Frustrating ourselves over Pistachio Cake & a Caramel Macchiato from Mystery of the Seven Keys

It turns out that trying to bake this pistachio cake in a hurry is a great way to tempt fate, so the most important thing to keep in mind is to plan to make it over the course of two days! You'll keep your sanity and all of your hair as well as have a delicious treat to enjoy at the end.
But at the same time, the bonus goodie footage shown at the very end wouldn't have happened if we weren't so frustrated from the experience afterwards, so maybe Bob Ross was right and there only are happy little accidents. Nancy and Bess wouldn't care, they'd just appreciate a good snack!
Pistachio Cake
Pistachio Paste:
2 10 oz bags unsalted Pistachios, shelled and ground
1/4 cup Pistachio Butter
(You should end up with about 1 1/2 cups pistachio paste)
Cream:
1 packet (a little over 2 tsp.) Unflavored Gelatin
2 cups White Chocolate, chopped (a little less than 4 baking bars)
½ cup Pistachio Paste
4 cups Heavy Cream
Cake:
3 cups Flour
1 cup Butter, softened
1½ cups Sugar
1 Egg + 3 Egg Whites
1 tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Baking Soda
1 cup Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 tsp. Almond Extract
1 cup Pistachio Paste
½ cup Sour Cream
Extra Pistachios for garnish, coarsely chopped
Mix together the pistachios and pistachio butter to form your paste. If you're lucky enough to have premade pistachio paste, plan to use about 1/2 to 2/3 of the amounts called for as we expect it will have a more concentrated flavor.
Set aside ½ cup of the cream and sprinkle with the gelatin. Pour the remaining cream into a pot and heat over medium until it reaches a simmer. Add the cream/gelatin mixture and continue to cook for 3-4 more minutes. Put the chocolate in a large bowl with 1 Tbsp of the pistachio paste. Stir the hot cream into the chocolate and keep stirring until smooth. Stir in the remaining pistachio paste a little at a time. Stir again until smooth and press plastic wrap to the surface. Chill overnight.
For the cake, in a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. In another bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until smooth. Stir in the eggs and pistachio paste, then the milk, sour cream, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Stir into the dry mixture until blended, then pour into greased and floured cake pans and bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool completely before assembling the cake. Beat the chilled cream until peaks form and it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, but don't over-beat. Frost the cake and garnish with chopped pistachios and leftover white chocolate.
*For an alternate easier frosting, you can beat 2 cups of heavy cream until fluffy and mix in 2 Tbsp pistachio butter, or just use whatever your favorite frosting is! But try our bonus recipe at the end if you frost your cake with something else, it's worth it.
Caramel Macchiato
Double portion espresso
Steamed Milk
Caramel Syrup (we followed the recipe from: www.forkinthekitchen.com/cara...
Bonus! Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Cream
1 cup Heavy Cream
Heaping 1/2 tsp. Gelatin Powder
1 4 oz bar White Chocolate, chopped
2 Tbsp Pistachio Paste
3/4 cup Flour
3 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
2 Tbsp Ground Pistachios
1/8 tsp Salt
3 1/2 Tbsp Butter, softened
1/2 Egg, beaten
Strawberries
Set aside a little of the cream with the gelatin powder to soften. Heat the remaining cream to a simmer over med-low heat, then stir in the cream/gelatin mixture and cook for 3-4 more minutes. Pour over the chocolate and 1 Tbsp of pistachio paste and stir, then mix in the remaining 1 Tbsp of pistachio paste until smooth. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
Mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and ground pistachios. Blend in the butter and then mix in the egg. Knead until a smooth dough forms, then wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. Roll the dough out onto a floured surface and use it to line your tart dishes- this made enough for 3 4-inch tart pans. Cut away the excess dough and poke the bottoms with a fork. Line with parchment paper and top that with dry rice or beans to keep the tart shell weighed down. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes, then remove the rice and parchment paper. bake for another few minutes, until just starting to turn golden. Cool the shells completely.
Beat the chilled cream until peaks form and it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, but don't over-beat. Use it to fill the tart shells, then top with strawberries and a dusting of powdered sugar.
Let us know what you think below!
*Music in the background is the official game soundtrack

[@AO-ou7ev]

love the foreshadowing- nice to have add a learning experience to the recipe book. Always hard when using google translate for baking. Excited to see you guys uploaded another seven keys recipe.