have any advice on how / what I could substitute to make a white chocolate and orange cake?
Thank you!
Hi Jane,
I would like to make this in to a four layer celebration cake.
Could you please advise how much to adjust the Ingres by?
Thank you in advance 😊
Hiya, I would use a 500g mix instead of 400g mix xx
Thank you Jane,
So would I add an extra egg?
Would increase the amount of milk too?
Thank you x
You would need to weigh the eggs in their shells to as close to 500g as possible, and use the same amount of milk xx
hi Jane
do you think the recipe would work with pistachio paste too?
Hello! No it wouldn’t as this would effect the mixture unfortunately x
Hi Jane,
I really want to bake this cake but my brother is allergic to all nuts except from almonds and cashews. Would the cake work with either of those? xx
Yes you can use either I’m sure!
I’m soooooo excited to try!
Hi jane , I want to go all out for my finances birthday this April, and he just loves white and pistachio paired together because he adored your cheesecake of that flavour, but could I possibly do a nice but simple crumb coating all over the outside of the cake, how would you recommend doing that?
Yeah for sure! I would just increase the amount of buttercream by maybe 1/4 and use that! x
Hi Jane,
Your recipes always work so well for me. But when I added the white choc chips into this sponge they sunk and all burnt around the perimeter of the cake. What did I do wrong?xx
Oh no!! Were they the really tiny ones from the supermarket? They may have been too small! x
Hi Jane, could you substitute the pistachio with different nuts? I always find they get quite waxy when you bake with them. And I wanted to add a teaspoon of cardamom cos I love it. Can you develop any recipes with cardamom in there please?
Hi! I want to make this as a 6inch cake. How would you adjust the recipe? I also only have one deep 6 inch tin, do I need to spit it into two/three or can I do one and cut it once cooked? Thank you!
Typically I say to use about 2/3 of a recipe for a 6″ cake (if using an 8″ cake as the base) – but I imagine if you reduce it down and then baked at a lower temp for a long time it should be okay in one, but I’m not 100% sure!
Hi,
I just thought I’d post to say I made this cake, turned out perfectly. But I did substitute the butter in the butter cream for stork block (for biscuits and pastry) and it works just fine, I just add a little extra icing sugar to taste. I know you say there’s no substitute to butter for butter cream but for those with lactose intolerance you couldn’t notice the difference 😊.
Thank you for the lovely recipe it made my sisters birthday!!
Hi Jane,
I am hoping to make this for my Granny’s birthday next weekend but if I change the pistachios for coconut how much would you recommend using? Thank you x
Pistachios and coconut behave very differently in bakes some times, where desiccated coconut becomes part of the cake batter rather than being like a chocolate chip if that makes sense – it would work, but would be different like you say! I would use maybe 50g desiccated coconut? It doesn’t sound much but it is!
Hello! I was hoping to make this for my Granny’s birthday, would it be okay to swap the Pistachios for Coconut? If so, how much would you recommend? I know it is completely different but Coconut and White Chocolate is her absolute favorite! Thank you K x
Pistachios and coconut behave very differently in bakes some times, where desiccated coconut becomes part of the cake batter rather than being like a chocolate chip if that makes sense – it would work, but would be different like you say! I would use maybe 50g desiccated coconut? It doesn’t sound much but it is! x
Thank you very much for getting back to me. Apologies for the double comment, I didn’t think the first, comment had gone though! I will give it a try and let you know how it turns out 🙂 x
Does this recipe not need baking powder?
Not necessarily – you can add some if you want though!
Really excited to try this recipe- would it work If I put some raspberries in the cake mix? I love the combination of raspberries & white chocolate….😍
Thanks x
Yes that should be okay!
Hi Jane.
I’m planning on making this cake at the weekend but I just have a quick question. In terms of white chocolate, would you suggest I use a high quality one such as Green and Blacks for the icing or will any block of white chocolate suffice?
Thanks 🙂
I usually use cooking chocolate or cheap supermarket own and they both work – green & blacks would be lovely, but it’s not essential!
