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:

1. Stir: In a small bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.
2. Stir together the plain Greek yogurt, pistachio compound, vanilla paste, and lemon juice. Set aside.
3. 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.
4. Combine yogurt mixture into beaten egg mixture. Then slowly add flour mixture on low speed just until combined.
5. Pour batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly. Sprinkle evenly with chopped pistachios.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.
7. Immediately loosen edges of cake from pan and take the cake out of pan. Remove waxed paper. Cool completely, around an hour.

Cardamom Syrup:

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

Pistachio Mascarpone Cream:

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

To assemble:

1. Cut cake into 3 rectangular equal parts.
2. 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.

3. 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.
4. 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.

1. 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.