Ingredients
The following ingredients have 4 Servings
- 2 cup All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- ¾ tsp Baking soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 2 Eggs (Large)
- 4 tbsp Cooking oil
- 4 tbsp Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
- ½ cup White sugar
- ¼ cup Brown
- ½ cup Sour cream
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 8 oz Pistachio halva (or other variety)
Instruction
- Preheat the oven at 325°F / 165°C / Gas mark 3.
- Chop the halva into small pieces or crumble it with your hands. Set aside.
- Grease and link a 9 x 9-inch square cake pan with parchment paper for easy removal. You can also use an 8-inch round cake pan. Pro tip - I am using a springform pan but you can also use a regular square pan with a parchment sleeve for easy removal.
- In a bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, oil, and both sugars until light and airy. Pro tip - The oil will create emulsification with the batter so it looks more whipped rather than fluffy.
- Then, add the eggs, one at a time, to the batter making sure to combine each well into the batter. Next, add the flour mixture and sour cream in three batches. Pro tip - Make sure each egg is well incorporated before you add the next one to prevent the batter from curdling.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, spread with an offset spatula towards the edges. Top with the crumbled halva all over.Pro tip - I like to leave the halva on top so it is baked partially immersed in the cake. But, you can certainly mix it up with the cake batter too.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. The top will be darker in color. Once baked, set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
- When cooled, cut the cake into 16 squares as shown in the video. You can dust with powdered sugar but I like the presence of the dark halva on top.
