Rose & Pistachio Tea Cake is a rich, nutty and moist loaf celebrating the exotic and super-trendy combination of roses and pistachios. This eggless recipe by Samantha (our guest writer this week) is a keeper!
Studying in a convent school, Christmas always held a special place in my heart. The lights, the decorations, the festivities, the carols, there is something magical about this time of the year. And when you’re celebrating, good food is never far away! This year for the month of December leading up to Christmas, I wanted to share some special recipes with my readers and I wanted to invite guests to share some of their favorites too. I am elated to present to you this recipe for a ‘Rose & Pistachio Tea Cake’ by my dear friend Samantha Lazaro. Sam is a beautiful human being, ever humble and an excellent baker with always a smile on her face. She has a way with her words that’ll keep you hooked till the last full stop (you can read more about her at the end).
Thank you Sam for agreeing to do this guest post and sharing your recipe for Rose & Pistachio Tea Cake. The combination of roses and pistachios are a classic for a reason. It sounds rich & exotic, it looks heavenly, and I can smell the roses just by looking at it!
Over to Sam!
As a kid, my only and most cherished holiday was the summer holidays in Chennai with my grandmum. That combination of Chennai and summer might feel unimaginable but I guess as children it still was a luxury for me!
Of course, spending every summer there translated to truckloads of memories but the fact is most of those memories have always related to food. The smell of masalas mixed with that of raw rice and lentils that welcomed you every time you opened the little storeroom door; the fresh loaf of piping hot bread that was delivered to our house every evening; quietly sneaking a salted dry mango piece into my mouth as I passed it drying on the window sill; the heady fragrance that filled my senses when we opened my grandmother’s old recipe book…. Sigh! Heartwarming (and makes me hungry too) memories!
And you know how there are certain fragrances that trigger nostalgia and literally transport you back in time? Well, one of them is rose milk! For those who don’t know what that is – there used to be these small bottles (that looked like the current day eye drops bottles) filled with pink rose essence. You needed to add a few drops into a glass of milk and voilà! you have yourself a glass of pink strongly flavoured Rose Milk.
So in an attempt to safeguard some of these memories, I decided to infuse these flavors into a cake – a Rose & Pistachio Tea Cake! With the right amount of essence and the crunchiness of pistachios, it results in a slice of heaven right in front of you. You can choose to further enhance it by drizzling it with White Chocolate Ganache too!
Hope this recipe connects you to a little bit of my childhood.
Rose and Pistachio Tea Cake by Samantha Lazaro
Ingredients
- 128 g All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- ¼ tsp Baking soda
- 100 g Caster Sugar
- pinch Salt
- 20 g Pistachios
- 180 ml Milk – at room temperature
- ½ tbsp Vinegar
- 60 ml oil
- ¼ tsp Rose essence or to taste
- Dried Rose petals – optional for decor
- White Chocolate Ganache – optional for drizzle
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Prepare your loaf pan with baking paper and keep ready.
- Mix milk and vinegar and keep aside for 5 minutes. The mixture will look curdled.
- Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in a bowl.
- Add sugar to dry ingredients and mix well.
- Add oil and milk-vinegar mixture in 3 parts to the dry ingredients and whisk till no lumps remain.
- Add essence and give it a brisk mix.
- Mix in chopped pistachios just before pouring mixture into prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or till an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool on a wire rack. Slice once completely cool.
- Optional – Use a white chocolate ganache drizzle and/or garnish with dried rose petals and pistachios.
A brief introduction about Sam in her own words –
You should first know…..I am a typical Gemini! There is nothing about me that is “short”!! Started corporate life at a super young age of 16 and at the same time finished my education in evening college – which gave me the advantage of gathering 20 years of work experience under my wing as well as the privilege of working with many wonderful people along the way. Heeded to the calling of baking pretty late in life with having zero experience in the kitchen! Quit my corporate job; obtained a Diploma in Bakery & Patisserie (affiliated to City & Guilds, London) and now run my bakery from home. My mum, with a massive sweet tooth, had a very restrictive food diet. Unfortunately, there weren’t many options for her to indulge when she was around. With her being my inspiration, my menu caters to all kind of lifestyles – Vegan, Diabetic, Gluten free, Keto. All my bakes (except Keto) are eggless!
Hope this “small” intro got you to know me a bit better! You can reach out to me on my Facebook page ‘The Sweet Affair Shop’.
Looks yummy and will definitely give it a try 👍👍
Hi Sam good to know about your journey from corporate world to the world of baking. All the best to you dear👍😘
Thankyou Rathna 🙂 We will look forward to your bake!
It’s truely yummy recipe.. surely gonna try it.
One thing i want to ask you is, leaving corporate job for baking interest will earn you more than before.. your reply will help me a lot..!
Thanks in advance 😊
Hello Sneha. Taking the liberty to reply to you here. The way I see it is what you “earn” can either be seen as what you recieve monetarily alone OR what you receive as a whole – time with family, being your own boss, learning something new on a daily basis, receiving utmost satisfaction for every good feedback you receive as well as getting paid for what you enjoy doing (maybe not as much as a 9 to 6 job!).
Hope this helps you take a pick what works for you … all the best!
Shall I double the recipe and bake in on go
Yes you can. Baking time will have to be adjusted accordingly