French candied fruit and pistachio cake

Nothing compares to the moistness of a French cake that the French like to enjoy all the time. Some adore the one with hazelnuts, others a marble one, and some with lemon. I love them all, but the one that always stands out as extra special to me is with candied fruit and pistachios. It is effortless to make as well as eat. 

135 g 35% creme fraiche 
4 medium eggs, room temperature
175 g golden caster sugar
1/2 pod vanilla bean seeds
pinch of salt
235 g all-purpose wheat flour
5 g baking powder
70 g butter, melted
90 g candied fruit
50 g pistachios, crushed

syrup:
100 ml water
25 g rhum
50 g light brown sugar
pinch of sea salt


Heat the oven to 180° C. Line a pan (about 20/23x12 cm) with baking paper.

Place cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a bowl. Whisk with a hand whisk until smooth (1 minute). Next, in a bowl, mix flour and baking powder.

When the eggs are done, add the flour mixture and mix in. Add butter, candied fruit and pistachios, and mix in again. Until incorporated, no longer.

Pour all into a pan and place in the oven one level lower than the middle. Lower the temperature to 170C°. Bake for around 55-60 minutes or until golden and the skewer inserted comes out clean. Sometimes it takes up to 1 h 10 minutes.

In the meantime. Make the syrup. In a pot, add all the ingredients and boil on medium heat letting the sugar melt. Then raise the heat to almost highest and boil until the syrup reduces by 1/3. Remove and let cool.

Take the cake out and immediately pour on the syrup, which I do one tablespoon at a time. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then lift out slowly with the baking paper and place on a cooling rack. Serve warm or room temp. 

In partnership with Mason Cash