Make New Friends With This Cake

It's funny, the thoughts that go through your head in the last month of pregnancy. Somewhere in your second trimester, you start to get excited and impatient about the arrival of the baby, like you just can't wait for the big day. But then the third trimester creeps up, and strange things start happening with your hormones once again. For instance, one day I'll be so ready to get this baby out and into the world. But the next day, I'll be silently praying to keep it in for just a wee bit longer, because I'm just not mentally ready to have my life change so drastically! And so it goes, back n forth back n forth, till I suppose one day the baby decides to take matters into his/her own tiny hands. Until then, I can only pretend to have a smidgen of control. Thank goodness for the website Babycenter.com, where they send me reminders each week about what I need to do - like getting my hospital bag together sooner rather than later. Of course, being me, I zeroed in on the one thing I needed to pack that's probably at the very bottom of every practical mom's list - snacks. Yup, somehow I managed to spend more time thinking about what snacks I need to take to the hospital with me, rather than saaaaaayy, things like deodorant and baby clothes. *shaking my head* - Aren't I gonna make a fabulous mom?!


But it is a good thing for you, my dear readers. Because out of that oh-so-serious contemplation came this cake. One look at the ingredients, and you know it's going to be sublime. I've made this recipe a few times already, so I know for a fact that you just won't go wrong with it. My diabolical plan is to make this a few days ahead of my delivery, so that I can take it to the hospital with me, and use it to make friends with all the labor nurses and doctors. It might make them more sympathetic to my pathetic pleas for more painkillers. Or when I call them 10 times in the middle of the night to help me change my own baby's diaper because it's something I've never done, ever! This cake has power, folks, and I intend to wield it shamelessly to get what I want from that hospital staff.

Pistachio and Cardamom Pound Cake (from Suvir Saran's cookbook American Masala - the original recipe calls for making a lemon icing, but I found that unnecessary, so I've left it out)
Makes 1 loaf

Click here for printable recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup raw, shelled pistachios
1 stick plus 5 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamom (preferably freshly ground)
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup whole milk

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Place pistachios on a baking sheet and toast till fragrant in the oven, about 5 mins. Cool and then pulse in a food processor till they're very fine (don't over-process or you'll end up with pistachio butter, which may sound yummy but it's not what you need here!). Set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 350 F.

2. Grease an 8.5" x 4.5" loaf pan with 1/2 tbsp of butter. Line the bottom with a long strip of parchment paper, with overhanging sides that you can use to later remove the cake from the pan. Grease the top of the parchment with another 1/2 tbsp of butter and set aside.

3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt together. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl, whisk in the vanilla, and set aside.

4. Using an electric mixer, cream the remaining butter and sugar until they are light and airy. Drizzle in the egg mixture a little at a time, while the machine is running, and scraping down the bowl in between if necessary.
5. Alternate adding the flour and milk, starting and ending with the flour, and mixing until the batter is just combined. Fold the pistachios into the batter with a spatula.

6. Transfer batter to the loaf pan. Bake for about 45 mins, or until a cake tester inserted into the cake's center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in its pan for 10 mins. Then take it out and put it on a cooling rack for another hour. Slice and serve as is, or with tea or coffee. Wrap the rest up in saran wrap or place in an airtight container - stores really well like this for several days.
Verdict: So very very moist, that it melts in your mouth. The flavor is just out of this world - it made me fall in love with pistachios in a whole new way. And having that one teeny tiny teaspoon of freshly ground cardamom in there makes a phenomenal difference. The first time I made this, I tried it with the lemon icing, but felt that it distracted from the main flavors of this cake - so now I just skip it. Makes for a wonderful snack with high tea, or a comforting bite while you're watching The Ellen Degeneres Show in the afternoon and cursing yourself for not entering her 12-Days-Of-Christmas sweepstakes! Or do what I plan to do the next time I make this - share and make new friends with it.

The inside of this cake is this gorgeous shade of pale green, flecked with cardamom. Just the smell of this stuff will hypnotize you, folks!