Ingredients

• 100g/3½oz shelled pistachios
• plus extra to decorate
• 125ml/4fl oz sunflower oil
• plus extra for greasing
• 125g/4½oz caster sugar
• 2 large free-range eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 8 green cardamom pods
• seeds removed and ground (to make 1 tsp ground cardamom)
• 1 unwaxed lemon
• zest only
• 100g/3½oz plain flour
• 30g/1oz ground almonds
• sifted
• pinch salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 50g/1¾oz soured cream
• 2 lemons
• juice only
• 120g/4¼oz caster sugar
• 75g/2½oz icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
• dried rose petals

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease and line a 900g/2lb loaf tin.
• In a food processor
• pulse the pistachios to make a powder.
• In a large bowl
• mix together the sunflower oil and caster sugar. Add the eggs
• vanilla paste
• ground cardamom and lemon zest. Stir until combined.
• In a separate bowl
• add the flour
• ground pistachios
• ground almonds
• salt
• baking powder and bicarbonate soda. Stir until well combined then fold into the wet ingredients in the other bowl. Fold in the soured cream.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 45-50 minutes
• or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• Meanwhile
• prepare the syrup. Heat the lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved
• then briefly bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• As soon as the cake is cooked
• poke holes all over the top using a skewer. Pour over two-thirds of the hot syrup and leave to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes. Add half the extra pistachios (for decorating the cake) to the remaining syrup.
• When the cake is cool
• remove it from the tin.
• For the lemon icing
• sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in the lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled cake.
• To finish
• finely chop the remaining pistachios and scatter over the icing. Top with the syrup-coated pistachios and some dried rose petals.