RASPBERRY AND PISTACHIO TEA CAKE
Add raspberry icing to this pistachio tea cake and you’ll not only get a lovely pop of colour but fabulous flavour too. It’s perfect for afternoon tea
Many schools around the country have broken up for half term, so you may find you have a busy house this coming week. And with Ireland now under Level 5 lockdown, lots of families will have fewer places to take the kids.
So a week at home it is!
A spot of baking might tear them away from their electrical devices for an hour or two and comes with the added bonus of snacks at the end of it.
These recipes are all really simple to make and will go down a treat with the whole family. 150g shelled pistachios
275g golden caster sugar
250g butter, softened
3 eggs
275g self- raising flour
75g Greek yogurt
A little milk, if needed
Sugar flowers, pearl sugar or sprinkles, to decorate ( optional)
FOR THE RASPBERRY ICING
150g raspberries
300g icing sugar
1
Heat the oven to 180C/ 160C fan/ gas 4 and line a 15 x 25cm cake tin. Put the pistachios in a food processor with half the sugar and blitz until the nuts are finely chopped. Tip into a bowl, add the remaining sugar and the butter and beat with an electric whisk until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, then beat in the flour and yogurt until smooth, adding some milk if it’s too thick.
2
Spoon the batter into the tin, level and bake for 50- 55 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 15 mins, then turn the cake out on to a board. Remove and discard the baking parchment, then leave to cool completely. Cut into neat squares.
3
To make the icing, put the raspberries in a pan with 2tbsp water and cook briefly until soft and juicy. Push the mixture through a sieve and discard any pips. Whisk in the sugar until you have a smooth pink icing.
4
Pour the icing over the cooled cake, then decorate with the sugar flowers, pearl sugar or sprinkles, if you like. Leave to set before serving.