London Staycation Day 3 – Cardamom, Pistachio & Orange Blossom Loaf

Today has been exceptionally warm, 30 degrees Celsius which is very hot by London standards! Too hot to be out and about, I’ve decided to stay in and bake. It’s a perfect day for an aromatic, citrus-infused loaf washed down with some refreshing ice coffee.

Ingredients:

8 cardamom pods, 100g shelled pistachios, 150g butter (at room temp.), 125g Caster Sugar, 3 large eggs, 100g self-raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 tbsp orange marmalade, 2 tbsp orange blossom water (I used Mymoune), pinch of salt.

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and prepare a loaf tin.
2. Crush the seeds from 8 cardamom pods using a pestle and mortar. Remove the cardamom shells and reserve the crushed spice.
3. Blitz 100g of pistachio kernels in a food processor until very finely chopped.
4. Add the cardamom and pistachios to a large bowl with the butter, caster sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, marmalade, orange blossom water and a pinch of salt. Mix with an electric hand whisk until well incorporated. If you have any pistachios left over you can roughly chop them up and stir them into the mix or use a few to decorate to the top of the loaf.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hours, removing half way through to cover the top of the loaf with foil to keep from browning too much or burning.
6. Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.

For the Drizzle:

3 tbsp marmalade, juice of 1 lemon, 50g Caster Sugar, 1 tsp orange blossom water

1. Combine the marmalade, lemon juice, sugar and orange blossom water in a small saucepan and gently heat until the consistency becomes syrupy – about 5 minutes or so.
2. Once the loaf has been removed from the oven, drizzle the syrup over the top and allow to cool in the tin before turning out onto a plate or cooling rack.