Pistachio pound cake

What happened to the pistachio when he walked down the dark alley?

He was a-salted.

He would have preferred being baked into a delicious, dense, crumby pound cake.

Molly Wizenberg shared a recipe a couple months ago starring the pistachio, with supporting roles from the orange, lemon, and lime. A pistachio pound cake with bright citrus notes, rich dense crumby cake topped with crunchy nuts.


I made it for a friend's birthday in April and recently repeated it to bring home to my parents on the weekend of my brother's wedding.

The recipe calls for zest from orange and lime, and juice from orange and lemon. I think that's a little silly. I just went with whatever citrus fruit I had, and used the zest and juice from the same fruit. The first time I only used lemon, the second time I used lime and orange. Both were fantastic.


When I showed up in Ottawa and presented my mother with the pound cake, she immediately told me that she was not going to share it at the post-wedding brunch on Sunday. She put it in the freezer and planned to save it for her and my dad to savour and enjoy after all the hoopla of the wedding was over. She hadn't even tasted it and knew it was good. It's rare that a pound cake isn't fantastic, what with all the butter, sugar, and eggs.

I'm not sure if they've cracked into it yet, but the one that I ate was divine. Since pound cakes take so long to bake, I like to make two smaller loaves and cut the bake time slightly; it makes it easier to share when you get one to yourself as well!