Pistachio cupcakes

Pistachio cupcakes

Turn any gathering into a special occasion with these glamorous cupcakes for grown-ups

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 12

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 25 mins

Cook time

Cook 25 mins

Freezable

Can be frozen un-iced

Method

  1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with cases. Put 85g pistachios into a food processor with about half the sugar, then whizz until very finely chopped. Tip into a large mixing bowl with the remaining sugar, butter, eggs, flour and milk and beat until smooth. Divide between cases, then bake on a low shelf for 22-25 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
  2. For the icing, mix just enough water into the icing sugar to get a very thick but still runny icing - just add 1 tbsp of water at a time. Stir in enough food colouring to give a pretty, pale green colour. If any cakes poke above the top of the cases, trim with a small knife, or scoop out with a teaspoon - being very careful not to release any of the case from the sides of the cake. Put a generous spoonful of icing on each cake and let it gently spread to cover. Chop the remaining pistachios and scatter these over with a pinch of edible glitter. Set, then serve.

Per serving

326 kcalories, protein 4g, carbohydrate 45g, fat 16 g, saturated fat 7g, fibre 0g, sugar 36g, salt 0.34 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, May 2010.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • 17 April 2010

    misskirstyw rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    made used regular white caster sugar instead of golden, but they came out just lovely - a lovely moist cupcake.

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  • 17 April 2010

    Karen Whelton rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I love these cakes, so easy to make and taste great with a nice cup of coffee.

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  • 05 May 2010

    Fiona Mathers rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Lovely recipe. The pistachios were an unusual flavour and enjoyed by everyone - gone in minutes!!

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  • 10 May 2010

    Sarah's Recipes rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    made for a friend's tea party, they were lovely and light. Will definitely make again.

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  • Binder photo Kim

    29 May 2010

    Kim rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made with Gluten free Flour and Gluten Free Baking Powder, and Vegetable margarine. I am not for one minute suggesting that margarine is better than butter, but if you do have a problem with dairy honestly you can not go wrong. Icing is very sweet which matches the cakes perfectly as the cakes on their own are not sweet enough. Ran out of pistachios the second time I made them and made up with unsalted cashews. Still lovely. Again three teenagers and husband who have no dietary requirements ate the lot.

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  • 10 June 2010

    mariades rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • 29 June 2010

    Beth rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • 05 July 2010

    LittleMissPoog rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Yum yum. Made them with white caster sugar and they turned out grand - very light and moist - with a lovely pistachio flavour.

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  • Binder photo Caz

    17 August 2010

    Caz rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    These were gorgeous and so easy to make - rose well and looked really professional when finished. The pistachio flavour is very subtle, more just a really moist and light cupcake.

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  • 14 March 2011

    karinegam rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I liked the idea of this recipe but for the icing I used whipped double cream with a little bit of icing sugar and a drop of vanilla. The result was delicious!

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  • Binder photo fi

    14 March 2011

    fi commented on this recipe

    Hi, I made these at the weekend. They tasted great, but when they came out of the oven they shrunk and came away from the sides of the cases so I couldn't ice them properly! Does anyone have a solution for this please? Thanks

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  • Binder photo fi

    14 March 2011

    fi rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • 19 March 2011

    Erin rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • 13 April 2011

    Lorriloo rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Beautiful, the mix probably could have made another 3 or 4 but they are lovely light and very moist. My oven is a little temperamental so left them in for another 10 minutes until they were golden. For the icing I had to make more as there just wasn't enough! Will definitely be making these again.

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  • 01 May 2011

    Essexclarkey rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • 24 July 2011

    KazzaC rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Lovely little cupcakes - light and with a subtle flavour. I used cream cheese icing and they were yummy. The cooking time was slightly longer than specified - mine needed an extra five minutes in the oven. One I'll make again.

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  • 31 July 2011

    lisaphilly commented on this recipe

    Mixture only made 9 for me, might need smaller cupcake trays!

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  • 25 October 2011

    Rosie rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Moist, light and with a lovely flavour. Have been asked to make an 8" version instead of the cupcakes ~ hope it comes out the same.

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  • 27 January 2012

    JadeLucyWatson rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Gorgeous. Made them in mini size, baked for 13-14 minutes on the middle shelf at 180C. Same quantities for this recipe made 18 mini cakes. I find that that people much prefer eating mini cakes - especially the girls at work! Half a cake is half the calories ;) Turned out lovely and the light green icing looked beautiful with half a pistachio perched on top. Tasted lovely and everyone wanted more. Would definitely recommend. This one is going in the binder!

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  • 29 January 2012

    Foooood rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I used gluten free flour and 1tsp gluten free baking powder. I altered the method choosing to cream the sugar/ pistachio and butter, beating in the egg, folding in the flour and stirring in the milk. I also baked in a 20cm square tin, makes 16 squares of lovely light cake. Yum.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 12

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 25 mins

Cook time

Cook 25 mins

Freezable

Can be frozen un-iced

Ingredients

  • 100g pistachios
  • 140g golden caster sugar
  • 140g butter , very soft
  • 2 eggs
  • 140g self-raising flour
  • 5 tbsp milk
  • edible glitter , to decorate

FOR THE ICING

  • 250g icing sugar , sifted
  • mint green food colouring
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Per serving

326 kcalories, protein 4g, carbohydrate 45g, fat 16 g, saturated fat 7g, fibre 0g, sugar 36g, salt 0.34 g

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