5 from 5 reviews

Pistachio Tiramisu Cake is inspired by our ongoing interest in Persian cuisine and Italian desserts. Really wanting to bring all those delicious flavors to the spotlight, we came up with this layered sponge cake filled with pistachio-infused mascarpone cheese and sweetened with spicy and aromatic cardamom syrup.

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Hello my friends. Today we’re making an out-of-the-ordinary cake that tastes as if it has existed forever. Pistachios and mascarpone meet again in a godly layered cake with layers and layers of flavor. Allow me to break it down for you.

It all starts with a cake, but this is no regular sponge cake. It’s infused with cinnamon, ginger, vanilla, nutmeg, and pistachios! You can taste the warm spices already, am I right? All this in a moist cake of all-purpose flour, sugar, a nice amount of tangy Greek yogurt, and livened up with just a squirt of lemon juice. The cake alone makes a gorgeous coffee cake, but we’re just getting started.

Round green plate with a slice of pistachio tiramisu cake with chopped pistachios. Recipe at Spoonabilities.com

We’ll cut the cake in layers and drizzle it heavily with a homemade cardamom syrup with a few pinches of freshly cracked black peppercorns, a pinch of salt, and a combination of ground and crushed cardamom pods.

And that’s not all; each syrup-soaked cake layer will support a thick spread of airy pistachio-flavored whipped mascarpone cream sweetened with powdered sugar.

These are three layers of deliciousness on top of each other. Then we are garnishing this pistachio tiramisu cake with piped pistachio-flavored whipped mascarpone cream in peaks. The result is hard to describe; you must taste this one to see what the hype is all about.

Close of of the whole pistachio tiramisu cake on top of a wooden/porcelain plate. Recipe at Spoonabilities.com

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How to Make Pistachio Tiramisu Cake with a simple four-step process

Let's start this step-by-step general process to effortlessly bring this nutty dessert to life. First, bring the eggs to room temperature, preheat the oven, lightly grease a baking pan, and measure all your ingredients for this pistachio tiramisu cake.

Ingredients for the tiramisu separated in small blue tone bowls. More details of this recipe at Spoonabilities.com

1. Make the Cake Batter

Mix together the dry ingredients of all-purpose flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, and sea salt. Mix together the wet ingredients. In this step, I use Pistachio Compound from Amoretti by combining four tablespoons with ½ cup of plain Greek yogurt, vanilla paste, and lemon juice.

Dry ingredients in a small blue bowl for for the pistachio tiramisu: all-purpose flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, and sea salt. Recipe at Spoonabilities

two blue bowls. The top right side has the dry ingredient mix and the other bowl on the bottom left side has Greek yogurt, vanilla paste, and lemon juice. Recipe at Spoonabilities.com

Beat eggs with an electric hand mixer on high speed until thick with a yellow pale lemon color. Gradually add sugar, beating on medium speed until light and fluffy. Stir in the yogurt mixture, and at low speed add the flour mixture just until combined. Pour batter in a prepared baking dish and top with crushed pistachios. Then put in the oven.

Baking dish with the pistachio cake batter before go into the oven. Recipe at Spoonabilities.com

2. Make the Cardamom Syrup

While the cake is baking, make the cardamom syrup by combining the sugar, sea salt, pepper, ground cardamom, and cardamom pods in a small saucepan.

A small saucepan with the cardamom syrup. A blue towel is wrapping the saucepan. Recipe at Spoonabilities.com

Bring to a bubbling simmer over medium heat and then reduce the heat to low. Just cook for 5 minutes or until the consistency is syrupy. The syrup should be loose so that the cake can absorb the aromatic liquid. If you let the syrup get too thick like I did, the syrup crystallizes on the cake. To my surprise, it was still delicious because when you take a bite, you get a bit of crunch from the candied syrup. But the idea of the syrup is to give moisture to the cake like a traditional tiramisu cake. So don’t do my mistake.

3. Make the Pistachio-Mascarpone Cream

Combine heavy cream, mascarpone cheese, powder sugar, Amoretti Pistachio Compound, and the leftover syrup. The compound will add not only a wonderful pistachio flavor, but also a beautiful light green color.

Wooden bowl with Pistachio-Mascarpone Cream. Recipe at Spoonabilities.com

4. Assemble the Tiramisu Cake

When done and cooled, cut the baked cake in 3 equal parts. Poke some holes in the three cake layers by using a toothpick, and pour the cardamom syrup on each layer. You may have some syrup leftover. Keep it. Using a piping bag, top the three layers of pistachio tiramisu cake with the whipped mascarpone cream.

