This high altitude strawberry lemon pistachio cake starts with three layers of moist lemon pistachio cake made with cream cheese and coconut milk. The cake is filled with lemon curd, frosted with fluffy strawberry buttercream, and decorated with crushed salted pistachios and edible dried rose petals.
You might also love these high altitude recipes for lemon pistachio tea cake, pistachio coconut cake, and no churn creamy pistachio ice cream.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Moist for Days. This is such a moist cake, thanks to the cream cheese, coconut milk, and even the pistachios, all which add moisture and flavor to the cake.
Lovely Spring Flavors. Lemon and pistachios are a classic flavor pairing in the spring and summer, and it’s especially good with the strawberry buttercream. The pink rose petals make the prettiest edible decoration on this strawberry lemon pistachio cake.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Cake
- Unsalted Butter + Cream Cheese. Adds richness, flavor and moisture. When creamed together with the sugar, it creates a light and fluffy cake crumb.
- Granulated Sugar. Sweetness and moisture.
- Eggs. Gives the cake structure, strength and moisture.
- Vanilla + Lemon Extracts. Flavor.
- Cake Flour. Flour gives a cake structure and strength. With a lower percentage of protein than all-purpose cake, cake flour makes a lighter, fluffier, more tender cake.
- Baking Powder. Leavens the cake and makes it rise.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness. I use coarse Kosher salt in all my baking.
- Coconut Milk. Use canned, unsweetened coconut milk from the ethnic food aisle, not the coconut milk that you can find in the dairy section. Canned coconut milk is high in fat, making a rich, flavorful, tender cake. I’ve made this cake with both full fat and low fat (lite) coconut milk.
- Pistachios. Salted pistachios add so much flavor and texture to the cake, as well as added moisture.
Buttercream & Filling
- Butter. Unsalted butter adds flavor and richness to the buttercream.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream.
- Freeze Dried Strawberries. These are easy to crush into a powder, and they add a natural pink color and strawberry flavor to complement the pistachio lemon cake.
- Meringue Powder. Adds stability and improves the texture.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Lemon Curd. For more lemon flavor, I spread a little store bought lemon curd in between the cake layers.
- Pistachios + Dried Edible Rose Petals. For decorating.
Instructions
Getting Ready
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line three 8-inch cake pans with a circle of parchment paper on the bottom of the pans, and spray the paper with non-stick baking spray.
- Shake the can of coconut milk thoroughly before opening. Some brands of coconut milk separate more than others, with firm lumps of coconut cream that won’t mix in. If this happens, you’ll need to pour the milk into a saucepan and gently warm it over medium low heat, stirring until all the lumps of cream are melted and the milk is smooth.
- The pistachios should be very finely chopped. I like to do this with a small food processor or ninja.
Cake
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, butter and sugar for five minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Beat in the extracts.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour, then whisk in the salt, baking powder and finely chopped pistachios. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the coconut milk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing just until moistened.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, or with moist crumbs clinging to it. Set the pans on a wire rack, covered loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for several minutes until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the powdered sugar, freeze dried strawberries, meringue powder, salt and vanilla, mixing until combined.
- Increase the speed to medium, and whip the buttercream on for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to “stir” and mix for one more minute.
Assembly
- Place one of the cooled cake layers on a cake board or serving plate. Spread a layer of buttercream onto the cake, using your spatula to create a half inch “dam” around the edge (or you can do this with a piping bag).
- Spoon several tablespoons of lemon curd onto the buttercream, spreading it out to the “dam”. Repeat with a second layer of cake, buttercream and lemon curd, then finish with the third layer of cake on top.
- Frost the cake all over with a thin crumb coat of buttercream. Refrigerate the cake for 20-30 minutes (keeping the rest of the buttercream covered), then frost with a final layer of buttercream.
- Before the buttercream crusts over, sprinkle it with the crushed pistachios, and decorate with a few dried edible rose petals.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can cut the cake recipe in half, and divide the cake batter between three 6-inch cake pans. These will take about 20 minutes to bake.
While I haven’t baked this particular cake recipe as a sheet cake, it would likely work just fine in a 9×13 inch baking pan.
I found mine at my local Savory Spice Shop, but you can also buy edible rose petals on Amazon.
Store leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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High Altitude Strawberry Lemon Pistachio Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- 8 inch round cake pans (x3)
Ingredients
Cake
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 2 oz (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp lemon extract or lemon paste
- 3 cups cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 can (14 oz) full fat or low fat unsweetened coconut milk
- ⅔ cup salted pistachios, very finely chopped
Buttercream & Filling
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp crushed freeze-dried strawberries
- 2 tsp meringue powder (optional)
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ – ½ cup lemon curd
- 2 tbsp pistachios, very finely chopped
- 1 tsp edible dried rose petals (optional)
Instructions
Getting Ready
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line three 8-inch cake pans with a circle of parchment paper on the bottom of the pans, and spray the paper with non-stick baking spray.
- Shake the can of coconut milk thoroughly before opening. Some brands of coconut milk separate more than others, with firm lumps of coconut cream that won't mix in. If this happens, you'll need to pour the milk into a saucepan and gently warm it over medium low heat, stirring until all the lumps of cream are melted and the milk is smooth.
- The pistachios should be very finely chopped. I like to do this with a small food processor or ninja.
Cake
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, butter and sugar for five minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Beat in the extracts.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour, then whisk in the salt, baking powder and finely chopped pistachios. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the coconut milk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing just until moistened.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, or with moist crumbs clinging to it. Set the pans on a wire rack, covered loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for several minutes until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the powdered sugar, freeze dried strawberries, meringue powder, salt and vanilla, mixing until combined.
- Increase the speed to medium, and whip the buttercream on for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for one more minute.
Assembly
- Place one of the cooled cake layers on a cake board or serving plate. Spread a layer of buttercream onto the cake, using your spatula to create a half inch "dam" around the edge (or you can do this with a piping bag).
- Spoon several tablespoons of lemon curd onto the buttercream, spreading it out to the "dam". Repeat with a second layer of cake, buttercream and lemon curd, then finish with the third layer of cake on top.
- Frost the cake all over with a thin crumb coat of buttercream. Refrigerate the cake for 20-30 minutes (keeping the rest of the buttercream covered), then frost with a final layer of buttercream.
- Before the buttercream crusts over, sprinkle it with the crushed pistachios, and decorate with a few dried edible rose petals.
Hello. I was wondering if I could substitute half and half for the coconut milk? I have a family member with a coconut allergy. My family loves your vanilla cake recipe. I tried to make a different one a bit ago and a protest ensued. They demanded I return to your recipe. Living a little bit away from Denver, high altitude recipes are a must and you have made it so easy and I appreciate the work you put into your recipes.
That may work!
This cake is awesome….Great spring flavors that all tie together nicely. Cake was wonderfully moist and easy to work with. Baked up perfect at 5600 alt with no caving/deflation. The buttercream came together easily and has a great fresh stawberry flavor and was a lovely color. Made a homemade lemon curd and used a mix of plain and honey roasted Pistachios. My first 3 tiered success that looked as good as it tastes!