Between exacting methods and complicated construction, baking a cake can be a daunting affair. A loaf cake, however, pairs the polish of a more elegant confection with the ease of a quick bread.

Rose’s Bakery in Paris, run by British ex-pat Rose Carrarini, has elevated the style to an art form, producing tempting loaf cakes in all manner of flavors. The most appealing to us might be a green-tinged, nut-topped pistachio cake.

For our version, we paired toasted pistachios with cardamom and grated orange zest, giving the loaf a distinctly Middle Eastern flavor. Combining ground nuts with rich Greek-style yogurt, olive oil and plenty of eggs ensured a moist, appealingly coarse crumb. A bit more of that yogurt blended with powdered sugar made for a simple glaze to highlight the cake’s sweetness.

Matthew Card

Matthew Card is Milk Street’s Creative Director for Recipes and Products, resident coffee geek, knife collector and equipment junkie. He has 25-plus years of professional cooking, recipe development, food writing and teaching under his belt. When he’s not in the Milk Street kitchen or on the road hunting for new recipes and ideas, Matthew lives with his family in Canberra, Australia, where he does his best to dodge kangaroos on his mountain bike and is learning to love Vegemite.