By Tom Hudgens
Adapted from Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey Shere

This is my version of a recipe that has been in the repertoire of the Chez Panisse pastry kitchen for decades. It was developed in the tradition of European torten, a family of cakes based on ground nuts and containing little flour or other fat. This cake may be prepared ahead and kept at room temperature for a few hours, but it is best served the day it is made.

Read Tom Hudgen’s story “Green Gold” about pistachios in New Mexico.

Print Recipe

Pistachio Torte

Servings: 8
Author: Tom Hudgens

Ingredients

Cake

  • 1 1/2 cups pistachios, shelled
  • 1/4 cup cake flour
  • 7 egg whites
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup sugar, granulated
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/4 teaspoon orange rind, finely grated
  • 1 teaspoon orange flower water

Topping

  • 1 cup shelled pistachios
  • 6 tablespoons apricot jam, heated and strained
  • 1/4 teaspoon orange flower water
  • Pinch of salt
  • Citrus Compote
  • 2 oranges
  • 6 –7 kumquats
  • A few drops of orange flower water
  • Vanilla whipped cream, not too stiff

Instructions

  • For the nicest possible green color in the finished cake, blanching the pistachios, or removing their inner dark-colored seed coat, is a necessary step. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and add a handful of nuts at a time. Once water returns to a boil, remove nuts with a slotted spoon and rub off seed coat. Dry nuts on a towel, then transfer to a baking sheet and toast in a 300°F oven for about 10 minutes; don't let them brown. Prepare nuts for both the cake (1 1/2 cups) and the topping (1 cup) at the same time.
  • Butter a 9-inch springform pan; line bottom with a circle of parchment; butter the parchment and dredge with flour, tapping the pan to shake out excess.
  • Heat the oven to 325°F.
  • Using a food processor, grind 1 1/2 cups of prepared nuts with flour to a fine meal. In a small bowl, beat egg yolks with half of the sugar until thick and lightened in color. In a large bowl, beat egg whites with salt and cream of tartar into stiff peaks; slowly beat in remaining sugar until they hold stiff peaks again. Drizzle egg yolk mixture into the bowl with egg whites; grate orange rind over yolk mixture; and drizzle in the orange flower water. Sprinkle in 1/4 of pistachio-flour mixture and partially fold everything together. Add another 1/4 of nut mixture and partially fold in; continue until all the nuts are used and the batter is just uniform. Gently scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake for 35–40 minutes, or until cake is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove pan and cool completely on a rack.
  • For topping, chop 1 cup of nuts carefully into about 1/8-inch chunks. Stir orange flower water and salt into the warm jam and paint the top and sides of the cooled cake. Pat chopped pistachios into the jam in an even layer.
  • For the citrus compote, finely grate the zest of one orange into a bowl. Using a small, sharp knife, peel the oranges and release the sections from their membranes into the bowl with the zest, squeezing all juice from the membranes. Trim stem ends of kumquats, and slice thinly, discarding seeds as you go. Stir kumquats and a very few drops of orange flower water into the oranges.
  • Serve slices of cake with a spoonful of the citrus compote on the side and a dollop of softly whipped cream on top.
Tom Hudgens
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Tom Hudgens has followed multiple career tracks over the decades, including writing and professional cooking, and is the author of The Commonsense Kitchen and The Deep Springs Cookbook. He currently works as a writer at the University of New Mexico Foundation, and cooks dinner at home from scratch almost every night.