Pistachio German Buttercream (Dear Joe, luxurious tastes come from labours of love or tubs in supermarkets)

Pair with vanilla cake, apricot jam, and caramel sauce

Dear Joe

Last week a colleague asked if I’d like to share her snack (yes), then pulled a rice cake sandwich out of her bag. Between two rice cakes was marmite and what I know in my heart to be Lurpack spread. I haven’t eaten Lurpack in about 12 years, because it’s expensive, so I was surprised when a billboard-sized image of a Lurpack tub pinged in my mind. It was big, like for a moment, I couldn’t get to the right social script for the work meeting about to start. I was in full Lurpack land.

Lurpack tastes luxurious. It would be described as ‘full-bodied’ if it was a wine. I found this taste again trying out a custard recipe for a pistachio buttercream. (It was for a birthday cake, for a chef I work with. Yes, I was excited) The way I normally make crème pâtissier, which is just the standard way of making a set custard, is with milk, eggs, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, sometimes a bit of butter. But I read recently about substituting some of the milk for double cream. I tried it, and it’s worth a minute. For the cake, I whipped it with butter, icing sugar, and pistachio paste to make a Pistachio German Buttercream.

To make it pour 410g / ml milk, 90g double cream, 50g caster sugar, and the seeds of half a vanilla pod (substitute this with vanilla bean paste or, at a push, vanilla extract) into a heavy-based saucepan. Heat over medium heat while you crack 100g egg (roughly 2 medium eggs) into a large bowl and whisk in 30g cornflour, 30g plain flour, and 50g caster sugar. When the milk mixture is simmering, catch it before it reaches full boil and take the pan off the heat. Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, while whisking vigorously with your free hand. At this stage I always rinse and dry out my pan, to stop any burnt milk taste getting into my custard. Pour the milk mixture back into the pan, put back on medium heat, and whisk continuously until the custard is thickened (get the mixture thick, then continue to whisk vigorously over the heat while you count 40 seconds). Pour the custard into a clean bowl and cover with cling film, pressing down on the cling film to touch all the custards surface. Chill in the fridge for 8 hours. Once cooled, smooth a spatula through the custard a few times to loosen it. Beat 250g softened butter with 60g icing sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the custard a couple of tablespoons at a time. If you’re custard is very thick, pass it through a sieve before adding it to the butter (this is a real labour of love, as in, it takes time and effort). Once all the custard is added, beat 110g pistachio paste into the buttercream in 2 additions, try not to overmix here as it will slacken the cream.

Sandwich a third of the buttercream, with a generous layer of apricot jam between two round 8inch vanilla cakes (such as this one, or this one). Cover the whole cake with the remaining buttercream and top with crushed pistachios and caramel sauce, as I did.  

Hope you have a good weekend, maybe get some Lurpack? Caitlin xx