Pistachio Loaf

Okay so there has clearly been a ridiculous lack of blogging recently, sorry about that! Liv and I have been pretty busy recently what with moving back to university (pretending we're still freshers) and something else which we'll show in a blog post very soon.

Anyway, before coming back to Bournemouth I made the pistachio loaf from the Hummingbird book, this is probably my most used recipe from 'Cake Days', however up until now, I myself had never eaten the loaf as I'd always made it for my friend. This time was no different, apart from the fact that I actually managed to eat some. The fact that I have made it numerous times show that it seems to go down well, the cake itself is quite sweet, however the pistachio aspect means that it isn't too much.
The only thing I'd say which is slightly annoying about the recipe is that it takes much longer in my oven than the book originally suggests. I've tried it on various settings on the oven but the middle always seems to take a while to cook, but this isn't the end of the world and the outcome makes it all okay. 

Recipe
(Cake Days - The Hummingbird Bakery)

Serves 8-10

For the sponge:
190g (7oz) unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
190g (7oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
190g (7oz caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
25ml (1fl oz) soured cream
1tsp vanilla essence
100g (3.5oz) shelled pistachios, roughly chopped

For the glaze:
120g (4oz) icing sugar
40g (1.5oz) ground pistachios 

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 170C (325F), Gas Mark 3, then grease the loaf tin with butter and dust with flour. 
• Using a hand held electric whisk or a freestanding electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg one to a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the ingredients are properly mixed together.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then add to the creamed mixture in two batches and mix on a low speed until just incorporated . Add the soured cream and vanilla essence, then stir in the chopped pistachios by hand. 
• Pour or spoon the batter int the prepared tin, then lace in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the sponge feels firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean, with no uncooked batter sticking to it. 
• Allow the loaf to cool a little in the tin, then turn out on to a wire rack to cool down fully before adding the glaze.
• Place the icing sugar in a bowl, add 2 tablespoons of water and mix together. This will form a fairly runny paste; if the glaze seems too thick, add a little more water to thin it - 1/4 teaspoon at a time. Stir in the ground pistachios, keeping a small amount aside to sprinkle on top. Pour the glaze over the cooled loaf and sprinkle with the remaining pistachios. 

Thanks for reading,

Naomi ♥