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Pistachio Cake

This easy Pistachio Cake recipe starts with a boxed cake mix and it is transformed into a super yummy cake that tastes homemade!

AN EASY PISTACHIO CAKE RECIPE

This particular cake has a very mild pistachio flavor. To me, pistachios have a very light flavor, kinda like almonds. They aren’t a very nutty nut. If ya know what I mean. The raw nut itself almost tastes sweet. I like them raw but I know a lot of folks may prefer them roasted and salted.

slice, easy green pistachio cake on a white plate.

TIPS FOR MAKING PISTACHIO CAKE:

  • The green color makes it perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. The green is optional if you aren’t a fan of food colorings.
  • Natural food colorings can be used.
  • Many pistachios puddings have very tiny chunks of pistachios added to the mix so please skip this recipe all together if there are any nut allergies.
  • Vanilla, white, butter or yellow cake mixes can all be used for this recipe.
  • The pudding must be instant – not cook and serve.
  • This can be made in a bundt pan or as a layer cake.
  • Please note: As with most baked goods, oven times can vary. Many factors play into oven baking. Whether the oven is older or new or if it is a convection oven. Also, it depends on what rack it is baked on and whether you are using a Pyrex, ceramic or metal baking pan. In addition, many ovens are not heating to the exact temperature. I have a brand new oven and when I put in an oven thermometer, it still is 15 degrees off. All of these can affect baking times. So you need to go by doneness not necessarily time. Use the time below as a starting point and go from there. In addition, cake mixes keep changing sizes. They used to be 18 ounces and they just continue to keep dropping in sizes. This recipe still works, but bear in mind, as manufacturers keep adjusting the sizing, it can also affect bake times and this recipe will not be necessarily updated each time to reflect possible change in baking times.
a fork holding up a serving of Pistachio Cake.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)

  • vanilla cake mix – French vanilla or white also work.
  • instant pistachio pudding – this is the key to this recipe. It only works with the pistachio flavor.
  • green food coloring (optional) – I like to boost the green color a bit but that is completely up to you.
  • whipped topping (Cool Whip) – you can make your own homemade whipped cream if you prefer.
vanilla cake mix, instant pistachio pudding, large eggs, oil, milk, green food coloring, milk, whipped topping (Cool Whip).

HOW TO MAKE PISTACHIO CAKE

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, combine dry cake mix with dry instant pistachio pudding. Mix those together until combined. Then add in eggs, oil and milk. Stir just until combined. This next part is optional but I like to make this cake a bit more green. I add in a few drops of green food coloring. About 6 to 8 drops. It just depends on how green you would like it. Stir until the food coloring is totally incorporated.

green food coloring stirred into cake batter in a glass bowl.

Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for about 25-30 minutes.

green pistachio cake batter poured into prepared baking dish.

Check around the 25 minute mark. If you insert a toothpick into it, it should come out clean when done. Now, it will look brown when you take it out. Don’t panic. It is green inside and the frosting is gonna cover that top anyway. Allow cake to cool completely before making frosting. To make frosting, put instant pistachio pudding mix into a mixing bowl. Add in 1/2 cup cold milk. Stir until combined.

instant pistachio pudding whisked together with milk in a glass bowl.

Now stir in the thawed whipped topping. Once again, I put in a few drops of green food coloring to really bring out that green color. About 5 drops or so.

whipped topping added to pistachio pudding mixture in bowl.

Spread frosting onto cooled cake. If you didn’t let the cake cool completely, the frosting is just gonna melt into cake. And no one wants that!

finished, Pistachio Cake with slices removed (in baking dish).

Slice and serve. If you like, sprinkle with some crushed pistachios or green sprinkles. This cake needs to be kept refrigerated.

bite taken out of Pistachio Cake.

CRAVING MORE RECIPES?

