This easy-to-make Pistachio Coffee Cake is not only delicious but is also pleasing to the eye with its bright green inside. It is perfect for a special family breakfast but can be easily made any day of the week. This recipe uses both a boxed cake mix and a box of pudding allowing you get it into the oven quickly!
Pistachio Coffee Cake
Barbara modified an award-winning recipe from our 4-H days for this Pistachio Pudding Cake. The original recipe was actually for the microwave – maybe someday we’ll share it on here too.
Pistachio Bundt Cake has a crunchy outer layer that gives just a little chewy texture that goes great with the moist pistachio flavor inside. Add the hint of orange and all that is left is to grab a cup of coffee and enjoy a big slice!
Our favorite part of pistachio pudding cake is the deliciously moist texture which comes from both sour cream and instant pistachio pudding mix.
Pistachio Bundt Cake Ingredients:
Cake Mix (white or yellow)
Instant Pistachio Pudding Mix
Sour Cream
Orange Juice
Vegetable Oil
Vanilla Extract
Eggs
Cinnamon
Sugar
Chopped Pecans
How to Make Pistachio Bundt Cake
Full recipe and ingredient list for pistachio coffee cake with instant pudding is found below.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease Bundt pan.
- Mix pecans, sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle one-third of mixture into Bundt pan. Set the rest of the nut mixture aside.
- Combine the rest of the cake ingredients together in large mixing bowl.
- Add half of batter mixture to cake pan and top with half of the remaining nut mixture. Top with remaining cake batter and add remaining nut mixture. Swirl nut mixture into cake batter using a butter knife.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before inverting pan onto cake platter to remove.
- For the glaze, mix orange juice, vanilla and powdered sugar together and more over cooled cake.
What is the point of a Bundt Cake?
The purpose of a Bundt pan is not all about beauty. While using a Bundt pan results in a unique round shape (think of a doughnut) with a hole in the center, it also allows the cake to make contact with the surface of the pan in many contact points. As a result, this ensures that the cake cooks evenly ensuring a moist texture.
Why put pudding mix in cake?
Instant pudding mix is the secret to an extra moist cake. The gelatin in the mix alters the texture to make a spongy, moist cake.
How do you grease a Bundt pan?
Greasing a Bundt pan is an essential step to ensuring your cake comes out in one piece. We recommend using shortening to grease the inside of a Bundt pan. Take a folded paper towel, dip into shortening, and generously grease all sides of the Bundt pan, even the inside piece. Be sure to cover all surfaces, top to bottom, inside ring and outside ring.
Notes About Pistachio Bundt Cake:
- Be sure to grease all sides of the Bundt pan (outside and inside) with shortening to ensure it comes out of the pan easily.
- Substitute chopped pistachios or walnuts for pecans, if desired. Or leave out the nuts if you want.
- For a bright green color, add a few drops of food coloring to the batter.
- When the batter goes into the pan, it appears that it’s a small pistachio cake but it will rise and expand a lot when baking.
- Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan before flipping out onto a plate or cooling rack.
- Before inverting, take a knife and loosen around the edges on the outside ring and the center ring.
- The orange glaze is tasty, but optional.
- We lovingly call this the Grinch cake and serve it Christmas morning.
Old Fashioned Coffee Cake Recipes:
Grandma’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Honey Bun Coffee Cake (with cake mix)
We created a fun smaller version of these too! Check out our Mini Pistachio Coffee Cakes.
Pistachio Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
- 15.25 oz yellow cake mix or white
- 1 oz instant pistachio pudding mix small box
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Optional Glaze
- 2 Tablespoons orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease Bundt pan generously with shortening; be sure to grease the inner and outer circles.
- Mix together pecans, sugar and cinnamon.
- Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon mixture into the greased pan; be sure to get the cinnamon mixture to coat all surfaces of the pan.
- Mix together cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, orange juice, vegetable oil and vanilla; add green food coloring for a darker color of green if desired.
- Add half of the cake batter to the pan and top with half of the remaining nut mixture.
- Top with the remaining cake batter and add the remaining nut mixture.
- Use a knife to create swirls in the cake. Be sure to go around the entire cake.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto a cake platter.
- For glaze: Mix together orange juice, vanilla and powdered sugar. Pour over cooled cake.
Notes
- We love this cake so much that we make a mini "Grinch" version.
- This coffee cake has a crunchy outer layer that gives just a little chewy texture that goes great with the moist pistachio inside.
- Add the hint of orange in the powdered sugar glaze and all that is left is to grab a cup of coffee and enjoy a big slice!
- The moist texture of this cake comes from instant pistachio pudding mix.
- Love coffee cake? Try Grandma's Sour Cream Version, Rhubarb Coffee Cake, and Honey Bun Coffee Cake.
Nutrition
Linking up to Meal Plan Monday.
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