This recipe came about because I was craving a cake that had a light sponge and a rich frosting. There is just something so satisfying about a light as air cake and a silky, creamy sweet frosting that just melts in the mouth and makes you want to go back for another bite. I already knew going into this that I wanted the cake to be pistachio-flavored. I love using pistachio in dessert, just because it adds a smokiness and saltiness that can contrast sweeter flavors. For my frosting, I did not necessarily go with buttercream, but namelaka. Namelaka is a whipped chocolate ganache, in this case, I went with white chocolate, that is super silky and soft, with a similar melt-in-the-mouth texture to a buttercream, but with a lot less richness and sweetness. I prefer using it for this recipe for those specific reasons, just to ensure that the cake is neither cloyingly sweet nor the frosting is overpowering any of the other ingredients I am trying to use. And just to add more contrast, as a foil to the pistachio, I filled the cake with a blackberry curd. Since blackberries are in season, I wanted to add a fresher element with some acidity to also play off the saltiness of the pistachio and the sweetness of the namelaka. Because I used seasonal fruit in this case, this recipe kind of instantly became a super summery cake, but what I love is that this kind of “blank slate” recipe can be easily modified to accommodate whatever is in season, or whatever ingredients I might have curiosity in testing out for a cake or dessert. This literally is a cake recipe that I will never get sick of, specifically for those reasons!

The cake itself is a chiffon cake, so expect a lot of whipping egg whites(stand mixers are your best friend in these cases). I ground pistachios in a spice grinder to use in lieu of some of the flour, and to dust the cake in, just to ensure that pistachio is a visual element to the cake itself. For the frosting, namelaka is a time suck. It involves using gelatin and whipping together the cocoa fat in melted white chocolate with the dairy fat in heavy cream to form this creamy, smooth emulsion. If you mess it up(i.e. over-mix it), you get this grainy, fat-studded, split mess that will need to be re-whipped with warm water until it comes back together. But it is such a delicious component, and definitely make the cake special. The blackberry curd, I made a point to make it without egg yolk, because that would cause the color to veer towards an unpleasant brown color, and egg yolks cause the risk of the curd to scramble; with the amount of anxiety the namelaka will cause, if we can avoid that in other components, let’s do that. In this case, the curd is probably the easiest component to make; I did puree my own blackberries, which were naturally sweeter due to being in season, but in the even you used a frozen blackberry puree, I did scale the curd to not include sugar. Should you use blackberries that aren’t in season, feel free to add like 1 tbsp of sugar to the recipe, just to ensure that the curd isn’t too sour. I also had a bit of fun with the frosting of the cake, since I swirled some of the curd into the namelaka before spreading it around the cake, just to have that gorgeous gradient of blackberry curd mixing into the pale white namelaka. All in all, this is a cake I can’t wait to remake, but with different ingredients, just to celebrate whatever produce is at its peak!

For the chiffon cake:
4 egg whites
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup ground pistachio
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp spirulina powder*

In a bow whip your egg whites with sugar to stiff peaks. In another bowl, mix together the other ingredients. Fold the egg whites into the other ingredients to form your batter. Spread the batter into a parchment-lined quarter sheet tray. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18 minutes. Cool down the cake completely and then cut into 3 6-inch disks, using scraps of the cake as necessary to fill out the rounds. Freeze these solid for ease of assembly.

For the soak:
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Mix together to form your soak.

For the blackberry curd:
3.4oz blackberry puree
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1g vanilla bean paste

In a pot, whisk the puree, lemon juice, and cornstarch until lump-free. Transfer the pot to a stove and whisk everything on medium-high heat until the liquid is cooked down by half and is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Take the curd off heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla. Transfer to a bowl and cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate the curd until completely cool to the touch before using in the assembly process.

For the vanilla namelaka:
8oz white chocolate
16oz heavy cream, in two parts
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 tbsps gelatin powder + 3 tbsp cold water
3g vanilla bean paste

In a pot on medium heat, melt down the white chocolate with one part of the cream, a pinch of salt, and the gelatin powder and vanilla bean paste, stirring constantly to prevent the bottom of the pot from burning. Allow the mixture to cool down in the refrigerator for 1 hour, and then mix in the remaining heavy cream using a rubber spatula.

For assembly:
Ground pistachio powder
Violas

Start by placing down one of the three rounds of cake. Drizzle over that 1/3 of your soak, then spread onto that 2oz of the namelaka in an even layer. Then spread onto that 3 tbsp of the curd. Then repeat these steps for the next round of the cake, soak, namelaka, and curd. Then place on the third round of cake and apply to that the remainder of your soak. With roughly 1/2 of your remaining namelaka, spread that around the cake to form your crumb coat. Then using an offset spatula, spread the namelaka with some of the blackberry curd drizzled on it around the cake to form your final coating. With any leftover namelaka or curd, transfer both to separate piping bags and pipe on top of the cake. Freeze the cake solid before transferring to a desired serving platter. Sprinkle pistachio powder around the cake and garnish the top with violas to finish.