Chetna Makan, a participant on the Great British Baking Show, created a cookbook worth adding to anyone’s culinary library. The Cardamom Trail: Chetna Bakes with the Flavors of the East, brings Indian spices to familiar treats and introduces recipes that are familiar in Britain and may be new to American taste buds. Here is one I have found to be a universal favorite.

Pistachio, cardamom, and white chocolate cake

Ingredients

• 8 ounces of unsalted butter
• 8 ounces sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 9 ounces of self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds, crushed to a fine powder
• 3 ½ fluid ounces of whole milk
• 1 ¾ ounce pistachio nuts roughly chopped
• 1 ¾ ounce white chocolate

For the icing

• 5 ½ ounces white chocolate, chopped
• 5 ½ ounces butter at room temperature
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Generous handful of finely chopped pistachios

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8-inch cake pans and then line them with parchment.

Cream the butter and sugar together with a hand-held mixer or a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time making sure the batter is smooth before adding the next egg. In a small bowl, mix the flour, cardamom, baking powder, and milk, then add that mix to the butter and egg mixture.

Beat for one minute, then fold in the chopped pistachios and the white chocolate with a spatula. Divide the batter between the cake pans. I weigh the pans to make sure they are equal in quantity.

Bake for 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan. It is important to allow them to completely cool.

To make the icing, break the white chocolate into pieces in a heat-proof bowl and set t over a pan of steaming water until it melts completely. Keep the bowl from actually touching the water. Let it cool somewhat. In a separate bowl, cream the butter. Add the vanilla and the melted chocolate. Mix until light and creamy.

Spread half the icing on one cake layer. Place the second layer on top, ice with the remaining icing, and sprinkle with the finely chopped pistachios.

Note: Cake layers naturally rise in the center. To make a more attractive final product, use a sharp bread knife and slice off the bulge, making the top of each layer flat. That makes the cake easier to ice and the result is far more attractive.