• Pistachio cakes

    Serves: 36
    Cooking Time: 40 mins

    Ingredients

    • 125g unsalted butter, softened
    • 165g (¾ cup) castor sugar
    • 5ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
    • 2 large eggs
    • 185g (1¼ cups) plain flour, sifted
    • 5ml (1 tsp) baking powder
    • 40g (¼ cup) chopped pistachio nuts
    • 125ml (½ cup) milk
    • 2 x 500g packets ready-to-roll white icing
    • icing sugar, for dusting

    Instructions

    1

    Preheat the oven to 160ºC.

    2

    Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale and creamy, about 10 – 15 minutes.

    3

    Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

    4

    Fold through the flour, baking powder, pistachios and milk until well combined.

    5

    Spoon the mixture into 3 lightly greased, 12-hole, 1½-tablespoon-capacity mini muffin trays. Bake until cooked through when tested with a skewer, about 10 – 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks.

    6

    Roll out the icing on a surface dusted with icing sugar to 3mm thick. Use a 7cm round cookie cutter to cut out 36 rounds from the icing. Use a star-shaped patchwork cutter to gently press patterns into the rounds.

    7

    Place a round over each cake, trim the edges and tie with a ribbon.