Persimmon Pistachio Cardamom Cake

A dense and sturdy cake - perfect for tea time.

subtle nuttiness, soft and fruity persimmons melt away into the cake, and warm cardamom spiced notes

Persimmon Pistachio Cardamom Cake

Ingredients:

7 fuyu persimmons, very ripe - peeled and chopped into small pieces - if they are very ripe they may mash better than chopped and that works just fine.

1 cup salted butter, softened - I prefer kerrygold

1 cup light brown sugar 

1 cup date syrup - I use alwadi

3 large eggs

1 t pure vanilla extract

1 orange, zested 

1/2 t ground nutmeg

1 t ground cinnamon 

1 t ground cardamom (I removed the seeds from pods and ground this myself for best flavor, but you can buy ground as well for ease)

1 cup pistachios, blitzed to a powder (try to get the deep green color pistachios, you can find at Kalustyans)

1/2 cup almond meal

1 t baking powder 

1 t kosher salt 

2 cups flour

1 cup coconut milk (or another dairy or non-dairy option - we just do not drink milk in our home but you can sub it)

1 cup pistachios, chopped

Confectionary sugar for dusting

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, parchment line a 10x 2 inch cake pan. Grease pan with butter or coconut oil. In the bottom of the pan scatter the chopped pistachios evenly.

• In a stand mixer, beat butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Add date syrup and mix together.

• With mixer working, add eggs one at a time until combined. It will look a bit like it’s separated - this is normal.

• Add vanilla, orange zest, and spices, mix to combine.

• In a separate bowl mix together pistachio powder, almond meal, baking powder, salt, and flour.

• Alternate adding coconut milk and flour mixture until combined into a batter.

• Fold in chopped persimmons at the end.

• Gently spoon batter into prepared cake pan to make sure pistachios are on the bottom do not mix into the batter.

• Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a tooth pick comes clean. The cake will release from the sides on the pan and be a deep brown color from the date syrup.

• Allow to cool slightly then turn out onto a cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar.

• Cake is great served with coffee and tea, keep tightly wrapped on the counter - will keep for several days.

This cake is not very sweet so would take very well to a glaze. An orange blossom glaze would highlight the flavors, or a lemon olive oil glaze to add some acidity would go well.