Please excuse the phone photography here. I baked this pistachio rosewater cake for fun (imagine that) but so many folks over on instagram were interested in the recipe so I am sharing it - along with a very exciting announcement!

Olaiya and I had such a long waitlist for our Paris workshop this Spring (thank you!) that we added another workshop this September 20-24. The format will be pretty much the same as the Spring version - think lots of pastry, delicious wine and cheese, market visits, prop shopping, and some solid photo, styling, and editing lessons in the city of light. This trip is for anyone looking to build their photography and styling skills (all levels welcome) and enjoy lots of beautiful food in one of the most amazing cities in the world. I am so excited to explore Paris in the fall, I am dreaming of the markets already!

Click Here to Reserve Your Spot!

Now for the cake! This comes from Molly's Shortstack all about Yogurt. It is full of sweet and savory recipes using her (and my) favorite dairy product. I grew up eating yogurt as a mostly savory food, but it is awesome in all sorts of sweet preparations too - like cake. Molly uses Labneh, a very thick and tangy type of yogurt as frosting for this pleasantly rustic, but also kinda fancy pistachio cake. If you aren't a fan of rosewater, the cake would be just as good without it too.

Pistachio Rosewater Cake with Labneh Frosting

from Yogurt by Molly Yeh

makes one 9-inch cake

This cake is so simple and tasty, and super beautiful too! I reduced the sugar in the cake and frosting by about 1/3 to suit my personal tastes, and added some strawberries on top because strawberries, pistachio, and rose are a natural paring. Did you know strawberries and roses are in the same botanical family?! The recipe below is as it is printed in the book and when I made it I used 1 cup of sugar in the cake and 2/3 cup sugar in the frosting.

Cake

1 1/2 cups roasted unsalted shelled pistachios

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup almond meal

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 tablespoons rosewater

Labneh Frosting

1 1/2 cups labneh

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon rosewater

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch kosher salt

Make the cake: Preheat the oven 350º. Grease the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper, set aside. Place the pistachios in a food processor and pulse until they’re coarsely chopped. Scoop out 2 tablespoons and set them aside for the topping. Blend the remaining pistachios until they’re finely ground. add the flour, almond meal and salt and pulse a few times to combine.

In a stand mixer fixed with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each, then add the lemon zest, almond extract and rosewater. Add the dry mixture ad mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the pan and use a spatula to smooth the top. Bake the cake until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (begin checking for doneness at 50 minutes). Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the labneh frosting: In a medium bowl, stir together the labneh, sugar, rosewater, vanilla, and salt until the mixture is smooth. Cover the top of the cooled cake with the frosting. Top with the reserved pistachios and a few sprinkles of dried rose petals.

strawberry and campari paletas | sweeter off the vine

It's popsicle week, y'all! Billy from Wit and Vinegar arranges this annual frozen treat fun-fest and I am so happy to play along this year with one of my favorite warm weather recipes from Sweeter off the Vine!

I have been seriously obsessed with strawberries this Spring. I'm not sure if they are better this year than they have been in the past or what, but I straight-up cannot resist them every time I hit the market. Aside from eating them by the handful, I have been making all sorts of strawberry tarts, shortcakes, and frozen treats like these paletas. They are perfectly bitter-sweet, and perfectly cooling on a hot summer day. You can even turn them into a cocktail of sorts by dipping the pops in a glass of super-chilled prosecco or rose. Love.

See more popsicle week fun here.

Strawberry and Campari Paletas

makes 6-10, depending on the size of your molds

from Sweeter off the Vine

Paletas are ice pops made from fresh fruit; this version combines sweet strawberries and bitter, herbaceous Campari for a grown- up frozen treat. Be careful not to get too carried away with the Campari—too much booze and these pops won’t freeze. For a refreshing cocktail, try serving the paletas dipped in a glass of Prosecco: trust me, it’s delicious.

1 pound (450g) strawberries

5 tablespoons (60g) sugar

1/4 cup (60ml) Campari

juice of 1/2 lemon, about 4 teaspoons

pinch salt

Hull the strawberries and slice them in half. Add them, along with the rest of the ingredients, to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Taste the mixture and adjust the level of sweetness if necessary by adding more sugar, one teaspoon at time. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and pour into frozen pop molds. Freeze the pops until completely firm, at least 6 hours or overnight.