This gorgeous green cake is nothing short of a dream come true – pillowy soft cake laced with salty pistachio pieces, and topped with a creamy vanilla glaze.
Variation Ideas
- Use any flavor pudding you love – and have fun with flavors!
- This can be made into cupcakes too, or even a 9×13 cake pan.
This would be a perfect cake for St. Patrick’s Day because of the lovely color – which is due to the not-so-secret ingredient – instant pistachio pudding mix.
I’m not one to use a box mix and cut corners when baking, but after seeing a ton of recipes that use pudding mix, i thought I’d give it a whirl. This combines a box of yellow cake mix with a pouch of instant pistachio pudding mix – leaving you with a decadently moist, soft cake. A lot of traditional pudding cakes use club soda in the mixture to give it an airy textures (thanks to all the bubbles!) but this cake didn’t need a lot of extra moisture so I used whole milk instead. Another swap you can do if you want to cut down a bit on all the dairy, is to use vegetable oil instead of butter. (tip – use 3/4 cup of oil for every 1 cup of butter if substituting)
I made this in a bundt pan, but a regular 9×13 pan would work well, too. These would even make great cupcakes if you are consciously making an effort to reduce food sharing and giving everyone their own specific plate (thanks #covid19)
Now let’s get to the good stuff…
Pistachio Pudding Cake
The Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
1 pouch Jell-O instant pistachio pudding mix
4 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup chopped pistachios
The Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla paste
1/4 cup finely chopped pistachios
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease your bundt pan with butter and coat with a flour dusting.
- Whisk cake mix and flour. Add in eggs, milk, and butter until well smooth batter is formed.
- Gently fold in chopped pistachios.
- Pour batter into baking pan and use spatula to level and smooth.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
- While baking, combine powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp milk, and vanilla until a thick, smooth icing is formed.
- Once the cake is finished baking, let cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire cooling rack. Let cool completely before icing.
- Spoon icing over cake and let it drip down the sides. Sprinkle with finely chopped pistachios.
It is a simple cake that is sure to please any sweet tooth!
