Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (160° fan-forced). Grease and line a 20 cm / 8" round cake pan with baking paper (parchment paper).

Toast - Spread the pistachios on a tray. Bake for 12 minutes, shaking once halfway, or until the pistachios smell nutty and are crisp (eat to check!). Fully cool on the tray (~15 minutes).

Blitz - Measure out ