Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare three 8-inch layer pans by greasing and flouring the entire inside surface and fastening the damp “Bake-even” strips around the outside edges of the pans. (if you don’t have these, you can still bake this cake, but trust me, they are well worth the investment.) Note * If you are making cupcakes, prepare 2 cupcake tins with paper liners. Spray the inside of the paper liner with cooking spray.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, 1 1/2 cups pistachios, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar and 1 tsp. sifted pudding mix until fluffy and smooth. Stir in vanilla and almond extracts.
Add egg whites and beat until well integrated, scraping sides of the bowl as you go. Add the yogurt and beat just until blended.
Now, add dries alternately with milk, beating with each addition until well incorporated,scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Begin and end with dries.
Divide batter into the three prepared pans and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the center of the pan.
Remove cakes from oven and cool completely on a cooling rack. Once cooled, remove cakes from pan. While the cake is cooling, make your frosting. Recipe below.
To assemble cake set aside about 1/3 of the frosting for decorations on top. Then, place the first cake layer on your cake plate. Spread about 1/2 -3/4 cup of the frosting over the first layer. Repeat with the remaining two layers. Then frost the sides.
Now, if you want to add the frosting flowers on top, using your pastry bag and #824 large open star tip, start piping the frosting in a spiral to create the decorations on top. You can also make smaller stars along the bottom edge of the cake if you have enough frosting, but for those, use a smaller open star tip. See video in blog above.
Garnish the top of the cake around the flowers with the reserved chopped pistachios.