Cooking with Toti
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Lemon Pistachio Cake with Lemon Glaze
Soft, buttery, and packed with pistachios — finished with a bright lemon glaze.
Serves
1 x 8-inch cake
Time
1 hr
A tender single-layer cake with lots of ground pistachios and fresh lemon zest, topped with a simple lemon glaze and crushed pistachios. Cozy, easy, and family-approved.
Instructions
Cake
- 1
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line and grease an 8-inch pan.
- 2
Whisk flour, ground pistachios, baking powder, and salt.
- 3
Rub lemon zest into the sugar with your fingers until fragrant.
- 4
Beat butter, oil, and lemon sugar until light and fluffy, 3–4 minutes.
- 5
Add eggs one at a time, mixing well.
- 6
Mix in yogurt, lemon juice, and vanilla.
- 7
Fold in the dry ingredients just until combined — don't overmix.
- 8
Pour into the pan and bake 35–40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- 9
Cool completely before glazing.
Glaze
- 1
Whisk powdered sugar with lemon juice until smooth and pourable.
- 2
Pour over the cooled cake and let it drip down the sides.
- 3
Sprinkle crushed pistachios around the edge and let the glaze set.
Toti’s Tips
- ✓Use finely ground pistachios rather than chunky ones, because large pieces break up the crumb and make the cake feel coarse instead of tender.
- ✓Bring the butter and eggs to room temperature so they blend smoothly into the batter instead of separating or leaving lumps of cold butter.
- ✓Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingers before creaming, since this releases the citrus oils and spreads lemon flavor through the whole cake instead of leaving it in isolated specks.
- ✓Fold in the dry ingredients just until combined, because overmixing develops gluten in the flour and makes the cake tough instead of soft.
- ✓Bake until a toothpick comes out clean but not longer, since extra time in the oven dries out a delicate cake like this one.
- ✓Let the cake cool completely before glazing, or the warmth will melt the glaze and it will slide right off instead of setting on top.
- ✓Give the cake a day to rest if you can, since the lemon and pistachio flavors mellow and deepen as it sits.
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