Hi everyone. It's ages since I posted a recipe and that's because I've been so lazy with trying new recipes in the last six months.  However today I decided it was time to bake a cake and use a recipe that I've been wanting to try for ages because the ingredients really appealed to me - pistachios (my fave!), cardamom (another fave!) and marmalade.  And of course the drizzle on the top I can never resist.

It's a BBC Good Food recipe and here it is. I highly recommend you make it as one of the most appealing things about it is that you throw everything in a bowl and mix it up.  I can't be doing with those recipes that state you must cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs and then the dry ingredients. With our busy lives and fast pace of life there's no time for that!!

Cardamom, pistachio & marmalade drizzle loaf

Serves 10 -12; prep time 10 minutes (yeah!!); Cook 1hr - 1hr 15min

Ingredients

Seeds from 8 cardamom pods

200g shelled pistachios

150g soft butter, in pieces plus extra for greasing

125g golden caster suga

3 large eggs

100g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp. of your favourite marmalade (I used my LA sister's as she makes the best)

2 tsp orange blossom water

FOR THE DRIZZLE

2 tbsp. marmalade (see above)

Juice of one lemon

50g caster sugar

1 tsp orange flower water

1. Heat over to 170C/150C fan/gas 3 and prepare a 19 x 7cm loaf tin - butter the inside and line the base with non-stick baking paper, or use a non-stick loaf liner

2. Crush the cardamom seeds in a pestle & mortar. Whizz half the pistachios in a processor or blender until very finely chopped.

3. Using an electric hand whisk (or an electric mixer), beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, marmalade, orange blossom water, crushed cardamom seeds, chopped pistachios and a pinch of salt in a bowl until combined. Roughly chop the rest of the pistachios and stir them into the cake mix.

4. Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 1hr to 1hr 15mins, covering the top of the loaf with foil halfway through to prevent it over-browning.

5. For the drizzle, gently heat the marmalade, then combine with the other ingredients in a bowl and spoon on top of the warm loaf. Leave to cool in the tin then remove from the tin, cut into slices and eat it !!