Saturdays are made for baking something delicious. With lovely layers of moist chocolate cake, dark chocolate ganache, crunchy chocolate crumble and a luxurious pistachio buttercream, this chocolate pistachio cake is a three-layer masterpiece!

Serves: 8 to 10 | Prep time: 30 minutes | Cook time: 25 to 30 minutes | Chilling time: 1 to 2 hours

Ingredients

For the pistachio sponge:

• 120 g shelled pistachios, finely ground
• 120 g cake flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 150 g sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 120 ml vegetable oil
• 120 ml milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the chocolate layer:

• 150 g dark chocolate
• 100 ml cream
• 1 tbsp butter

For the cream topping:

• 250 ml whipping cream
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

To finish:

• 2 tbsp crushed pistachios

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and line a square baking tin with baking paper.
2. In a bowl, whisk together ground pistachios, flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar and eggs until slightly thickened.
4. Add oil, milk and vanilla, mixing until combined.
5. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until smooth.
6. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 25–30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
7. Allow the sponge to cool completely.
8. For the chocolate layer, heat the cream until just simmering, then pour over chopped chocolate and butter. Stir until smooth.
9. Spread the chocolate mixture evenly over the cooled sponge and chill until set.
10. Whip the cream with icing sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form.
11. Spread over the chocolate layer.
12. Sprinkle with crushed pistachios and chill for at least 1 hour before slicing.