Pistachio karpatka

Pistachio karpatka for all pistachio lovers. With a delicious pistachio custard buttercream, fresh raspberries, a dusting of icing sugar and simple decoration. Intensely pistachio-flavoured and absolutely delicious. You simply have to try this new recipe!

Ingredients for the choux pastry:

• 150 ml water
• 75 g butter
• 3 large eggs
• 100 g plain flour
• a pinch of salt

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Place the butter and water in a saucepan and heat until the butter has melted. Bring to the boil. Add the flour all at once, reduce the heat and stir vigorously for a short while, until you have a thick, smooth and glossy dough with no lumps. Remove from the heat, cover with cling film, pressing it directly onto the surface of the dough, and leave to cool. Once cooled, add the eggs one at a time (this is important!), beating well after each addition. You should have a smooth, sticky dough with no lumps. Divide the dough into two equal portions.

Line the base of a 23 cm springform tin with baking paper. Spread one portion of the dough over the paper using a spatula. It doesn’t need to be smooth or even, as long as it covers the entire base – the more uneven the surface, the more characteristic “mountains” you will get. The dough is sticky, but that’s exactly how it should be.

Bake at 200°C for about 25–30 minutes, or until the pastry is fully baked. Do not open the oven during baking. Bake the second portion of dough in the same way. Remove from the oven and leave both layers to cool completely.

Ingredients for the pistachio buttercream:

• 250 ml milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg yolks
• 120 g caster sugar + 2 tbsp icing sugar, if needed
• 60 g potato starch
• 100 g pistachio paste*
• 350 g mascarpone
• 90 g butter
• 250 g raspberries

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, place the egg, egg yolks and caster sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the potato starch and beat until combined. With the mixer running, gradually pour in half of the hot milk. Once combined, pour the mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk. Return to the heat and cook, stirring continuously with a whisk, until you have a thick custard. The custard should come to the boil. Remove from the heat and cover with cling film, pressing it directly onto the surface of the custard. Leave to cool to room temperature.

Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the cooled custard in 3 additions, beating well after each addition. Add the pistachio paste and beat until combined. Finally, add the mascarpone and beat briefly until smooth. Taste the buttercream; if you prefer it sweeter, add icing sugar to taste and beat until combined. Gently fold in the raspberries.

Place the first choux pastry layer on a serving plate and spread with the pistachio buttercream and raspberries. Smooth the surface and cover with the second pastry layer.

Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Remove from the fridge before serving to allow the buttercream to soften. Dust with icing sugar and decorate as desired.

* Pistachio paste (pistachio butter) is made from 100% ground pistachios, with no other ingredients added. It has the consistency of natural nut butter and an intensely pistachio aroma. It is a completely natural product. This is different from pistachio cream, which is sweetened and contains various other ingredients, including sugar, and has a consistency similar to Nutella. Pistachio cream is used in some of my other recipes.

Enjoy!