Chocolate & Pistachio Surprise Cake: National Pistachio Day

Today is National Pistachio Day! I love pistachios for their taste and for their vibrant green color. They dress up just about any chocolate treat. So in order to celebrate the day, you can make:

Chocolate Pistachio Apricots
Pistachio and Cherry Dark Chocolate Bark
Chocolate Pistachio Fudge

Chocolate & Pistachio Surprise Cake adapted from Clotilde's Chocolate & Zucchini blog. I really love this cake because it's not overly sweet. It's great just about any time, and I don't add the ganache (see the original recipe link for the ganache recipe). I like this Bundt Cake with Tea in the morning: toasted. Don't ask! It's nice and moist just the way it is, but sometimes I like "toast." Be sure and get an "All Natural" Pistachio Paste, and, of course, use the very best dark chocolate and cocoa.

Chocolate & Pistachio Surprise Cake 
(Gateau Surprise Chocolat Pistache)

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt or sour cream (you'll have a different taste depending on which you choose)
1 1/2 tsp Madagascar vanilla extract
2 Tbsp unsweetened DARK cocoa powder
1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped into smallish pieces
2 Tbsp pistachio paste
1/3 cup shelled pistachios, chopped 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 360 F. Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan.

Prepare the chocolate batter. In a food processor, mix together half of the sugar and half of the butter until fluffy. Add in two of the eggs, one at a time, mixing between each. Add in half of the yogurt and all the vanilla extract, mix again. In a medium bowl, combine half of the flour with half of the baking powder, half of the baking soda and all of the cocoa mixture. Add the flour mixture into the food processor and mix again until just combined. Pour the batter into the cake pan, and reserve in the refrigerator.

Prepare the pistachio batter: Rinse the bowl of the food processor. Mix together the rest of the sugar, the rest of the butter and the pistachio paste. Add in the two last eggs, one at a time, mixing between each. Add in the rest of the yogurt and mix again. In a medium bowl, combine the rest of the flour with the rest of the baking powder and baking soda, and all of the chopped pistachios. Add into the food processor and mix again until just combined.

Take the cake pan out of the fridge, and sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the surface of the chocolate batter. Gently pour the pistachio batter on top, and smooth out the surface with a spatula.
Swirl a knife gently through the two mixtures-only once!!!

Put into the oven to bake for about 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let rest for five minutes on the counter, then turn out on a rack to cool completely.

Want to try another recipe?

Chocolate Pistachio Cake from Pioneer Woman. This recipe uses a box white cake mix and Jello pistachio pudding. I've made a similar version before, but Pioneer Woman's recipe adds some orange juice and that makes for a very nice balance. This recipe is a combination of Tunnel of Fudge and a Pistachio Chocolate Bundt... yummy!