Originally published: March 2013
Photos updated & republished: March 2024

Easy Pistachio Cake

Pistachio Cake (+Video)

This easy Pistachio Cake recipe starts with a boxed cake mix and it is transformed into a super yummy cake that tastes homemade!
4.92 from 150 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 12

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 1 box vanilla cake mix (or white/yellow cake mix)
  • 3.4 ounce box instant pistachio pudding
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup oil
  • 1 cup cold milk
  • green food coloring

For the frosting:

  • 3.4 ounce box instant pistachio pudding
  • ½ cup milk
  • 8 ounce tub frozen whipped topping, thawed (Cool Whip)

Instructions

To make the cake:

  • Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
  • In a medium bowl, combine 1 box vanilla cake mix with 3.4 ounce box instant pistachio pudding. Mix those together until combined.
    instant pistachio pudding whisked together with milk in a glass bowl
  • Then add in 3 large eggs, 1 cup oil and 1 cup cold milk. Stir just until combined.
    Pistachio cake batter in a bowl.
  • Stir in about 6 to 8 drops of green food coloring until fully incorporated.
    green food coloring stirred into cake batter in a glass bowl.
  • Pour into prepared baking dish.
    green pistachio cake batter poured into prepared baking dish
  • Bake for about 30 minutes (see my not below, oven times may vary.) If you insert a toothpick into it, it should come out clean when done.
  • Allow cake to cool completely before making frosting.

To make frosting:

  • Pour 3.4 ounce box instant pistachio pudding into a mixing bowl. Add in 1/2 cup milk. Stir until combined.
  • Stir in 8 ounce tub frozen whipped topping, thawed.
    whipped topping added to pistachio pudding mixture in bowl
  • Put in a few drops of green food coloring to really bring out that green color. About 5 drops or so.
    Green food coloring added to whipped topping.
  • Spread frosting onto cooled cake.
  • Slice and serve. If you like, sprinkle with some crushed pistachios.
    slice, easy green pistachio cake on a white plate

Video

YouTube video

Notes

  • Please note: As with most baked goods, oven times can vary. Many factors play into oven baking. So you need to go by doneness not necessarily time. Use the time above as a starting point and go from there. In addition, cake mixes keep changing sizes. They used to be 18 ounces and they just continue to keep dropping in sizes. This recipe still works, but bear in mind, as manufacturers keep adjusting the sizing, it can also affect bake times and this recipe will not be necessarily updated each time to reflect possible change in baking times.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Calories: 210kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g | Sodium: 344mg | Sugar: 20g

Nutritional Disclaimer

“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

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Recipe Rating




126 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I made this cake today in preparation for Easter Sunday.

    Like another reviewer; I had some problems getting the cake to set. I had to cover the cake with tin foil after about 20 minutes as the edges were browning too fast.

    The toothpick came out clean after about 43 minutes total, and my oven was preheated. It’s possible that the varying results may be due to the type of oven used as a convection oven will have much lower cooking times due to better heat circulation.

    Thank you for the recipe.

  2. 5 stars
    I came across this recipe a few years ago and my family loved it! They request it on a regular basis throughout the year. Yes, you can make it with a cream cheese frosting. Who doesn’t like a cream cheese frosting? I’ve also turned it into a poke cake as well. It was a hit every time. I’m actually making it again today. Yummy!

  3. 5 stars
    My daughter requested this cake for her birthday two years ago and now i have to make it every year for her. It is soo moist and tastes wonderful. Yum yum.

  4. 5 stars
    I made the frosting with heavy whipping cream instead of cool whip. I made the frosting while the cake baked. Do you suggest the cake completely cool before frosting? And is it ok to leave frosting out in room temp over night while the cake cools?

    1. Hi there! The cake should definitely cool before frosting. Keep the frosting in the fridge as the cake cools. Sometimes using heavy whipping cream causes the frosting to breakdown faster than if using Cool Whip so keep an eye on it and keep the cake refrigerated.

  5. Slightly confused
    The ingredients say I need 1 box of pudding, but the instructions say to add one whole box to the cake mix and another whole box to the icing…

    1. Hey Justin, the ingredients are broken up into two parts – one for the cake part and one for the frosting. So you’ll need a box on instant pistachio pudding for the cake and a box of instant pistachio pudding for the frosting. Hope that helps!

  6. 5 stars
    Delicious and so easy. I cook for a special diet, so used sugar free cake mix and pudding, I also used 3/4 sugar free applesauce with 1/4 oil and the cake has a very slight apple flavor, it is not unpleasant but quite sweet and think I will try using low fat plain yogurt instead of the apple sauce and see which one I like better. I am looking forward to trying diet lemon lime soda instead of the milk in the batter (it would cut down the calories and carbs further) and also using pineapple in the frosting sounds delicious (both ideas from comments). I did not use the green food color, but think it would be beautiful for company and holidays, mine looks kind of anemic compared to the pictures. Your EASY FRESH STRAWBERRY CAKE may be the best cake I have ever eaten, I serve it with Cool Whip instead of frosting.