Wooden board and using a piping bag, top the first layer of pistachio tiramisu cake with the whipped mascarpone cream. Recipe at Spoonabilities.com

On the plate that you will use to present this cake, add a few dollops of the mascarpone cream before putting the first layer of the cake. This will help keep the cake in place. Then place each layer on top of each other.

Wooden board and on top the three layers of the cake on top of each other. The last layer has a piped mascarpone cream. Recipe at Spoonabilities.com

Using another piping bag with a star tip, decorate the top layer. Refrigerate for a couple of hours to let the syrup infuse the cake.

Close up photo of the top of the cake showing the decoration of the tiramisu cake. Recipe at Spoonabilities.com

Oh... I forgot to mention that this pistachio tiramisu cake is a variation of our popular Fall cake recipe Pumpkin Tiramisu Cake with Coffee-Maple Mascarpone Cream.

Looking for More Pumpkin Cake Recipes?

Here are a few related recipe ideas you might enjoy:

I hope you get a chance to make this pistachio tiramisu cake. This dessert ended up much better than we expected. It’s comforting, creamy, nutty, and sweet. A real treat that pays homage to Mediterranean flavors while still being creative. Did you make this or another one of our recipes? Tag @Spoonabilities on Instagram or add a photo or comment on Pinterest, so we can find you! And we love to hear from you in the comment section below.

Carlos Leo
Your Recipe Concierge!

Pistachio Tiramisu Cake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 5 reviews

Author: Carlos Leo
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: 12 1x

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Description

Pistachio Tiramisu Cake is a layered sponge cake filled with pistachio-flavored whipped mascarpone cream and brought to life with an aromatic cardamom syrup that pays homage to Italian desserts and Persian flavors. Creamy, nutty, sweet, and spicy, this beautiful cake is layered with sophisticated yet comforting flavors.

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Ingredients

Units Scale

For the Cake:

¾ cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon vanilla paste
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup plain Greek yogurt
3 Tablespoons pistachio compound or ¼ cup Pistachio Cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup finely chopped pistachios

For Cardamom Syrup:

1 cup sugar
Pinch salt
Few pinches black pepper
½ cup cold water
⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom
4 crushed cardamom pods

For Pistachio Mascarpone Cream:

2 cups whipping cream
18-ounce container mascarpone cheese
4 Tablespoons Pistachio Compound or ⅓ cup Pistachio Cream
½ cup powdered sugar

Pistachio pieces on top of the cake for the decoration

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Instructions

Prep:

Let eggs stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking pan. Line bottom of the pan with waxed paper; grease the paper. Set pan aside.

For the cake:

Stir: In a small bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.
Stir together the plain Greek yogurt, pistachio compound, vanilla paste, and lemon juice. Set aside.
Beat: In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer on high speed about 5 minutes or until thick and a pale yellow color. Gradually add sugar, beating on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Combine yogurt mixture into beaten egg mixture. Then slowly add flour mixture on low speed just until combined.
Pour batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly. Sprinkle evenly with chopped pistachios.
Bake for 15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.
Immediately loosen edges of cake from pan and take the cake out of pan. Remove waxed paper. Cool completely, around an hour.

Cardamom Syrup:

Combine the sugar, salt, pepper, ground cardamom, cardamom pods, and water in a medium size saucepan. Bring to a bubbling simmer over medium heat.
Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes, just until the consistency is syrupy, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Pistachio Mascarpone Cream:

Beat: In a large mixing bowl, beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed whipping cream and powder sugar until soft peaks.
Whip: Add mascarpone cheese and pistachio compound, and whip until soft peaks form (tips curl).

To assemble:

Cut cake into 3 rectangular equal parts.
Poke some holes in the cake layers by using a toothpick, to help the syrup permeate the cake. Drizzle the cardamom syrup over each of the three cake layers. You will have some syrup leftover. Then pipe Pistachio Mascarpone Cream on each layer too.

Secure the base: On the plate that you will use to present this cake, add a few dollops of the mascarpone cream before putting the first layer of the cake. This will help to keep the cake in place.
Layer the cake: Place one of the cake layers, nut side up, on the serving plate. If any of the nuts fall off when inverting cake layers, sprinkle them over the cake layers when assembling. Then place each layer on top of each other.

Decorate: Using another piping bag with a star tip, decorate the top layer. Refrigerate for a couple of hours to let the syrup infuse the cake.

Notes

If you let the syrup get too thick like I did, the syrup crystallizes on the cake. To my surprise, it was still delicious because when you take a bite, you get a bit of crunch from the candied syrup. But the idea of the syrup is to give moisture to the cake like a traditional tiramisu cake. So, don’t do my mistake :).

Alternative ingredients: Pistachio Cream

Prep Time: 45
Cook Time: 15
Category: Dessert
Method: Bake
Cuisine: Italian & Persian

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