Every year around Valentine’s Day I like to share a new incredible cake recipe for you to share with family, friends, and loved ones. Baking a cake is more time and labor-intensive than a batch of cookies or brownies, but there’s something so satisfying about topping off a homemade cake with frosting made from scratch and showing it off for any occasion.
This beautiful lemon pistachio cake has a tender crumb, the perfect amount of sweetness and brightness, and gets topped with the most incredible lemon buttercream frosting. It’s a great way to use up seasonal citrus while adding a little sunshine to the winter months. OH, and did I mention it’s gluten free and easily made dairy free? If I would have tested this a year ago, I would have definitely put it in my cookbook! It is THAT good!
Whether you’re looking for a special treat for v-day or a birthday, or just want to show your partner, kiddos, or bestie a little love, this cake is just the thing. Top with your favorite fresh berries and share a slice with the people you care about the most!
Ingredients in the best lemon pistachio cake
This perfect pistachio cake is gluten free, perfectly sweet, and has ground pistachios for the most amazing texture and flavor. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Pistachios: you’ll be grinding up pistachios and adding them straight to the batter for lovely pistachio flavor. I used roasted salted pistachios for extra flavor, but you can also use unsalted.
- Flour: we’re using a mix of almond flour and oat flour to keep the cake gluten free and give it the most incredible crumb and flavor.
- Baking staples: you’ll need both baking powder and baking soda, plus a little salt.
- Lemons: for a wonderful brightness we’re adding both lemon juice and lemon zest to the batter.
- Sugar: this cake is sweetened with organic cane sugar. You can also use regular granulated sugar.
- Eggs: you’ll need 4 eggs to help the cake bake properly.
- Yogurt: a little whole milk Greek yogurt gives the cake extra moisture. I like to use vanilla yogurt for more sweetness, but plain is great too!
- Almond extract: I also like adding almond extract to bring out the pistachio flavor.
- Frosting & topping: we’re using my Lovely Lemon Buttercream Frosting, to frost the cake, plus low sugar strawberry jam or blueberry jam between the layers, and fresh berries on top.
Can I make this cake dairy free or vegan?
Feel free to use dairy free yogurt in the cake batter, and vegan butter in the frosting to keep the cake fully dairy free. I haven’t tested this cake using flax eggs to keep it vegan and wouldn’t recommend as I think it would change the texture too much.
Can I use other flours?
Unfortunately I cannot recommend a substitute for the almond or oat flour in this pistachio cake as the ratios are what give this cake the perfect texture. See below for how to make your own oat flour for ease!
Make your own oat flour at home
You can easily make homemade oat flour to use in this lemon pistachio cake recipe. Check out my tutorial on how to make homemade oat flour right at home. So easy!
Choose your pan size
- For 2 8-inch round cakes: bake for 18-25 minutes
- For 3 6-inch round cakes: bake for 22-28 minutes
Tips for a perfectly frosted cake
I recommend doing a crumb coat so that the lemon frosting is smooth and beautiful on your cake!
- Start with a completely cooled cake so that the frosting doesn’t melt into the cake layers.
- Frost between the layers as you normally would, then coat the outside of the cake with a very thin layer of frosting. Place the cake in the fridge (or freezer works too!) for 10-15 minutes. This is so that the crumbs stick to this layer of frosting and not your main layer.
- Finally, frost the cake again by adding the rest of the frosting on top of your crumb coat. Boom!
How to store & freeze this lemon pistachio cake
You can easily make this gluten free pistachio cake 1-2 days ahead of time! Feel free to make the cake layers ahead and store them in the fridge, or make the whole frosted cake and store it.
- To store: I recommend storing the cake well covered in the refrigerator for up to 5-7 days.
- To freeze: freeze this lemon pistachio cake either frosted or unfrosted for up to 2 months. I recommend freezing it unfrosted in individual layers for the best results. First, wrap each individual layer in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil and then place the cakes in a zip-top freezer bag. When you’re ready to serve it, simply thaw it in the refrigerator overnight and then let the cake come to room temperature before frosting and serving.
