Pistachio Cupcakes With Raspberries

Topped with fresh raspberries and glazed with chocolate, these delicious pistachio cupcakes are fantastic for green holidays, birthday parties, and whenever you feel like eating a pistachio dessert.

I hope that you like pistachios. As for me, I can eat pistachios on their own, and I also enjoy pistachio desserts such as pistachio dacquoise, cookies, and cupcakes.

There is no doubt that the pistachios and raspberries combo is one of the best pistachio flavor pairings.

Almost every French chef has a dessert with those berries that complement the pistachio flavor.

With St. Patrick's Day around the corner, green-colored pistachio cupcakes are sure to be the hit of the holiday party.

I turned a simple recipe of cupcakes into pistachio cupcakes, topped them with fresh raspberries, and glazed them with the matcha-flavored chocolate glaze.

What is a pistachio paste?

There is one ingredient of the pistachio cupcakes recipe that might be uncommon to you. It is a pistachio paste.

It is a creamy paste made of roasted pistachios and some oil (pistachio or canola oil) to reach smoothness.

There are many homemade pistachio recipes on the Internet, but my go-to is the pistachio paste from the American Almond Products Company of Brooklyn, New York.  

Substitute for the pistachio paste

Pistachio paste brings moisture and an additional nutty flavor to cupcakes.

However, if you do not have a pistachio paste, you can still make the best pistachio cupcakes.

Follow the pistachio cupcakes recipe below, omit the pistachio paste, add 180 g of milk (instead of 80 g in the recipe) and replace ⅓ of flour with ground pistachios.

Why you should try this recipe

1. This easy pistachio cupcake recipe results in moist and fluffy-textured cupcakes.
2. Cupcakes are made without the use of a cake mix and pistachio pudding. They are made from scratch!
3. Pistachios bring a nutty flavor that is beautifully combined with fresh raspberries.
4. The matcha-flavored chocolate glaze gives a beautiful green color, chocolate taste, and serves as an unbeatable decoration option for cupcakes. There are no piping skills required to make these sweet cuties.
5. Freezing the assembled (unglazed) cupcakes saves time on the day of serving: glaze cupcakes with the chocolate glaze, let thaw for 2 hours at room temperature and serve.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

Icing sugar: make it at home with a coffee grinder or use store-bought powdered sugar.

Flour: use all-purpose flour.

Salt: it enhances the flavors of pistachio

Baking powder: it is used as a leavening agent.

Milk: use whole or low-fat milk.

Pistachio paste: use store-bought pistachio paste or make it yourself. Be sure to read about pistachio paste substitutes above in the post.

Butter: use unslated, softened butter. Transfer it to a countertop 1 to 2 hours before you start.

Eggs: the recipe calls for whole eggs and egg whites. Separate egg whites from the yolks while the eggs are chilled. Use an egg separator if desired.

Fresh raspberries: they are the stars of these raspberry pistachio cupcakes bringing color and a tangy taste.

Raspberry preserves: use seedless raspberry preserves or pass your favorite raspberry jam/preserves through a mini strainer.

White chocolate: use Lindt white chocolate or Callebaut white chocolate.

Grapeseed oil: it is the most neutral oil used to make white chocolate Ferrero Rocher glaze.

Pistachios: use untoasted pistachios to obtain a more intense color or toasted pistachios to improve the taste. The choice is yours.

Matcha green tea powder: it works as a natural green coloring agent.

How to make pistachio cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 340 F/170 C. To make the cupcake batter, sift the powdered (icing) sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.

Heat milk in a saucepan till about 104 F/40 C (or warm to touch) and set aside.

Using an electric or a stand mixer, beat butter until it becomes creamy (photo 1). Add sifted dry mixture and mix well (photo 2).

Gradually add a whole egg, egg whites (not mounted!) (photo 3), pistachio paste, and warm milk (photo 4).

Mix everything just to combine (do not overmix!)

Butter a muffin pan. Pour/spoon about 2.5 oz (70 g) of the batter into cavities - fill only ⅔ full (photo 5). Bake for 30 minutes (photo 6).

Remove cupcakes from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes before assembling.

To assemble cupcakes, even top of each cupcake with a serrated knife.

Pour about one teaspoon of raspberry preserves on top and arrange fresh raspberries (photos 7-8).

Freeze the assembled cupcakes for 2 to 3 hours.

To make the chocolate glaze, melt white chocolate in a microwave (please, read on how to melt chocolate in the post for chocolate mousse), add grapeseed oil, matcha green tea powder, and mix.

Add chopped pistachios (photo 9) and mix again (photo 10).

Let the chocolate glaze cool down to 80 F/27 C ( warm to the touch).

Dip frozen cupcakes into the glaze (photos 11-12) and let the chocolate set at room temperature.

Expert tips

1. Use room temperature ingredients that allows getting evenly textured batter.
2. While the pistachio paste gives a light green color to the batter, feel free to add 1 to 2 drops of green food coloring to brighten the cupcakes' green color.
3. Purchase seedless raspberry preserves or pass your favorite raspberry jam/preserves through a mini strainer.

Frequently asked questions

Love pistachio desserts? Try these next!

• Pistachio Dacquoise With Strawberries
• Traditional Pistachio Financier
• Raspberry Pistachio Roulade
• browse all the Cake Recipes

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe for the cupcake batter was adapted from the book of Christophe Michalak "L'ultim cake book". The full recipe was originally published on March 06, 2019. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.