Pistachio Cake

This Pistachio Cake is sweet, moist, and dense. It’s made with real pistachios and is coated in a luxurious cream cheese frosting! This gluten-free cake is made with a few healthy ingredient swaps, but no one can even tell!

After making this cake, use up the leftover pistachios in these divine honey Pistachio Cookies.

Let’s Break Down This Pistachio Cake Recipe

This recipe for a pistachio cake is a little unique because it’s quite a bit healthier than the other recipes you’ll see floating around the web. That said, we are not sacrificing flavor for nutrition here; this cake is a serious winner.

This recipe actually came to be from this cashew cake. I was making that cake yet another time (as per family requests) and came up short on cashews. (I mean with cashews being constantly channeled into weekly batches of that cashew cake, this Cashew Ice Cream, and this cake-inspired Carrot Smoothie, I can’t keep them in stock!)

With no cashews available, but a big bag of pistachios ready for the taking, I added them to the batter and haven’t looked back.

This pistachio cake is downright delicious. It’s perfectly dense with a nice moist crumb and a wonderful sweet nuttiness. And it happens to be quite a bit better for you than most pistachio cake recipes out there.

How?

• No white flour. We use oats instead.
• Far less sugar. This recipe has quite a bit less than most cake recipes that use 2+ cups.
• Pistachios (of course). These nuts are loaded with good-for-you fats and nutrients among other benefits.
• Protein-packed. Thanks to the nuts and eggs!
• Plant-based milk (almond milk).
• No pudding or gelatin mixes, or artificial food colorings (no pistachio pudding cake here!).

All this said, the cake still does have some sugar and the frosting (while optional) also has a fair amount of sugar. So as a whole, this cake stacks up pretty great nutritionally but certainly isn’t perfect (what I like to call some great moderation!).

Pistachio Cake Ingredients

Below are a few ingredients in this recipe for Pistachio Cake that are worth diving deeper into:

• Pistachios. Save time (and your fingers!) by purchasing shelled pistachios. We love roasted and lightly salted pistachios best — more flavor without any extra effort on your part. (Here’s what we use in this cake).
• Old-fashioned oats. Although it would make sense that any oats would work since they’re getting blended anyways, it’s important to use old-fashioned to ensure you get the right measurement. Both quick and steel-cut oats are smaller, denser, and more compact, so measurements would be off and the cake would end up too dry.
• Almond milk. Any milk will work in these bars; we tested them with cow’s milk and plant-based milk. The recipe is written with plant-based milk to keep these bars as nutritious as possible, but use whichever you prefer.
• Corn starch. This is an important ingredient since we aren’t using flour and need some additional support and thickness.

How To Make Pistachio Cake

This recipe is quick and easy to make, but you do need a good, powerful blender (think Blendtec® or Vitamix®) to break down the pistachios, butter, and oats.

We blend the entire batter in the blender in different stages. Stop the blender and scrape down the sides frequently (or as needed) to ensure all the ingredients are blending and incorporating. 

Once the batter is fully blended and smooth, transfer it to a pan and bake. While it’s baking you can whip together the optional frosting and then frost the completely cooled cake.

Pistachio Cake Tips

• Use a light-colored 8×8-inch pan and line it with parchment paper for easy cake removal. The light color helps heat reflect better.
• Line the pan. Be sure to line the pan with parchment paper for easy removal of the cake. Leave an overhang of parchment paper so you can pull up on the overhang to remove all the cake — it’s so much easier to cut cake squares out of the pan rather than in the pan.
• Use fresh ingredients. For the softest and best possible cake, use fresh, soft brown sugar and fresh baking agents.
• Don’t over-blend nuts and brown sugar. If the nuts are blended too long, you’ll end up with creamy pistachio butter which we don’t want!
• Cut the butter into small cubes. This helps it blend and incorporate better.

Cake Recipe Tips, Cont.

• How to tell when the cake is done baking. This pistachio cake does slightly cave in the middle, but you’ll know it is done when it’s no longer glossy looking on top, the edges are firm and lightly browned, and a toothpick when inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Set cream cheese out at room temperature: We want the cream cheese to have plenty of time to soften, so start the process of making this cake by pulling it out of the fridge before you slide the cake in the oven. 
• Only frost the cake once it has completely cooled– otherwise, the frosting will change textures from the heat of the cake.
• Garnish with extra chopped pistachios for additional texture (crunch), color, and flavor!

Pistachio Cake Storage

Frosted bars need to be tightly wrapped and stored in the fridge since there is dairy in the frosting. The fridge will turn the bars stale quickly, so they are best consumed soon after being made. (This cake is best eaten within 2-3 days.) 

More Delicious Baked Goods:

• Healthy Banana Muffins made without refined sugars
• Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies with maple syrup!
• Healthy Pumpkin Bread with chocolate chips
• Healthy Carrot Muffins made without refined sugars
• Applesauce Brownies nutritious brownies made without any black beans!

To get picture-perfect bars, run a knife under hot water for a few seconds, wipe to dry, make a slice, and repeat.