Lemon Verbena and Pistachio Ciambella
Putting my favorite baking herb center stage in this fluffy, bright cake. And the importance of food friends.
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a fruity person. When I think of summer baking, I go straight to fruit desserts. From rhubarb to cherries to peaches and apricots, I'm always baking what the farmers bring in.
But what about another summer bounty? In the past year, I've been leaning hard into herbs. I heard someone say to use herbs like salad greens. Pile them on salads, especially with mild herbs like parsley, cilantro, mint, dill, chives, and even fennel fronds. It's changed my summer cooking. Fresh herbs go in and on everything. Same with my baking. Usually, the herb plays a supporting role to another flavor, like my strawberry shortcake with some tarragon or my whipped cream cake with berries with a bit of lemon verbena. But what if the herb takes center stage?
Well, my lemon verbena plant has taken over the garden, so I needed to find ways to use it. I planted one tiny sapling in the planter near our garage, and it has exploded. I may be the only person here dealing with a dearth of fresh lemon verbena, but seek some out if you're not drowning in the stuff.
Want to know more about lemon verbena? I wrote a whole treatise on it for Food & Wine earlier this summer. Read that article here.
Today's recipe is a perfectly light, fluffy, olive oil-based cake based on my friend (and fellow Baking Show cake plate owner) Tina's exquisite recipe, which you can find here. The amount of lemon verbena seems like a lot, but it mellows out when cooked, leaving a fragrant lemon-drop note in this delicate, nosh-able cake.
A tangent: After reading
’s piece about Finding your Friends in Food, I immediately thought about Tina. We met many years ago, before she appeared on the Great American Baking Show. Though we hadn’t seen each other in years, Tina and I regularly chatted on Instagram, even after she won the coveted cake plate. I’ve baked a bunch recipes that she shares on Instagram and her website. Tina's recipes are so solid that several have entered my regular repertoire. I trust every single recipe she writes. Fast forward to this past January when I, and a handful of other bakers, got to bake with her in her home. She’s an incredible teacher, lovely human, and a supportive fellow baker. If you’re looking for great recipes or cooking/baking classes, check out what Tina is up to! I’m grateful to have her as a Food Friend.Lemon Verbena and Pistachio Ciambella
I adopted Tina Zaccardi's perfect recipe for Lemon Ciambella using a bunch of fresh lemon verbena. But it needed something extra besides the herb. The pulverized verbena lent a pale green hue to the cake, so why not go with that green theme? A bit of coarsely ground pistachios adds a lovely richness and texture to complement the aromatic lemon verbena.
Makes one 9-inch round cake, serves 9-12.
80 g (about 1/2 cup) shelled pistachios
200 granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
8 g fresh lemon verbena leaves (It's a lot.)
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
100 g fruity olive oil
210 g pastry flour or unbleached cake flour (or 180 g all-purpose flour + 30 g cornstarch)
2 teaspoons baking powder
160 g whole milk
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Heat the oven to 350F with a rack in the middle of the oven. Butter the bottom of a 9 by 3-inch removable-bottom tube pan. (I use an angel food cake pan. If you don't have a removable-bottom pan, then butter the whole pan.)
In a food processor, pulse the pistachios until they're little nubbins the size of split lentils. (It's fine if some of the pistachios are more finely ground than that.) Dump the pistachios into a bowl and set aside. To the empty food processor, add the sugar, salt, lemon zest, and lemon verbena leaves. Process until the verbena is finely ground and only very tiny pieces remain. Dump the sugar mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer.
Add the eggs and egg yolks to the stand mixer bowl with the sugar mixture, fit it with a whisk attachment, and whisk on high speed for 6 minutes. Turn the mixer to low speed and whisk for another 6 minutes.
Meanwhile sift together the pastry flour and baking powder and whisk to mix. When the mixer is done, turn it to medium speed and drizzle in the olive oil until combined. Stop the mixer and add half of the flour, and mix on low speed until almost combined. Add the milk and whisk until combined. Add the remaining flour and mix until not quite combined. Using a flexible rubber spatula, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to mix in any errant flour. Fold in the finely chopped pistachios.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350F until the cake springs back when pressed in the center and a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30-34 minutes.
Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Run an offset spatula around the sides of the pan, including the donut-hole bit. Invert the cake then place it right-side up on a rack to cool completely.
As Tina says, "Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy." I serve it with a side of fresh sliced peaches and a bit of Greek yogurt…for breakfast.
The cake will last for about 3 days, covered at room temperature.
Happy Baking,
Martin
Love hearing stories about friends in food! Also need to try incorporate more herbs into my bakes
I’ve got a prolific lemon verbena plant and will have to try!