Pistachio cupcakes

These are seriously tasty, with plenty of pistachios mixed into the batter and a cream cheese frosting.

Great British Bake Off starts today, and it’s pretty much torture to watch without cake to eat. So here are my seriously pistachio-y cupcakes.

Loads of pistachios go into the mixture. They are blitzed in a food processor until you’ve got a fine crumb, but before they start to release the oils. This gives the cakes an intense pistachio flavour and really nice texture.

The frosting is a cream cheese based icing, one of my favourites. I added drop of green food colouring for a pistachio feel but this is optional.

Definitely going to experiment the same technique with some other nuts. Planning to try with peanuts soon, and add some cocoa to the mix 🥜 🍫.

You’ll need (makes 9):

• 150g pistachios

• 175g plain flour

• 2 eggs

• 160g caster sugar

• 160g butter, room temperature

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 2 tbsp milk

• 200g soft cream cheese

• 60g icing sugar

• Touch of green food colouring (optional)

Preheat oven to 180C. Add all the pistachios to a food processor, apart from a few to chop and use to decorate.

Blitz until you’ve got a fine crumb but stop before they start to go oily (if you kept blending you’d end up with nut butter).

Add the flour, sugar, eggs, butter, baking powder, milk and a pinch of salt to the food processor and mix until well combined.

Spoon into cupcake cases and cook at 180C for 15-20 minutes.

Make the icing by mixing the icing sugar with the cream cheese. Add a tiny touch of green colouring if using- start with a single drop.

Transfer to a piping bag (or keep in bowl if not using) and move to the fridge for later.

Once the cakes are cooked (can test with a sharp knife), remove and leave to cool completely before piping over the icing and decorating with chopped pistachios.