Pistachio and Lemon Olive Oil Cake

A cake dedicated to Cricket, who deserved better, as do we.

I dedicate this cake to Cricket, soon-to-be former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s former dog, who deserved so much better from her. As we all did.

(I’m not holding out much hope for Sen. Markwayne Mullin, the former professional MMA fighter appointed by President Donald Trump to replace Noem. Because, sure, the person we need to run Immigration and Customs Enforcement should have “experience staging fights” on their resume.

Such was this week that I craved cake. And I suspect you, as loyal Contrarian readers and highly aware humans, also need cake. I’ve been working on the recipe for this cake for a while because I knew one day the snow would melt and I would want a cake that reminded me of the coming spring.

In this easy-to-make cake, olive oil takes the place of butter; the slight grassy notes of the oil keep the pistachio and lemon flavors bright and makes a cake so irresistibly moist even Betty Crocker is jealous. Flavored with almond, lemon, and vanilla extract and finished with a lemon icing and sweet and salty pistachio nuts, this cake hopefully offers up a little break from the outside world. Consider sharing it with a friend or neighbor.

Note:

• I used salted pistachio nuts in the cake. If you use unsalted nuts, add ½ teaspoon salt to the batter.

• This cake uses 3 different extracts: Almond to enhance the pistachio flavor, lemon and vanilla to ensure a rich, complex-flavored cake. If you are desperate to make this cake and don’t have all these extracts in the house – maybe you only have vanilla – still make the cake. To paraphrase British cooking doyenne Delia Smith: Anything with this many nice ingredients will still taste nice.

Marissa Rothkopf Bates writes about food for the New York Times, Newsweek (RIP) and Publishers’ Weekly among others. Her newest book, “The Secret Life of Chocolate Chip Cookies,” is available wherever fine books are sold. Find her on Substack here.

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