Pistachio Cardamom Cake

I have been reading David Lebovitz blog for several years now.  I don't always keep up, but he is a charismatic writer and captures the essence of places and food well.  I finally broke down and bought his book, Ready for Dessert.  The recipe is adapted from his book.  More recently, I have become intrigued by cardamom.  In a way this is somewhat unfortunately as my husband doesn't care for it much, but even he was impressed by this cake.  It was also surprising due to the fact that neither of us really care much for cake.  This little cake left many people with a wonderful impression not only of cardamom, but of all the flavors and crunch.

Pistachio Cardamom Cake

Almond topping:
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
3/4 sliced almonds

Cake:
3/4 cup shelled pistachios
1 cup flour, plus 1-2 tablespoons
2 teaspoons cardamom seeds, crushed in a mortar and pestle
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs (large)
1 teaspoon baking powder
salt

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt butter,then add to.  I used a spring form to be able to release it easier later.  (Be careful that the butter doesn't escape in your edges of the spring form pan (you may want to bake with a pan below it to catch any liquid which releases).  Stir in vanilla sugar and top evenly with almonds.

Blend together pulverized pistachios and 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of the flour.  Add the crushed cardamom.  Set this mixture aside.  In a mixer,  cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time until fully mixed in.  Whisk together the rest of the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to the creamed butter and sugar mixture.  Stir in the pistachio/cardamom mixture to the flour and creamed butter mixture.  Stir until just combined.  Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan.  Smooth the batter evenly across.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until the cake is bake through and does't stick to a toothpick.  Let cool and then invert and place on a serving plate.  Let cool completely.  Serves about 10.