Rosewater Pistachio Pound Cake

This time we welcomed the New Year with a sweet and floral pound cake. When I am invited to American parties I always try to sneak in some Indian spices and flavors in dishes that are familiar to them. So this time, after the success of the Honey Tea Cake, I tried this exotic sounding recipe from the lovely book - Piece of Cake. I highly recommend the recipe. It was a huge hit. 

I used the same ingredients and prescribed measurements in the cake, but as I mentioned earlier, I don't believe in one-bowl-cakes. So I creamed the butter and sugar, followed the traditional approach by adding the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

A standard pound cake is spiced with a few teaspoons of rosewater, a teaspoon of cardamom powder, and a generous amount of pistachios. I personally think that rosewater and cardamom compete with each other and eventually cardamom wins with its strong flavor. If you would like to taste the mild and delicate floral essence of rosewater, skip the cardamom. But having said that, everybody (that tried the cake) loved it with the cardamom. I would also recommend cutting down the sugar from the recommended amount (reduce to 3/4 cup from 1.5 cups, especially if you are going to add the below sugar glaze on top of the cake). So experiment away! 

The pistachios add a nice crunch and texture to the cake. The cake itself isn't loaded with butter as pound cakes usually are. It has a stick of butter and half a cup of yogurt to make it moist and soft.

This is the rosewater glaze that I added on top. 

I whisked together the following to make a drippy glaze:

1. 1 cup confectioners sugar
2. 1 tablespoon butter - melted
3. 1 tablespoon milk
4. 2 teaspoons rosewater
5. 1 drop red food coloring (optional)

I poured the glaze on top of the cooled cake and garnished with chopped pistachios. The longer the cake soaked in the glaze the better it tasted. 

Happy New Year to all!