    1. Hi Kat! I think sometimes the sugar-free versions are much more sweet than their regular counterparts so it’s definitely one of those things you have to play with to tweak. I am so happy you enjoy this one and the strawberry cake!! Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and comment!!

  7. 5 stars
    My pistachio pudding is sugar free and fat free, will that work? Or do I need to find just regular instant? Thanks!

      1. I would use sugar free cake mix and sugar free pudding mix. I would also use crushed pineapple instead of milk to make the frosting. I use an 8 oz can of crushed pineapple in it’s own juice. Works great for diabetics

    1. Hi Carol….hmmm. I just had a few folks test it for me and it’s working for them and for myself. I’m honestly not sure. Do you have pop-ups blocked on your device and is your printer on and full of paper? It’s really hard to know since I’m not there with you to see everything. I’m sorry!

  8. I don’t know what I’ve done wrong! I followed the instructions, used a 9×13 cake pan, the cake has been in the oven for over 30 minutes and it’s still super wobbly! The temperature correct. Thought maybe it was just a wobbly cake (lol) so I poked it with a knife, it was all batter, still! Sos! ????

    1. HI Elisa, it obviously need a bit longer. I’m sorry! Some ovens run hot (and some not!) Was it on the top shelf or bottom? If your oven seems to bake slow, sometimes it helps to put things on an upper rack. You also may want to check the *actual* temperature of your oven. You can purchase an oven-safe thermometer for fairly cheap. Put it in the center rack of your oven. Then, preheat your oven to 350f degrees. Once your oven says it has reached that temperature, check your oven thermometer and see if they match up. Most ovens run a bit hot or slightly cool. That will help you adjust future recipes accordingly. Hope that helps!!

  9. 5 stars
    Excellent cake – made it for our St. Patrick’s Day potluck dinner. It was a hit! So moist and full of Pistachio flavor. Not sure why the comments about “poke”…. this is not a poke cake. The dry pudding goes into the cake mix. Loved the frosting too – great idea to add pudding to the Cool Whip.

  10. instead of using boxed cake mix, can I use a standard white cake recipe from scratch? Then add all the other ingredients as you have listed them?

  11. 5 stars
    I had to sub cheesecake pudding mix in the frosting. I added green food coloring & crushed pistachio nuts to frosting. I made cup cakes and everything tasted great..

  12. 5 stars
    My whole family loves pistachio so I made this for my mothers birthday , and it was a hit! Additionally, I actually made it into a poke cake as well using pistachio pudding! Pistachio overload? I think not!!
    Thanks for this fabulous recipe, will definitely be making it again and again!

  13. 5 stars
    I would go with Pistachio Perfection Cake as a name. I also added a couple of drop of pistachio extract to the cake mix, just give the flavor a bit more umph *as my grandma would say). The augmented flavor was well worth the experiment of using the extract.

    1. I would not recommend a buttercream or cream cheese icing. I think the best icings for pistachio cakes are either the one from this recipe or a simple glaze made of a little butter, powdered sugar, and milk. The glaze works especially well if you make it as a bundt cake. The only thing I do different with this recipe, is I add a teaspoon of almond extract to the cake batter, just to bring out the flavor a little more.

  14. 5 stars
    Just made this cake and it came out great! I followed recipe that was posted.Very moist and pretty! Great for St.Patricks day! Thank you for sharing! Will make again!

  15. Can you make this cake ahead of time? I want to make it on Thursday and serve on Saturday night. Having to travel with it.

  16. I want to try this cake for my grandsons b’day in a couple of days as he loves pistachio – I am confused as most box cakes tell you to beat on medium for 2 minutes or so as that is what makes them rise – If I am just mixing this mix until well combines is it still going to rise properly – thanks for you help

    1. Yes, it should rise. Don’t beat it more than 2 minutes on medium speed. You don’t want to over beat any cake. A lot of people do over beat them and that is what causes them not to turn out as well. ????

    2. I am looking over this recipe and make a similar chocolate cake, using pudding and chocolate chips. Comes out great. No you will not use an electric beater because you are using cold milk and instant pudding. It becomes thick and rises with no problem. (Hope this helps)