PISTACHIO AND LIME LOAF

Humble, un-iced and simple in appearance, this bake has a pure, unadulterated flavour that I love. If you can source the expensive Iranian pistachios, use them to replace half of the regular nuts for the most brilliant-colour loaf imaginable.

Preparation 30 minutes Cooking about 1 hour Makes 1 x 900g (or 29cm x 10cm x 7cm) loaf 250G UNSALTED BUTTER, SOFTENED 225G CASTER SUGAR

ZEST OF 1 LIME

1 TSP VANILLA BEAN PASTE

125G PISTACHIO NUTS

4 EGGS

100G GROUND ALMONDS

125G PLAIN FLOUR

1 TSP BAKING POWDER

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan oven) gas mark 4. Grease and line a loaf tin. In the bowl of a free-standing mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, lime zest and vanilla until pale and fluffy. I use the whisk attachment for this recipe in order to get plenty of air into the mixture.

2 In the bowl of a food processor, blitz the pistachio nuts until they are fine and resemble the same consistency as the ground almonds. Remove from the processor and add to the creamed sugar mix along with the eggs, almonds, flour, baking powder and ¼ tsp salt. Whisk until well combined and you have a pale and light batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin, then put in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the sponge feels firm to the touch and a knife inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

3 Allow to cool a little in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully. We like to serve this plain with a little icing sugar, or with fresh figs and natural yogurt.