After what feels like a long break, I finally started baking again. Right now, I’m in Canada on holiday, but just before going away I baked this amazing Turmeric and Pistachio Cake with Icelandic Skyr Frosting. Whenever I make cake, I let my husband take the leftovers to office, but not this turmeric cake. We ate it all by ourselves!

I was inspired to make turmeric cake after tasting the one Juliet Oscar Yankee made for Creating for Good‘s fundraising event last month.

My recipe is different from the original one as I adapted it to my personal taste: I reduced the amount of flour, eggs and sugar; I added pistachios to the sponge; I used Icelandic Skyr both in the cake and in the frosting.

Isey Skyr is a cultured dairy product unique to Iceland. If you’ve never heard of it or tried it before, it is similar to yoghurt, but quite different in taste and texture.

Isey Skyr is authentic Icelandic skyr. As the name suggests, it is produced in Iceland using local milk and a special process to ensure the valuable whey proteins are kept.

Icelandic people have been eating skyr for centuries and they swear by it as the secret to their good health. That’s because skyr is made with high quality milk and water and without any use of pesticides.

It is very high in protein, gluten free and virtually fat free. The texture is thick, smooth and creamy. I love replacing butter frosting on cakes with plain skyr: it’s a healthier, but delicious alternative!

Overall this is a fairly sweet cake, although the Icelandic Skyr makes it less so, adding a touch of sour taste.

The other main ingredient of this cake is turmeric. Turmeric is a plant of the ginger family which grows in the forests of southern Asia and is used a lot in Asian cuisines. The turmeric spice is also used in Ayurvedic medicine as a treatment for a variety of disorders, like indigestion and cold and also to cleanse wounds.

I had never heard of turmeric before meeting my husband, but now I use it regularly when cooking Indian recipes. This was the first time I used turmeric in cakes and I was really impressed. It infuses the cake sponge with a rich flavour and a beautiful bright yellow colour.

As turmeric and Icelandic Skyr are so good for health, I’m happy to eat this cake regularly! ;)

Ingredients

For the cake

• 180g butter, softened
• 180g caster sugar
• 3 large free-range eggs
• 150g Isey Skyr (natural or vanilla)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 180g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 50g pistachios, roughly chopped

For the frosting

• 1 pot of Isey skyr
• 1 tbsp icing sugar (optional)
• handful of ground pistachios

Preparation

Grease and line two 20cm cake tins with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan.

Using a food processor, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the Icelandic skyr and vanilla extract. Continue mixing for a few minutes until well incorporated. Lastly, add the chopped pistachios and mix again.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and turmeric. Sift the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and gently fold them over.

Divide the cake mix into the prepared cake tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Serve with a dollop of Isey skyr sweetened with one spoonfull of icing sugar and ground pistachios.

Isey Skyr is sold in Waitrose stores all over the UK. Find out where to buy it here. For more Skyr cake recipes, see here: Skyr Cheesecake with Honey Roasted Figs and Orange and Polenta Cake with Skyr Icing.

Disclaimer: this post was written in collaboration with Isey Skyr. All opinions are my own.