Pistachio Pound Cake



342g / 3 cups Cake Flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
500g / 1.5 cups Castor sugar, divided (Please reduce this to 300g- original recipe is too sweet)
340g / 3 sticks Unsalted butter
1.5 tsp Vanilla Extract
5 large Eggs
120ml (1/2 cup) Whole milk
20g Natural cocao powder (I replaced this with 50g Pistachio paste)
90ml Water
Preheat oven to 325F / 190C. Grease the inside of a 10inch bundt pan and dust with flour.

Sift Cake flour, baking powder and salt and set it aside.

In a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter at medium speed for 2 minutes until creamy.  Add sugar and continue to cream for 4 mins at medium to high speed.  Add vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time and mix at medium speed until well mixed.

Add sifted flour mixture in 3 additions and alternating it with 2 additions of milk.

Mix cocoa powder with water in a small bowl. Add 3 cups of the batter to the cocoa mixture and stir until blended. (I added my pistachio paste here instead of the cocoa mixture)

Spoon 1/3 of plain batter into the prepared bundt pan and smooth it to an even layer. Spoon 1/3 of the chocolate (pistachio) mixture over the plain layer and smooth to even out. Repeat until all batter is used up finishing with the chocolate layer.

Bake for 60-75 mins or until the skewer comes out clean.  Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.  Invert the cake onto the rack and cool completely.