Perfectly Pistachio Pound Cake with Cream Cheese Swirls

The most perfect pistachio pound cake—And we're not exaggerating.

Pound Cake Tips

This guest blog post is brought to you by Kala Boulard of Almonds and Apricots.

This tender pistachio pound cake is packed with pistachio flavor, tangy cream cheese swirls, and glazed with a sweet cream cheese topping. The recipe contains very simple ingredients that you probably already have around your house, plus one special ingredient that really sets this recipe apart: LorAnn’s NEW Pistachio Bakery Emulsion. I love that LorAnn’s professional bakery emulsions are water-based, so that my flavor never bakes out as opposed to many typical extracts containing alcohol. Another reason why I love baking with their emulsions is because I can create many incredible flavor combinations thanks to their 20+ flavors that pack a huge flavor punch in my creations!

Making pound cake can be tricky. We all want to bite into the fluffiest, flavorful, and moistest pound cake we create. When it comes to making pound cake these are my best tips so you can achieve the perfect pound cake!

  1. Room Temperature Ingredients: This will ensure all wet ingredients are fully incorporated and fluffy when beaten together.
  2. Measuring the flour: Stir your flour first, to break up any flour that may be compacted -then scoop or spoon it into your dry measuring cup and level off with the back of a knife. Otherwise known as the “scoop and level” method of measuring flour. Compacted flour can create a dense, heavy and unpleasant cake.
  3. DON’T OVER MIX THE BATTER: Once you add the dry ingredients to the wet, it is IMPERATIVE that you do not over mix the batter. I suggest incorporating your ingredients together with a spatula if your mixer doesn’t have a low enough speed. Small lumps in the batter are okay, but over mixing will make a dense heavy, and unpleasant cake.
  4. LOW AND SLOW: This cake recipe must be baked at a low and slow temperature of 325F NOT 350F. Because this cake is full of fat and sugar it needs plenty of time to bake. It could take up to 50- 60 minutes to finish baking in some cases, so don’t be alarmed.
  5. Allow cake to completely cool: When your cake is finished baking, allowing it to come to room temperature will help the crumb rest and come together. I like to wrap my cake in plastic and allow it to fully cool in the fridge for several hours before glazing. A chilled cake is so delicious!
  6. Use only the best flavorings! I specifically recommend using LorAnn’s Pistachio Bakery Emulsion for this recipe to really get that beautiful pistachio flavor, but you can use any flavorings that you have on hand.

Scroll on to get this perfect pound cake recipe!

Pistachio Pound Cake

Ingredients

For Pistachio Pound Cake:
8 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup full-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon LorAnn Vanilla Bean Paste
2 teaspoons LorAnn Pistachio Bakery Emulsion
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup crushed pistachios – divided
1 drop of LorAnn Liquid Gel Green Food Coloring (if desired)

For Cream Cheese Swirl:
1/4 cup sugar
8 ounces cream cheese softened
1 large egg

For Cream Cheese Glaze:
4 ounces cream cheese
½ cup melted butter
1-2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

For Pistachio Pound Cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 325°F and generously grease an 8 x 4-inch or 4 x 10-inch loaf pan. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until light and fluffy beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed
  4. Beat in the sour cream, vanilla, and pistachio emulsion until just combined.
  5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
  6. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until just combined. Don’t over mix!

For Cream Cheese Swirl:

  1. In a small bowl combine the sour cream, sugar, cream cheese, egg, whisk thoroughly to combine.

For Cream Cheese Glaze:

  1. Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy.
  2. Slowly add softened butter and mix thoroughly.
  3. ¼ cup at a time add the powdered sugar to taste and mix well.

Assembly

  1. Spoon a generous layer of the pistachio batter into the bottom of your prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle ¼ cup of crushed pistachios over the top.
  2. Using a spoon, dollop by the spoonful of the cream cheese batter into the pan. Top with the remaining pistachio batter and sprinkle the remaining pistachios on top.
  3. Using a butter knife or toothpick swirl the cream cheese and pistachio batter in the pan 2-3 times
  4. Bake loaf in the preheated oven for 45 minutes (up to 60 min keep an eye on it after the 45-minute mark), or until a knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out mostly clean. DO NOT OVERBAKE.
  5. Allow loaf to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the outside and remove to a cooling rack to cool.
  6. Wrap in plastic and transfer to a fridge to finish cooling all the way through for at least 30 minutes
  7. Slowly drizzle the cream cheese glaze over the chilled cake, slice, and ENJOY!
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