Pistachio Cupcakes
Moist pistachio cupcakes made from a homemade pistachio paste. These cupcakes have a strong pistachio flavor and a soft, fluffy texture.
Pistachio cupcakes without any distraction or artificial taste: no almond extract (it takes away from the real pistachio flavor), no jello powder nonsense or anything that isn’t just the flavor of the actual nut.
Recipe Origins
This is an adaptation of my pistachio cake recipe, shared last year. The biggest difference is the fat swap: I use butter here instead of olive oil. I wanted to give us some versatility in terms of cake recipe but also have something for those who don’t like the flavor of olive oil, or want to just taste pistachio without any other flavor competing. This is also why you won’t see lemon in this recipe.
Recipe Ingredients
Pistachios: raw and unshelled. If you are using toasted pistachios, you’ll toast them in the oven for half the time listed.
Butter: unsalted, at room temperature.
Sugar: fine granulated sugar.
Salt: fine sea salt. If using table salt, halve the amount.
Vanilla: pure vanilla extract.
Pistachio paste: from above. You may choose to buy this, just make sure that your paste is pure pistachio and not mixed with other ingredients. Pistachio cream will not work here as it has added sugars and oils.
Cake flour: made from a softer wheat, more finely ground, and mixed with cornstarch cake flour produces a very light and fluffy texture in cakes. If you must substitute with all purpose flour, swap out a tablespoon of the flour for cornstarch or tapioca starch.
Leavening: we’ll use both baking soda and baking powder.
Buttermilk: whole or low fat. Kefir (plain) works too.
How to make pistachio cupcakes with homemade pistachio paste
to make the pistachio paste
Spread the nuts on a rimmed baking sheet, big enough so that the nuts are all on the pan (not stacked). Toast them in a preheated oven at 350 F until they are very hot and fragrant. For raw pistachios this will be around 9 minutes, for toasted nuts it’ll be around 6.
As soon as you take them out of the oven, set them in a food processor (or whatever you typically use to blend/puree that can handle nuts).
Process or blend on high until the nuts become a loose paste. It will still be bitty but should be loose enough to fall off a spoon. You may need to stop the food processor a few times to scrape it down (the nuts sometimes gather at the top).
You can do this ahead of time, up to a week, or right before baking. It’s best for the paste to be cool before adding to the blondie batter though.
To make the cupcakes
Cream the sugar & butter:
Add the vanilla & salt, beat well.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition:
Beat in the pistachio paste:
Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda:
Add the buttermilk and beat until just combined:
Fill the cupcake liners until they are three quarters full:
Bake the cupcakes until a cake tester comes out clean or when they spring back when pressed.
FAQ
What frosting pairs well with a pistachio cupcake?
For the batch pictured I made a chocolate frosting. Some other buttercreams I think would work well here: pistachio buttercream, vanilla cream cheese buttercream, and a stabilized whipped cream either vanilla or chocolate (because they are stabilized, both whipped creams can be piped onto cupcakes).
Can I use pistachio cream instead of paste?
Not in this recipe. Pistachio cream has added oils and sugar, it is not purely pistachio. These additions will imbalance the recipe and likely lead to a more oily, dense texture but also a lighter pistachio flavor.
Can I make this into a pistachio layer cake?
See instead this recipe for a pistachio layer cake.
Recipe for Pistachio Cupcakes
Pistachio Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 110-120g g raw pistachios unshelled (a little more than needed as some will be lost to the bowl)
- 113g or ½ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 200gmor 1 cup fine granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 100g pure pistachio paste from above
- 160g or 1 ¼ cups cake flour shaken over the cup then leveled, not packed in
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 180g or ¾ cups buttermilk or plain kefir
- Basic Buttercream optional, see chocolate modifications
Method
To make the pistachio paste
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spread the nuts on a small baking pan. Toast for about 7-9 minutes, until fragrant. Without letting them cool, transfer immediately to a food processor (or strong blender) and grind the nuts on high. First the nuts will turn into bits, then a powder. Keep processing until the powder turns into a runny paste, this can take up to 10 minutes depending on the strength of the food processor. Scrape the paste out and set aside to cool. This can be done ahead of time, store the pistachio paste in an airtight container in the fridge (it’ll keep for a week or two).
To make the cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two cupcake tins with muffin/cupcake liners (parchment based).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer add the sugar and softened butter, affix the paddle attachment and start beating on low, working up to medium speed. Look for the mix to become several shades lighter and fluffy. While it beats, add the salt and vanilla.
- Once creamed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the pistachio paste and beat to combine.
- Add the flour then turn the mixer on low, while it’s beating, slowly pour in the buttermilk. Stop as soon as the batter is evenly mixed.
- Fill the cupcake liners about three quarters full. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean or they spring back when pressed. Let cool completely before frosting.
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