Pistachio Cardamom Cake
(Gourmet Magazine 2001 and featured in "Eat Cake" - a Novel by Jeanne Ray)
3/4 cup shelled pistachios
1 cup Cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cardamom powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease or spray a 13 x 9 inch cake pan with non-stick spray
3. Pulse pistachios in food processor till finely ground (do not grind to paste!). Add flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt and pulse till just mixed.
4. Combine milk and vanilla in separate dish.
5. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl till pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Alternately add pistachio flour and milk in batches until just combined.
6. Spread batter into prepared cake pan, bake about 20 minutes or until tester comes out clean.--
Ganache for filling and icing
20 oz semi-sweet chocolate
10 oz heavy cream
Method-
Bring the heavy cream to a boiling point. Pour it over the chocolate.Mix till all the chocolate is melted. Ganache is ready.
Candy Shells- Melt candy melts in the microwave for 1.5 minutes and pour on to the seashell candy mold. Once set take it out and color them.
Jello for cake [ the water effect ]
350 g of cold water 70 g of gelatin 4 cups of water 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Mix 350 g of cold water and 70 g of gelatin. Bring 4 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of sugar to boil. Let the mixture cool down to 120 F (50 C). Add a little bit of blue food coloring, then add dissolved gelatin mixture.
How I made the cake :
Stack three 8 inch cakes with ganache filling. Carve the cake to make it look like a mountain. Ice it with chocolate ganache and let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours,. Once the ganache is set, use white gel food coloring and color the mountain with a brush. Attach the candy clay shells and starfish to the various places on the bottom part of the mountain. Build a wall around the boundary of the cake with acetate sheet and use a springform pan to hold the shape. Pour the cooled jello over it, let it set overnight. Carefully remove the acetate sheet and springform pan. Use powdered graham cracker colored in 2 shades of green to make moss and sand. Spread over the top of the chocolate mountain. The cake board is decorated with graham cracker crumbs and hand made chocolate candies seashells.
How I made it Video :
Disclaimer : All content on this post was shared by a participant of the Great Bay Area Bake-Off. The blog does not claim any ownership, copyright or content responsibility. All credits belong to the participant.