Thank you for getting back to me. This recipe was a dream to follow and the cake was absolutely delicious – 10/10 all round from the tasters! Thanks so much for sharing! X
I don’t have whole milk can I use semi skimmed?
You can, or you can leave it out x
Hi Jane! Would it work if I iced the sides as well or do you think it’ll be too sweet? I love all your recipes! Thank you!
Hey! Yes that would be lovely! And thanks!
Hi Jane, I am planning on making this next week for my Auntie&Uncles 55th wedding anniversary! I want to make it into 2 layers rather than 3, so will reduce the ingredients by 1/3. With regards to the eggs, do you recommend using an amount of eggs which is as close as possible to the weight of butter/flour/sugar?
Sorry if it seems like a silly question…Im just worried ill end up with a cake either too eggy or a mixture too dry! 😅
Thankyou in advance!
Hey!! Yes basically weigh the eggs in shells and match the sugar/butter/flour to those and get as close to 2/3 as you can haha!! xx
Hi Jane. I made this the other week (2 layers) and I’m going for the 3 layer this weekend. Someone mentioned trimming the ‘crust’ off the cake which I’ve never done before is this something you’d recommend? X
Hey! Do you mean the edges of the cake? I would generally not recommend doing that as it can dry a cake out!
[…] was white chocolate and pistachio, layered with white chocolate buttercream. I found the recipe on Jane’s Patisserie, which is a blog I frequent for recipes all the time (if you’re a fan of cheesecakes, I […]
Hi,
rather than 3 layers, would it work doing 2 layers in 9″ tins?
Hi Jane. I would like to just make pistachio cake, would it be possible to omit the white choc chip and replace the same amount with grounded pistachio? Thanks
Hiya! Yes it should, but it might need a couple minutes less cooking so keep an eye on it! x
Hi Jane, I just love your video “Vlog” recipes. It’s nice to watch someone creating in the kitchen and being real about it. 😊 This recipe is right up my alley, and I’m all over Caroline’s idea of adding raspberry curd between the layers… OMGodness…. How much yum factor can this cake have?! One quick question for you, could the white chocolate be melted and added to the batter rather than using solid chips? I’m not a fan of hard chips in my cakes/cupcakes. I’m just wondering if it would mess up the liquid to dry ratio or if it’s a small enough amount that it wouldn’t matter. Alternatively, Hershey’s makes a white chocolate pudding mix that could be added to the mixture instead; but again, I don’t know how that would affect the ratios. As they used to say in school, cooking is an art, baking is a science.
Thanks so much for your awesome videos & recipes!
You can melt the white chocolate in and fold it through the sponge mixture if you want!
Hi,
So I converted this to cupcakes and I’m finding them a little them a little sweet. Any ideas on something to add to make them less sweet?
Is it the actual cake or the frosting? You could not add in the white chocolate to the sponge as that would easily reduce some sweetness because then its more victoria sponge style! For the frosting, you can reduce the icing sugar but that can make it taste more buttery, or use less white chocolate in it!
Hi there, you mention this cake will keep for 3-4 days, where is it best kept? As in does it need to be refrigerated or just in airtight container ok out of the fridge? Thanks
Definitely out of the fridge – as a rule, the only sort of cake that needs to be in the fridge is one that has a cream cheese frosting, any with a buttercream or ganache etc should be kept out otherwise they go hard. x
Thanks again for all your wonderful recipes – they never fail and always taste fab!
Silly question, can I use salted pistachios or do you use unsalted/roasted?
Thank you!
I use baking pistachios, so they’re unsalted and out of shells, but not roasted. But you can use salted if you wish! Probably would taste nice! X
[…] I wasn’t really sure where to start with this recipe, as I didn’t know if I wanted to put melted chocolate into the batter, or just chocolate chips. I therefore did several test batches of this, and I personally prefer the chocolate chips. They sort of create little pockets of deliciousness that you bite into once the cupcakes are baked and ohhh it tastes so good! Kinda like my White Chocolate & Pistachio Cake! […]
Thank you for a great recipe! I made this for my dad’s 70th birthday; it looked impressive and tasted delicious!
