Gourmet Pistachio Cake with Orange Peel by Cheryl Tarte

The official name of this cake was just a plain "pistachio cake", and the components mentioned in the official description only mentioned pistachio mousse, pistachio feuilletine and dacquoise. However, I am reviewing it for an ingredient that's not mentioned anywhere - candied orange peel. The brand is normally known for very premium fresh and seasonal fruit tarts, and I've not had an even experience with its cakes, but this was an outstanding one because of the flavour pairing.

As you can see, it is found only on the outside of the cake, near the base, which is where people tend to put thoughtless decorations. But it turned out to be the real star of the show.

As I mentioned in previous posts on pistachio and pandan pairings (on kaya pistachio cookies and pandan pistachio mooncake), pistachio and pandan share a similar sweet, comforting and creamy fragrance as vanilla. Some people call pandan the "Asian vanilla" as a result, and actually pistachio's flavour is similar. So this cake actually had that rich sweet and mellow fragrance. The toasty roasted nut fragrance wasn't as strong as some other pistachio bakes I'd tried, but it was present mildly.

And this is where the magical orange peel comes in - the herby complex fragrance of the peel was a perfect complement to the smooth creamy vanilla-like fragrance of the pistachio and the rich cream in the mousse. Think of it like an orange flan or yuzu ice cream.

Aside from that, the crunch of the feuilletine and dacquoise was a nice addition to the texture. Because the feuilletine was kind of coloured like hazelnut or chocolate, I had expected it to taste nuttier and with more of a roasted taste, like a hazelnut praline, nutella or Ferrero Rocher. But I did not notice much of that taste, no woodiness whatsoever. It just tasted similar to the rest of the cake.

So overall, it is actually just an average creamy pistachio cake, no prominent roasted nut taste, but it's the orange peel that adds the complementary complexity, and maybe that might justify the price somewhat.