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I hope you love this lemon pistachio cake recipe! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Lemon Pistachio Cake with Lovely Lemon Frosting
Beautiful lemon pistachio cake with a lovely lemon frosting and fresh berries. This gluten free pistachio cake is perfectly sweet with both fresh lemon juice and lemon zest baked right in. Great for Valentine’s Day, birthdays, or any special occasions!
Ingredients
- Dry ingredients:
- 1 cup (135g) roasted shelled pistachios*
- 1 ½ cups (169g) fine blanched almond flour
- 1 cup (95g) oat flour, gluten free if desired
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Wet ingredients:
- Zest from 2 large lemons
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar (I use organic cane sugar)
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup (113g) plain or vanilla whole-milk Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup (50g) fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- For the cake:
- 1 batch Lovely Lemon Frosting
- 6 tablespoons low sugar strawberry jam (or sub blueberry!)
- Strawberries (or berries of choice), for topping
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of three 6-inch round cake pans or two 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper rounds. Spray parchment paper and sides of the pans with nonstick cooking spray. YOU SHOULD USE PARCHMENT PAPER – do not forget or the cakes will stick to the pan.
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Prepare pistachios: Add 1 cup pistachio to the bowl of a food processor and process on high until pistachios are finely ground, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Reserve 1 to 2 tablespoons of ground pistachios and set aside for decorating the cake later.
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Mix together the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, add the pistachios (minus the 1 to 2 tablespoons reserved), then whisk in the almond flour, oat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
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Mix together the wet ingredients: In a separate large bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest and use clean fingers to rub the zest into the sugar for 1 minute. This will infuse the lemon flavor into the sugar. Next add the eggs, yogurt, lemon juice and almond extract; whisk until smooth and well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon until smooth. Mix in 1 to 2 drops of dye free food coloring if you want it more green and fun!
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Bake the cakes: Divide batter evenly between pans and spread out with a spatula to smooth the tops. Bake for 18-25 minutes in the two 8-inch pans or 22-28 minutes for three 6-inch pans. My 6-inch pans were done at 25 minutes. Cakes are done when a tester comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pans. The cake should be room temperature when you frost it. This is very important. Cakes can be made a day ahead if you’d like and kept individually well wrapped in the fridge.
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Make your frosting according to the recipe here.
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Frost the cake: Place about 1 to 2 tablespoons down onto the cake stand and spread out. Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan for easy removal then invert a cake onto the cake stand (so the flat side is up), add about 1/2 heaping cup frosting and spread toward the edges. Add 3 tablespoons (if using 6-inch cakes) or 6 tablespoons (if using 8-inch cakes) of strawberry jam on top of the frosting and use a knife to spread towards the edge leaving about ¼ inch border so the jam doesn’t squish out of the cake. Place the next layer of cake, flat-side up, on top of the first layer, and repeat, topping with an additional 1/2 cup of frosting and spreading it to the edge. Top with another 3 tablespoons of strawberry jam (if using a 6-inch cake). Place the third layer (if using) flat-side up on top, then frost the top and sides of the cake with ½ cup of frosting, using a bench scraper or offset spatula to create a uniform, very thin layer of frosting around the cake. It helps to do this while slowly spinning the cake stand and gently pressing the scraper against the side of the cake. (This step is called a crumb coat which will allow for a beautiful, seamless look once complete.)
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Transfer the cake to the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crumb coat layer of frosting has firmed up to the touch. Once the cake is chilled, repeat the process of frosting the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting, using an offset spatula. Since the cake has been chilled, the crumb coat should allow for a smoother finish. If the cake is slightly ‘naked’ on the outside, that’s okay, it’s going to be delicious! Garnish with a dusting of reserved ground pistachios. Top with fresh strawberries (or mixed berries) in the middle just before serving the cake to make sure they stay as fresh as possible!
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Store: Enjoy immediately or store the cake in the fridge for up to 5 days, well-covered to ensure freshness.
Recipe Notes
*I used roasted and salted pistachios for a flavor punch but feel free to use roasted unsalted pistachios!
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by The Mindful Hapa
