It’s all about pistachios in this beautifully moist cake adapted by Nadine Abensur from a dish she discovered on a trip back to England.
It’s easy to think of London as a sprawling grey metropolis plagued by poor weather and bad food but that would be a mistake. It’s much better and less daunting to think of it as a series of villages, each with distinct character. Barnes is one of them. It’s on the Thames, nestled on a bend in the river, near Richmond where I grew up. You’ll find some of the oldest riverside housing in London on a road lined with mansions which runs along the west bend of the river.
As children, we would stand right there on the riverbank to cheer the Oxford and Cambridge boats as they competed their way down to the finishing line. So it was something of a nostalgic trip, a few weeks ago, to visit again with my two brothers, our farewell lunch before my flying back to Australia.
Sonny’s is a “Modern European” restaurant owned by Phil Howard, a two Michelin star chef. I think it would be cruel for me to describe the sublime lunch without giving you any of the recipes, so I’ll cut to the chase and jump straight to dessert which in my case is a pistachio cake with pistachio ice cream and wild and local blackberries.
It comes as three inch sized little cubes, a small scoop of the ice cream and a scattering of the ripe berries. (A review said the dessert portion sizes were aimed at ‘ladies who lunch’, which suited me just fine). It is perfectly light, not too sweet, a perfect mouthful or three.
Here’s the cake, tweaked and made very Northern Rivers – gluten free, coconut sugar to replace refined cane sugar, maple syrup for the glaze, mulberries from my garden. But of all the potential health claims, my version could make, it is the portion size that makes the real difference. A little of what you fancy does indeed do you good, ‘little’ being the operative word – a message I wish we (I) would learn.
Pistachio Lime and Rose Water Cake with Mulberries
Ingredients
230g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
180g coconut sugar
4 tsp rose water
4 large eggs, beaten
150g ground almonds
150g ground pistachios
20g potato starch or gluten free flour
½ tsp baking powder
zest of one lime
For the glaze
3 tbs maple syrup
2 tbs coconut sugar
Juice of 1 lime
1 tbs rose water
To garnish – a few chopped, toasted pistachios and a berry of your choice.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the base and sides of the cake tin with baking parchment. In a mixer or with a hand-held whisk, cream the butter, sugar, rosewater and lime zest until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the egg yolks, beating well between each addition. If it looks like the mixture is curdling, add a spoonful or two of the flour or potato starch and it will come together again.
Sift the potato starch or flour, baking powder, ground nuts over and fold in gently, then whisk the egg whites till soft peaks form and fold in, leaving no lumps. Scoop into the prepared tin and gently level the surface.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, till a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Meanwhile warm the maple syrup and sugar together, adding the lime juice and rose water at the end. Remove from heat. When cake is cool, pierce all over with a skewer and pour the syrup over.
Scatter the chopped and toasted pistachios.
Eat in small doses. Or not.
