Chocolate pistachio and poppy seed bundt cake
VI’ve included nuts and poppy seeds in this bake to celebrate Queen Esther, as they were some of the foods she ate to keep kosher in King Ahasureus’s palace. If you can’t find chocolate-coated pistachios (I like Raw & Wild brand) use regular pistachios plus a tablespoon of cocoa.
Serves: 10-12 Preparation: 20 minutes Cooking: 35 minutes
INGREDIENTS For the sponge:
220g margarine
200g caster sugar
4 large eggs
1 tbsp lemon juice
250g self-raising flour, sieved 100g chocolate pistachios, roughly chopped (see: intro) 3 tbsp poppy seeds
For the topping: 100g white chocolate, roughly chopped
100g double cream
20g chocolate pistachios (or regular pistachios) roughly chopped
2 tbsp poppy seeds
METHOD
Preheat oven to 180°C. Paint the inside of the bundt tin generously with vegetable oil – this is really important to ensure the cake does not stick in the tin.
Using an electric mixer, whizz the margarine and sugar until creamy and smooth. Beat in the eggs, lemon juice and a tablespoon of flour until smooth.
Gently fold in the remaining flour – do not overmix and knock the air out of your mixture. Stir in the pistachios and poppy seeds.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Once baked, place the tin on a cooling rack. Leave for 10 minutes and then carefully invert onto the rack and remove the tin, it should just slide off the cake.
Once the cake has fully cooled, melt the white chocolate with the cream in a bain-marie. Stir from time to time until the chocolate has melted and is well combined with the cream.
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cake, allowing it to flow over the cake. Sprinkle with the chopped pistachio nuts and poppy seeds then leave the chocolate to set.