My 4 year old niece has asked a for a pink cake for her birthday. Would it be okay to add some gel colour to the sponge and the icing?
You’d have to use a good quality colouring such as sugar flair which you can buy online, or progel which you can also buy online or in hobby craft for example, and it would work well.
I used sugarflair food coloring and it worked so well. I made four rainbow sponge layers with pink frosting, it’s my best cake so far, delicious ans looked stunning. An absolute hit with everyone!
Hi, I was wondering if this would work as cupcakes? I have your white chocolate cupcake recipe, would it work if I added some pistachios to that recipe? Would the cooking time need adjusting?
The cupcake recipe would work with pistachios, it just might need a minute or two less maybe as nuts are quite drying, but it should be fine!
Cake looks lovely! Could I take the pistachios out of the recipe? My daughters asked for a chocolate cake for her birthday and I want pink frosting so don’t want to do a Normal chocolate buttercream cake. Also, would I have to double the amount of white chocolate in the cake mix to account for the missing nuts? Thank you!
You can definitely take the pistachios out, but you wouldn’t need any extra white chocolate otherwise it might be too sweet! X
How can I substitute self raising flour??
Use the same weight in plain flour, and add 2tsps of baking powder.
Same weight of plain flour with 2tsps baking powder
Hi, can I use a fresh cream icing instead of the buttercream icing?
You would have to store the cake in the fridge as cream can’t be out of the fridge for more than 4 hours, so I’d personally recommend not to.
That cake looks official could you help me with ingredients list to make a two. Layer version as I only have two tins thanks Jane pls reply
Reduce the ingredients by 1/3 and bake in two tins.
Omg me and maths don’t get along gonna try suss it out. Thanks
Hi Jane. Cake looks lovely. How can I adjust the ingredients to make it in 3 6 inch tins?
If I am completely honest, I am not too sure.. You could try taking away 1/3 or 1/4 of the ingredients? These sponges are relatively thin, so would be reasonably thick for 6″, so reducing it slightly should be perfect.
Hi Jane could you put the grams for two layer as I’m not good with maths I wanna try asap thanks and keep it up
Hi Jane- this cake looks lovely. Is it possible to use a square tin?I would like to make it for Christmas as a double tier so I think a square one would be great with decorations etc! Would it still be ok? What size tin would you recommend? Thank you! Paula
Sorry for the late reply – the problem you have is that its not so simple as to use an 8″ square instead of an 8″ round as the square is considerably larger in volume.. so I would recommend 7″ squares at most unless you alter the baking times and can accept thinner sponges if you use larger ones!
Thank you!
The cake looks amazing. What can i use as substitute for the eggs?
I’m not sure I’m afraid as I’ve never had to substitute eggs before
Hi Jane,
This cake looks delicious! I’m thinking about adding a layer of curd in between the layers. Do you think a raspberry curd would work with the other flavors?
Greetings, Caroline
Hiya! Yes Raspberry would be perfect!! x
please send me lots of your great recipes, I love trying recipes thanks again very, very much
All my recipes are on here for you to see already 🙂
[…] quiches, salads, bacon and eggs, a cauliflower cake and even crème brulée. My friend Claudia made this cake – there was also a birthday to celebrate – and I contributed smoothies, fruit […]
Damn it look soooo good! Congrats! 😀
Hehe thank you so much!! 😀 so tasty!
that cake look beautiful and delicious!
Thank you so much! 🙂
That is one beautiful cake. Wish I had been there to sample it. I love pistachios and the icing looks lovely.
Thank you so much! I wish you had too, there is plenty to go around!!
WOW! I want a piece right now, looks great! 🙂
Deanna xoxo
http://www.bakinginfashion.com
Haha thank you so much Deanna! X
This cake is gorgeous and delicious! Love how you didn’t frost the sides so you can see all of the layers!
Thank you!! Sometimes I just love the simplicity of not icing the sides, makes it so inviting!! 🙂
The cake looks scrumptious. i love nuts in my cake. this looks amazing.
Ohh thank you so much!! ☺️ I love them too! Haha