Flourless Pistachio Cake With Strawberry Meringue

March 17, 2015

4.1

(16)

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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Anna Stockwell

Active Time

1 hour
Total Time

2 hours

This gluten-free cake makes a stunning end to a Passover meal or any springtime dinner, with surprisingly bright layers of green pistachio cake and pink strawberry meringue.

Ingredients

10-12 servings

For the cake:

Vegetable oil, for cake pan

1 1/2 cups shelled unsalted pistachios (8 ounces)

3/4 cup sugar, divided

6 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for egg whites

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

For meringue topping:

1 1/3 cups freeze-dried strawberries (1.2-ounce package)

5 egg whites, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon white vinegar

1 cup almond flour (4 ounces)

1 cup superfine sugar

1 tablespoon potato starch

Special Equipment:

9-inch springform pan

Make the cake:
Step 1
Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly brush a 9-inch springform pan with oil and line bottom with a round of parchment paper. Brush parchment with oil and set pan aside.
Step 2
In a food processor, pulse pistachios with 1/4 cup sugar until finely ground (avoid overgrinding); set aside.
Step 3
In two large bowls, separate the 6 eggs into yolks and whites, reserving the sixth egg white for another use. Add 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla, salt, and cardamom to bowl with egg yolks and beat using an electric mixer until thick and pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Set egg yolk mixture aside and thoroughly clean and dry the beaters.
Step 4
Add a pinch of salt to the bowl with the egg whites and beat using an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Step 5
Add half of the whipped egg whites and all of the ground pistachios to the egg yolk mixture and fold until combined. Add the remaining egg whites and fold until batter is just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with a rubber spatula. Bake until beginning to brown and just barely set, 20–25 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the meringue topping:
Step 6
In a food processor, process the strawberries into a fine powder. Set aside 1 Tbsp. of the powder for decorating the cake, and pour the remaining powder into a medium bowl. Whisk in the almond flour and the potato starch.
Step 7
在一个大碗里用电动搅拌机,打5g whites and vinegar until soft peaks form, then gradually beat in the sugar and continue to whip until meringue is stiff and glossy and all the sugar has dissolved, 7–8 minutes. Gently fold almond mixture into meringue until just combined.
Step 8
Remove cake from oven. Using an offset spatula or table knife, spread meringue mixture evenly over hot cake, starting from the outside and working your way into the center. Return cake to oven and bake until meringue is lightly browned and crisp, 25–30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool, and immediately run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Release and remove the side of the springform pan. Let cake cool at least 30 minutes before decorating.
Decorate the cake:
Step 9
将保留在fine-mes草莓粉h sieve and dust over cake as desired.
Do Ahead
Step 10
Cake can be made up to one day before serving: cool to room temperature, loosely cover with plastic wrap, and store at room temperature.

Cooks' Note

Look for freeze-dried strawberries in the dried fruit aisle of your local health-food or specialty food store.

If you don't have superfine sugar, you can make your own by pulverizing granulated sugar in a food processor.

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Reviews (16)

