green pistachio cake

To honor St. Patrick's Day (and my husband's distant Irish origins and hence, we like to think, our daughter's superb green eyes) I toyed with the idea of a green-colored cake. But I didn't want to use artificial food coloring. Then I thought of pistachios. It didn't quite achieve the desired clover green but nonetheless it is an amazingly moist cake, fragrant with orange zest.

Pistachio cake with yogurt frosting

- 8 ounces of butter
- 1 cup of sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups raw pistachios, finely ground
- 1 orange
- pinch of salt
-1/2 cup of flour
-1 cup strained yogurt

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a cake pan.
2) Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs, one at a time.
3) Add ground pistachios. Zest the orange and squeeze in the juice. Fold in flour and salt.
4) Bake until top is firm and golden, about 40 minutes. Cover with foil and continue baking for another 10 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center; it should come out dry.
5) When the cake is cool, spread over yogurt (add powdered sugar if you prefer sweet icing) and scatter over chopped pistachios.