This cake or loaf (if you want to call it that) has delicate orange notes, a warm nutty pistachio flavour and a moist crumb structure. It’s delicious with a slab of cold butter and paired with warm tea.

A few things to note:

• Beat your butter and sugar using a creaming beater until it is pale and fluffy. Creaming is a proper baking technique that is crucially important in baking cakes. Properly creamed butter and sugar will be pale yellow in color, but not white. Creaming incorporates the maximum amount of air bubbles created by dry sugar mixed with solid fat (butter), so a recipe will rise in the oven and be light in texture when baked.
• If orange flower water is difficult to get, use orange zest or orange juice.
• You can grind pistachios up in your Food Processor – just make sure that the skins are peeled off the pistachios.
• If mascarpone if tough to procure, replace it with a blend of softened cream cheese and butter. Alternatively, you can simply mix powdered caster sugar and orange juice for a thinner, more drippy type of frosting. It should cool and harden with time.
• Lastly, it’s very important to let the loaf cool in the tin before popping it out – you don’t want to risk the loaf crumbling. Cooling is just as important as any other step in baking!

Love lemon-y 🍋 recipes? Try these: Classic lemon tart or a Lemon Cheescake.