Ingredients

• 1 tbsp de-shelled pistachios

GROUP A: MINI CAKES

• 1/4 cup olive oil + more for greasing the bundt pan

• 1/4 cup whole milk

• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/4 cup granulated brown sugar

• 1 medium egg

• 1 medium egg yolk (make small pavlovas with the egg white!)

• 3/4 cups AP flour + more for dusting the bundt pan

• 3/4 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

• 2 tbsp dark chocolate chips

• 5 tbsp mejdool date paste

• 2 tsp whiskey

GROUP B: TAHINI GLAZE

• 1 tbsp melted butter

• 1/3 cup powdered sugar

• 2 tsp tahini paste

• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

• 3 tsp vanilla oat milk

Method

• Preheat the oven to 360 F. Lightly oil and dust the mini bundt cake mold pan, or any other cake pan of choice, with flour.

• Whisk the oil, milk, vanilla, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the egg and egg yolk, and whisk well. Add the flour, salt, cocoa powder, and baking powder and mix gently till the batter just about comes together. Be careful not to over-mix. Add in the date paste, chocolate chips, and whiskey, and mix well till all of it is fully integrated into the batter.

• Scoop little dollops of the batter into the oiled and dusted molds. Bake for 15 minutes* at first, then increase time in increments of 5 minutes as needed, till a skewer inserted into each cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes prior to glazing. While the cakes are cooling, toast the pistachios in a pan on medium heat for 2 - 3 minutes, then crush them into a grainy “powder” after they’ve cooled completely.

• Make the icing: Mix all the Group B ingredients to form a smooth, pourable glaze. Drizzle all over the cooled mini bundts and finish by sprinkling the pistachio crumbs over the glaze.

*Note: Baking time is slightly relative; while mini cakes bake quicker than a whole loaf, the time taken also depends on the efficiency of your oven. The oven I used to bake these was brand new, so it heated up quickly and was more efficient, thus reducing my total bake time to just 15 - 16 minutes. In order to prevent under-baking, or worse, over-baking/burning, start with a safe minimum of 15 minutes, then bump up the time in small increments depending on how clean/sticky the skewer inserted comes out.