Pistachio Pear Yogurt Cake

This year the Holiday of Shavuot begins on Tuesday, June 3rd at sundown and ends June 5th an hour after sundown.  Shavuot is a joyous holiday, a time for celebration, and traditionally eating dairy foods, especially dessert.  All of those yummy things, made with butter, cream and yes even yogurt can be consumed after a wonderful dinner.

Sephardic Desayuno or dairy pastry such as borekas and boyuz or bulemas can be enjoyed for dinner along with some fish and beautiful salad with cheese!

Last year I made a yogurt cake with peaches that I posted and this year I was trying to think of a simple, one bowl kind of cake that anyone could manage, when I had this idea… Why not substitute some of the flour with ground pistachios and instead of peaches I found Bartlett  pears in the refrigerator that no one was eating.  The cake was so fantastic that my tasters woofed it up in moments and asked for seconds!!!  Try this for the holiday and you won’t be disappointed.

This is what I did for

Pistachio  Yogurt Cake with Bartlett Pears

Serves 8 to 10 or less…

2 extra large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup plain Greek Yogurt (full fat or 2%)

1/3 cup sunflower oil

2 tablespoons fresh orange zest

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour

1 and 1/ 2 cups ground pistachios

1 and 1/ 2 teaspoons baking powder

1/ 2 teaspoon baking soda

1/ 4 teaspoon salt

2 Bartlett pears, just ripe and still firm, peeled and cubed (I don’t know if other pears work, but probably)

Butter, Oil or Spray Oil for greasing pan

One 9 inch round cake pan with 2 inch sides

For Top Glaze and Garnish

1/3 cup chopped pistachios

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/ 2 cup of powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 350°F convection bake.

2. Crack eggs into a large bowl.  Add sugar and whisk until thick and light.

3. Next, add yogurt, oil, orange zest, orange juice, and vanilla to eggs and whisk to combine all.

4. Measure flour, ground pistachios, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of liquid ingredients in the order given.  Gently whisk flour into liquid batter.

5. Place peeled and cubed pears into bowl of cake batter.  Gently fold pears into cake batter.

6. Grease cake pan and add batter to cake pan.  Spread to smooth top with a spatula.  Place cake pan in middle of oven and bake for about 35 to 38 minutes.  Remove cake from oven when tester inserted in middle of cake comes out clean.

7. Let cake cool in pan on a rack.  Run a knife around edges of cake and invert cake onto a plate when cool.
8. Mix lemon juice with powdered sugar until smooth and a bit runny.  Drizzle over top of cooled cake.  Sprinkle with chopped pistachios and Serve.