Nigella Lawson Pistachio Cake With Pear And Rose Recipe
Prep Time:
10 minutes
Cook Time:
50 minutes
Servings:
8 to 12 servings
Ingredients
  • Vegetable oil, for greasing
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ¾ cup shelled pistachios
  • 1 pound (approximately 3) thin-skinned pears, such as Bartlett, cored and cut into chunks, skin on
  • 2 cups fine almond flour
  • 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 6 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1½ teaspoons rosewater
  • 2 teaspoons apricot preserves
  • ½ teaspoon lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon rosewater
  • Chopped pistachios
  • Edible rose petals
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease the sides of a 9-inch springform cake pan and line the base with parchment paper.
  2. Put the sugar and ¾ cup of pistachios into a food processor and blitz until the pistachios are finely ground, with a few nubbly bits, too.
  3. Add the remaining cake ingredients and blitz until everything is smoothly combined and the pears have been puréed into the batter. Remove the blade, scrape down the mixture, and use the spatula to help ease every bit of batter into the prepared pan.
  4. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, though take a look at 35 minutes and if the cake looks like it's browning too fast, loosely cover with aluminum foil. When the cake's ready, it will be brown on top, beginning to come away at the edges, and a cake tester will come out with just a few damp crumbs sticking to it.
  5. Sit the cake on a wire rack and leave to cool completely in the pan; like all flourless cakes, it will sink a little. When the cake is completely cold, unclip, remove the base, and transfer to a cake stand or plate.
  6. Mix the preserves, lemon juice, and rosewater together in a cup, then brush this glaze over the surface of the cake, removing any small blobs of apricot if there are any. Scatter with finely chopped pistachios and strew with rose petals, then sprinkle a few more pistachio crumbs on the top.