Gâteau Surprise Chocolat Pistache

 

This recipe is a Clothilde original. Since the day I invested in a 8 oz can of pistachio paste a while ago, I have been wanting to make this cake. Today, I saw that I also had sour cream nearing its expiration date. Perfect! This, then, would be the day for Gateau Chocolat Pistache. For some mysterious reason, my oven decided to turn itself off toward the end of baking, and before I could realize and correct this, the uncooked center dipped slightly. Since the shape was less than perfect, I did not bother to glaze the whole cake, but just poured the warm ganache on top of it and let it run down the sides. I must say that the cake tasted very, very good. I will definitely try this and its variations again. (I am already considering more economical alternatives to pistachio paste such as almond butter or hazelnut spread.)

I followed Clothilde's recipe verbatim except that I had to mix things with an electric mixer since I have a small food precessor. Also, I left my pistachios whole rather than chop them. I could have given a link for the recipe, but just for completeness sake, I will copy and paste it here together with the picture of her gateau.

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Cake:

270 g (2 C) flour
2 tsp baking powder (1 envelope)
1 tsp baking soda
150 g (2/3 C) butter, at room temperature
300 g (1 1/4 C) white sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 C (3 x 125 ml) plain yogurt or sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
60 g (1/3 C) chocolate chips
2 Tbsp pistachio paste
60 g (1/3 C) shelled pistachios, roughly chopped

Ganache:

120 g (3 oz) baking dark chocolate
125 ml (1/2 C) whipping cream

Preheat your oven to 180°C (360°F). Grease a 25-cm (10-inch) cake pan, preferably nonstick with a removable bottom. Prepare the chocolate batter. In a food processor, mix together half of the sugar and half of the butter until fluffy. Add in two of the eggs, one at a time, mixing between each. Add in half of the yogurts and all the vanilla extract, mix again. In a medium bowl, combine half of the flour with half of the baking powder, half of the baking soda and all of the cocoa mixture. Add the flour mixture into the food processor and mix again until just combined. Pour the batter into the cake pan, and reserve in the refrigerator.

Rinse the bowl of the food processor, and prepare the pistachio batter: mix together the rest of the sugar, the rest of the butter and the pistachio paste. Add in the two last eggs, one at a time, mixing between each. Add in the rest of the yogurts and mix again. In a medium bowl, combine the rest of the flour with the rest of the baking powder and baking soda, and all of the chopped pistachios. Add into the food processor and mix again until just combined.

Take the cake pan out of the fridge, and sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the surface of the chocolate batter. Gently pour the pistachio batter on top, and smooth out the surface with a spatula. Put into the oven to bake for about an hour or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let rest for five minutes on the counter, then turn out on a rack to cool completely.

Prepare the ganache. Melt the dark chocolate with the whipping cream in a double boiler (or in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water), stirring with a spoon regularly until completely melted and velvety. Let the ganache rest until it has thickened a bit, about 30 minutes, and frost the cake using a small spoon.
You can either wait until the ganache has cooled and set before serving, or frost the cake just before you serve it, but the cake itself needs to have cooled down completely, it tastes better that way.


Zeynep trying a slice after school