Good day monday dwellers!

Despite some washing machine issues, this weekend was full of fabulousness – my friends Nixon and Dada are visiting at the moment.. which of course meant lots of baked goods, lots of food in general and watching Austin Powers. After so many years of not having seen it, I was laughing my ass off. The best line is – surely – when Dr. Evil talks about his parents and says that his father often “accused chestnuts of being lazy” – pure hilarity.

So I baked this coffee and pistachio cake with mascarpone, yoghurt and honey in the middle and on top. It isn’t an overwhelmingly coffee flavoured cake, but rather a subtle hint of coffee. It doesn’t have any of the bitterness of coffee. For those coffee lovers who don’t think coffee is bitter.. it just is. Not necessarily in a bad way.. but even when its as freshly ground as the day is young, I still get a hint of bitter!

I love using pistachios because they are just such a wonderful colour!! Also, as tasty as hell. I had to fight off my flatmates hungry paws while I was shelling them and cutting them up, because they kept trying to grab them. At one point I even put a chair against the door to prevent their thieving hands!

Here is the recipe for my

pistachio & coffee cake:

Ingredients

Cake:

250g butter

250g golden brown caster sugar

2 eggs

250 g plain flour (sieved)

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

1 tsp baking powder

150 ml black coffee (cooled)

Mascarpone filling:

250g marscarpone
4 tbsp plain yoghurt
2 tbsp clear honey

100 g chopped pistachios, shelled

Method:

Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C and grease and flour two identical 20 cm round cake tins
2. Cream together the butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy
3. Beat the eggs and then mix them in thoroughly to the sugar mixture
4. Sieve in the flour with the bicarbonate soda and baking powder and fold in until throughly mixed
5. Pour in the cooled coffee and mix in thoroughly
6. Divide equally between the two cake tins and bake at 175°C for about 30 mins or until a skewer comes out clean
7. Leave to cool
8. Once cooled, pour half the marscapone mixture (see below) onto one of the cakes and then place the other cake on top.
9. Spread the rest of the marscarpone mixture on top and arrange the chopped pistachios on top.