PISTACHIO CAKE WITH BERRY COMPOTE

(+ Mascarpone Cream!)

A lovely cake for a party, and the perfect canvas for flower decorations. It’s also gluten-free and can be made without the frosting for a dairy-free version. This cake is topped with geraniums, pansies, nasturtiums, clover and cosmos.

For the cake:

• 180g / 6.3oz sugar

• 180g / 6.3oz butter at room temperature, or coconut oil

• zest of 1 lemon

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 4 eggs

• 100g / 3.5oz pistachios

• 120g / 4.2oz almond flour

• 40g / 1.4oz rice flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C / 356°F / Gas Mark 4. Grease a 20cm / 7.9″ diameter round cake pan and cover the base with parchment.

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment—or, if you’re using a handheld mixer, in a big mixing bowl—mix the sugar, butter and lemon zest for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one while you keep mixing. Scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. Blitz the rice flour, almond flour and pistachios together in a food processor. Add the baking powder and salt and add to the other ingredients. Mix until incorporated.

3. Pour the mixture into your pan and bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool on a rack. You can store the cake in the fridge once cool—it will be easier to cut.

For the compote:

• 250g / 8.8oz raspberries and blueberries

• 50g / 1.8oz sugar

• juice of 1/2 a lemon

1. Heat the fruit in a medium saucepan with the sugar and lemon juice and boil for around 15 minutes, until the fruit has collapsed and the juices start to thicken. Leave to cool to room temperature.

For the frosting:

• 250g / 8.8oz mascarpone cheese

• 250ml / 8.5 fl oz whipping cream

• 50g / 1.8oz icing sugar

• seeds of a vanilla bean

1. Put the mascarpone, icing sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer (or a mixing bowl). With the whisk attachment, beat to loosen a bit and then add the cream bit by bit. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once. Whip until firm but not any further to prevent it from splitting.

To assemble the cake:

1. Release the cake from the pan carefully and cut horizontally in three layers. It’s easier if
you use a breadknife.

2. With the help of a piping bag (or a plastic bag with one cut-off corner) filled with 1/3 of the frosting, pipe a perimetral circle of frosting on the bottom layer of the cake. Fill with half of the compote.

3. Put the middle cake layer on top, press down slightly and repeat. Pipe frosting on the perimeter and fill with the remaining compote. Top with the last cake layer. Press down slightly.

4. With a palette knife or a butter knife, spread the remaining frosting on the top and sides of the cake. Then decorate with flowers to your liking.

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