This was beautiful to look at, but tastes terrible. The cake portion is a cross between a muffin and fruitcake, while the meringue has the taste (not the texture of course) of fruit leather.
- Anonymous
- 3/31/2018
Really confused now. Two different scenarios below. Is it 6 egg whites or 6 egg yolks for cake? Also, is potato starch needed at all for meringue? What are other options?
- mymocha
- Bedford, PA
- 4/9/2017
Am I supposed to use raw or roasted pistachios?
- eyeknit
- Brooklyn, NY
- 4/4/2017
There is a step missing in the meringue section of this recipe - I'm assuming you grind the freeze dried strawberries in a food processor, reserve 1/4 cup, and combine the rest with the almond flour, which becomes the almond mixture you add at the end of the first step. Please include the specifics for those who are not frequent bakers.
- debgrosner
- Arlington, VA
- 2/10/2016
I changed up most of the recipe, and after those changes it was wonderful. I thought I had written a review and cannot find my notes, so I¿ll do my best. Superfine sugar would be ideal, especially for the meringue. I used turbinado, ground fine because it is what I had, but it changes the color of the meringue top. The egg whites were duplicated originally, and I think it has been fixed. I used 6 yolks and folded in the 5 whites for the cake. I used Horizon organic egg whites for the meringue and it worked great. The freeze dried fruit (I used cherries) was very gunky. Just out of curiosity, I put some in the refrigerator, and they could be ground to a powder after that. The meringue was very sweet, so I suggested tasting a bit of cake and meringue on the same forkful to balance it out. Would prefer slightly less sweet meringue. It was a hit and worth the time.
- NaptownMama
- Naptown, MD
- 6/24/2015
从我的蛋糕是膨化,第一炉阶段looked set when I removed it to top it with meringue. It did shrink down 2 inches while I added topping. It fell in the middle ever so slightly after baking. After cooling completely it was quite loopsided. I'm a big cook but have less experience baking, but I definitely would let the cake set longer next time in the first baking. I substituted coco sugar and the taste and texture was excellent and special for strawberry pistachio muffins. However, if I were to want cake I would try another type of natural sugar for something sweeter. The strawberry meringue taste was delicious. Looking forward to playing with and perfecting this recipe.
- soup_ster_1
- Miami, fl
- 5/24/2015
A simple re-write of the ingredients would clarify the instructions for this recipe. In the list of ingredients for the cake, change "6 eggs" to "6 egg yolks" and voila... clarity.
- michelewilt
- washington, dc
- 4/15/2015
A minor re-write of the ingredient list is all that's needed to clarify the instructions. Instead of saying "6 eggs" in the list of ingredients for the cake, it should read "6 egg yolks". I pulled the cake out after 25 minutes in the oven and it was *barely* set. And the meringue came up to the top of the pan and a little beyond. My end result was that the middle of the cake/meringue sank, and the meringue was golden. To avoid this, in the future I might (a) cook the cake a little longer to ensure it's more set in the middle or (b) use a 10-inch springform pan (so that the middle sets up more firmly at 20-25 minutes). The other thing I didn't care for was the strawberry powder garnish -- the bright red looked a little bizarre against the brown-ish meringue. Taste-wise, I hate to say I didn't try it! I left it at a Passover dinner and had to leave early. But the guests said it was wonderful, and one of them even had two pieces. I'll have to make this again if for no other reason than to taste the darn thing!
- michelewilt
- washington, dc
- 4/15/2015
Made this for Passover and it was a great hit. I do have a couple of comments. As previous reviewers mentioned the egg count is confusing. This is an 10 egg separated commitment. You end up having to toss 4 yolks, unless you have a good yolk recipe. My comments are largely from my user error but think others might learn from my mistakes Couldn't find freeze dried strawberries so I used blueberries, I somehow think strawberries would have been a better contrast but it definitely worked with blueberries. My reserved tablespoon of blueberry powder ended up getting sticky because there was too much moisture in the air. It may be obvious to others but I think it should be pointed out that you should put that in an air tight container until you get to a point where you can use it. Additionally my meringue ended up being soft because i did not let it cool long enough before I put the cake away for the night. And finally I think this took me twice as long as was suggested but that might be because it was the first time I made it.
- evedr
- Brooklyn, NY
- 4/10/2015
I was a little confused about the number of eggs at first too, but soon figured that out. My problem was adding the meringue to the just set cake. The meringue was too heavy and sunk into the cake. I would cook the cake a little longer before adding the meringue. It still should taste good though.
- Anonymous
- San Diego, Ca
- 4/3/2015
I read it as six eggs that you need to separate plus ten more egg whites. I'm sure that's not it, but it isn't clear.
- iahawk89
- 3/29/2015
Having studied the recipe, it appears the ingredients list should have read: 6 egg yolks and then 5 egg whites because it says to separate the eggs and discard the sixth egg white. Then there is another 5 egg whites for the meringue. Very confusing the way it was written. By the way, you can freeze unused egg whites from recipes that call for yolks, and defrost them later for recipes that call for egg whites. I use sandwich size ziplock bags.
- Anonymous
- Knoxville, Tn
- 3/26/2015
Jozzle....you need egg whites for the cake and egg whites for the meringue. That's what meringue is!
- Stiney1716
- Atlanta
- 3/26/2015
Jozzle is correct, because the egg whites for the cake are already included in the six whole eggs listed earlier in the cake ingredients.
- Dragonphile
- Ottawa, ON
- 3/26/2015
jozzle...I believe that it's correct: 5 eggs whites are for the cake, then 5 more for the meringue.
- 137buster
- Tinton Falls, NJ
- 3/26/2015