The Littlest Succubus

Mini Pistachio cakes aka Vicky cakes.

Mini Pistachio Cakes filled with pistachio pudding.
The cream cheese frosting on top has a hint of pistachio.

I start at my new store tomorrow and wanted to bring along a sweet snack for everyone. Although I originally planned to make the signature red velvet cakes, the pistachio pudding was on sale and I instantly knew I had to make these.
I call these Vicky cakes. When I was little, my best friend’s mom would bake a pistachio cake for their birthday parties. It was my favorite thing considering pistachio ice cream was (and still is) my favorite ice cream and it tasted just like it in cake form. Not to mention they’re a pretty shade of green!

Eventually I’ll make a “real” pistachio cake by using ground pistachios instead of pistachio pudding but this is still one of my favorite cakes ever. So here we go!
This recipe yields 24 mini cakes and 8 standard cakes. 

Mini Pistachio Cakes with Pistachio Pudding filling!
Ingredients

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 packages (3.4 ounces packages) instant pistachio pudding mix
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/4 cups 2% milk
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• Green food coloring, optional
• 1 cup milk for pudding filling

Hint of pistachio cream cheese frosting!

• 6 tablespoons butter, at room temp
• 1 8oz package of cream cheese, at room temp
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1-2 teaspoons pistachio pudding mix

In a small bowl, whisk together half of a packet of pistachio pudding and 1 cup of milk and set aside to thicken till ready for use.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, pudding mix, baking powder and salt. Beat the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla in a large bowl. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until blended.

Fill paper-lined standard muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 375° for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. If baking minis, fill paper-lined mini muffin cups three-fourths full and bake at 375° for 12-16 minutes.
Allow cakes to cool for 5 minutes before filling. (I like to fill with pudding while the cake is still pretty warm so that the hole I poke closes back up easily). 

For the filling:

Fill pastry bag equipped with a round tip (I don’t remember what size I used but it was about 1/4” wide) with pistachio pudding. 

Poke a hole in the middle of the cake with a toothpick or wooden spoon handle (I actually used a piping tip to get a cone shape to fill).  Fill hole with pistachio pudding until pudding reaches the top of the cake. Then just frost!

For the frosting:

In a stand mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until combined and smooth. Add vanilla and almond extracts along with 1 or 2 teaspoons of pistachio pudding mix (I used 1 to get the tiniest flavor of it but I think 2 would be delicious next time!). Slowly add in confectioner’s sugar until desired consistency and sweetness. (I also like to keep some milk or cream around too in case it gets too thick for my liking).
Frost cakes with knife or piping bag.

Enjoy!