pistachio, rhubarb and ginger layer cake

pistachio, rhubarb and ginger layer cake

• 26 Oct 2026

During this year's birthday season I decided to up my cake game. For my neighbour's birthday cake I decided to make the Ode to John Olsen Cake from the cake master, Nadine Ingram. I'm normally both a competent and confident baker. Well not after tackling this cake I'm not. The custard split and the sponges failed to rise and with a looming birthday and no cake, I whipped up a new batch of crème pâtissière and made a pistachio butter cake with the last few eggs from the dozen I'd bought. 

Although the cake was delicious, I don't like to be defeated so I found another nut based sponge recipe from Natalie Paull and tried again. 

It's best to approach this recipe in stages. The oven baked rhubarb and the ginger custard can be made ahead of time and the sponges baked the day before assembling the cake. This is one of those rare cakes that must be eaten the day its assembled.

Here's the hodge podge recipe for you, garnered from a variety of sources, which makes a 16 cm cake. I've provided links to both cake recipes but unfortunately I don't have a link to the Natalie Paull cold start custard recipe from which my ginger custard was based. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced, you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C. 

Pistachio rhubarb and ginger layer cake - serves 6-8
Baked rhubarb
1 bunch rhubarb (minimum six to nine stalks)
150g caster sugar
1 small piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 orange, juiced and zested

Ginger custard

165g full cream milk 

135g cream 

1 large piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp vanilla paste

65g caster sugar 

25g cornflour

pinch fine sea salt

3 egg yolks

Pistachio Cake

100g pistachios

100g extra-virgin olive oil

80g egg yolk (from approx 4 eggs) + 160g egg white (from approx. 5 eggs)

40g orange juice

½ tsp vanilla paste

85g cake flour

185g caster sugar

1 and 1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch fine sea salt

¼ tsp cream of tartar

To assemble
125g pure cream
125g double cream
35g pistachios, shelled and roughly chopped

Baked rhubarb
Preheat the oven to 160°C, fan forced/180°C, conventional. Wash the rhubarb to remove any soil and trim off the ends and leaves using a sharp cook's knife. Slice the stalks lengthways down the centre, so that they are no thicker than 1 cm. If the stalks are really thick you may need to slice them into three pieces lengthways to achieve the correct thickness.

Cut each length into 7 cm batons then toss with the sugar, ginger, and orange juice and zest. Arrange the rhubarb in a deep baking dish, all in a row and in the same direction like matchsticks, and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Check the fruit and you will see the sugar has melted and the rhubarb is half immersed in the liquid. Give the dish a shake so the fruit rolls over and the other side can be cooked, then return to the oven for a further 15 - 20 minutes or until soft and tender. You need the fruit to be soft enough so that when it goes into the layers of the cake you can cut through it with a knife. Remove the rhubarb from the oven and cool completely in the baking dish. This will make more rhubarb than you need but it's delicious served over muesli.

Ginger custard
Combine the milk, cream, ginger, cardamom and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring everything almost to the boil, then turn off the heat and allow the flavours to infuse for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

In a medium bowl, weigh the sugar, cornflour and salt. Add the egg yolks last and hand whisk to make a creamy paste. Strain the milk through a sieve before pouring in to the egg mixture whisking well. Scrape the mix into a medium saucepan.

Place the saucepan on a medium-high heat and hand whisk at a slow pace to allow the heat to suffuse through the mix. Work the small balloon whisk into the corners of the saucepan (where the custard thickens first). After around 3 minutes of whisking, the custard will start to look like a creamy liquid. Speed up the whisking now the custard will thicken fast. It will look lumpy but just whisk quickly and it will all come together into an evenly thick paste in another 1 minute.

Don't give up at the lumpy stage. It is NOT failure - just the custard cooking at different rates. Keep whisking to achieve silky, evenly thick success. As soon as it looks smooth and thick, slow down the whisking and wait for a few burp-like bubbles to pop over the surface. It's a super thick custard and your whisk should leave obvious furrows as it moves through the mix.

Take the pan off the heat and scrape the custard into a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the custard to prevent a rubbery skin forming. Chill for at least 1 hour.

Pistachio cake

Lightly spray the base and sides of three 16cm 5cm deep cake tins with cooking oil. Place a circle of paper in the base of each tin, spray again and lightly dust the sides with flour, tapping out any excess.

Whiz the 100g pistachios in the food processor to a thick and dry peanut butter–like consistency, then scrape into a wide mixing bowl with the oil, egg yolks, orange juice and vanilla paste. Set aside.

Weigh the flour, 135g of the sugar, baking powder and salt into a small bowl and set aside with a sieve on top. Bump the oven temperature up to 160°C, fan forced/180°C, conventional.

Put the egg white, remaining 50g of sugar and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whip on speed 8 (under high) for 2–3 minutes until the meringue is stiff and white.

While the meringue whips, sift the dry ingredients over the pistachio and oil base and mix with a stiff spatula to make a thick paste, then gently and thoroughly fold in one-third of the meringue until almost fully incorporated. Gently fold in the remaining meringue with a hand whisk and do a final fold with a plastic spatula until no white streaks remain. Divide the batter between the three tins – 245g per tin – and smooth the tops. If you only have 2 tins, pour a 1/3 of the batter into one tin and 2/3 of the batter into the second tin.

Transfer to the oven and bake on the centre rack for 20–25 minutes or until the cakes have risen, have a slight dome and are biscuity brown. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean (internal temperature is 95°C/203°F). If making 2 cakes, the larger cake should take about 40 minutes to bake.

Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for a minute. Cut around the sides to loosen the cake from the tins. Place a second oiled wire rack over each cake and carefully flip them upside down. Remove the tins and paper and leave the cakes top-side down on the racks to cool completely. If you can rest the racks over the sink to get better airflow, do!

To assemble
If you've used 2 cake tins, cut the larger cake horizontally into 2 even layers so that you have 3 cake layers.

Remove the ginger custard from the fridge and mix thoroughly to remove any lumps.  Place the custard in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment along with the creams. Whip together until thick and fluffy. Don't walk away from the mixer at this stage as double cream can whip very quickly and curdle.

Place one of the sponges onto a cake platter and spoon one-quarter of the ginger cream on top, spreading it evenly to the edge of the cake using an offset palette knife. Cover the custard with half the baked rhubarb, being mindful not to add too much of the syrup at this stage, then top with the second sponge and repeat the layering of ginger cream and rhubarb. Place the third sponge on top and take a moment to jig all the layers together so the cake looks straight. 

Ripple a little of the rhubarb poaching syrup through the rest of the ginger cream then spoon it all over the top of the cake. Push the cream gently over the edges of the cake using a large palette knife and rotate the cake as you go to cover the sides. Try to move the cream only in one direction, so you don't sweep crumbs back into the icing. Smooth over the top, drizzle with a little more rhubarb syrup, if you like, and sprinkle with the chopped pistachios. 

This cake must be served the day of making as the custard dries out when stored in the fridge overnight.

This cake is a dream - it's a lovely combination of soft sponge cake, tart rhubarb and creamy custard.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian