Yoghurt & Pistachio Cake with Cardamom Cheesecake Sauce

I think I’ve won his heart forever with this one. It’s that rare thing, in my kitchen, a cake – but it’s so rich and dense and flavoured with the East that exists only in storybooks. If you have a food processor it’s not that hard.

200g ground pistachios

½ tsp ground cardamom

150g unsalted butter

225g self-raising flour

185g caster sugar

3 eggs

125ml thick Turkish yoghurt

Sauce

100g white chocolate

200g cream cheese

½ tsp rose water

1 tbsp icing sugar

¼ tsp ground cardamom

I keep recommending Turkish yoghurt – I promise I’m not Turkish – but it is the best in the world. If you can’t find ground pistachios, do it yourself in the food processor, though unsalted ones please!

This is a surprise for the boy. It’s been a long week for both of us and I want to treat him. He’ll have some tonight and a big piece with his coffee in the morning. It will be the best start to the weekend possible. Pre-heat the oven to 180/Gas 6. Put some smooth jazz on the CD player. I’m going for Cannonball Adderley.

Tip the ground pistachios, cardamom powder, butter, flour and sugar in the food processor and whizz until you get what looks like breadcrumbs. Appreciate being able to hear the jazz over the processor for a minute or two.

Pour into a big bowl and add the eggs (free range organic please – they’re not that expensive) and yoghurt. If you can’t get really thick Turkish or Greek yoghurt, get the thickest you can and strain as much water out as you can. Mix mix mix.

Pour into a cake tin (20cm) lined with baking paper. Should have told you to do this at the start. Bake for 1 hour, covering the cake with foil after 30 minutes to keep it nice and moist.

Cool on a rack, while you make the sauce. You could use this as a frosting but I think a big spoonful next to the cake will allow the boy to choose his own cake to frosting ratio.

Melt the white chocolate by putting the broken pieces in a heatproof bowl, over a pan of boiling water. When melted, allow it to cool (but not re-set). In another bowl, combine the cream cheese and the rose water, and then stir in the chocolate. Add the icing sugar and cardamom. Mix well until you have a fairly stiff frosting.

Serve him a big wedge with a generous dollop of frosting. He's practically purring.