I’ve pondered a lot of questions in quarantine over these past few months:

1. Whatever happened to all of Joe Exotic’s tigers?

2. Will headbands still be trendy after this? I just bought like 5 in March

3. Why is banana bread called bread? It’s clearly cake

So with that said, I developed this recipe for an orange blossom + pistachio loaf CAKE, that plays on a lot of Middle Eastern flavors present in traditional baklava – namely orange blossom, which lends a floral-y & citrus-y flavor, balanced with the depth of pistachio. It’s airy, perfectly sweet, and *moist* (yes, I said it), and may even out-do that other loaf cake that has lots of bananas in it. And if calling it bread makes you feel better, then fine, go ahead, you have my permission.

INGREDIENTS

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup almond flour

3/4 cup shelled pistachios

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream or greek yogurt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 eggs

1 tbsp. honey

3 tsp. orange blossom water*

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

1 orange (from it 2 tbsp. orange zest & 3 thin slices)

1/2 cup simple syrup (1/3 cup sugar + 1/3 cup water; recipe below)

*orange blossom water is an extract found in Middle Eastern/Mediterranean specialty stores or online

DIRECTIONS

Make the simple syrup: In a small saucepan, combine 1/3 cup sugar & 1/3 cup water and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally to ensure all sugar dissolves. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, until syrup thickens. Let cool. Pro tip: simple syrup can be made ahead, in a big batch, and kept for cocktails or for brown butter baklava.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a loaf pan with non-stick spray and parchment paper, so that the parchment hangs over the sides for easy lift-out.

If your pistachios are not already roasted, roast them! (for 10 minutes at 350ºF). Crush your pistachios into pieces; you can do this by chopping them with a knife, crushing them in a plastic bag with a mallet, or in a food processor – just don’t grind into a flour! You want crunchy pieces. Save 2 tbsp. of crushed pistachios for topping.

In a large bowl, combine sugar & zest from one orange (about 2 tbsp. total). Rub the zest into the sugar, until the sugar is tinted orange and smells orange-y (yum!). Add in eggs, sour cream, honey, and orange blossom water. Whisk until well incorporated.

Sift in the almond flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt into the wet mixture. Whisk together. Using a spatula, fold in the melted butter and crushed pistachios. Pour batter into the loaf pan. Top with thin orange slices & extra pistachios.

Bake cake for 35-40 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean all the way through. Immediately out of oven, pour simple syrup all over top of cake and let cool.

store: in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 1 week.

diet: vegetarian

eat it with: a dollop of tangy labneh, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or by itself. Bonus points if you have it with Turkish coffee or tea.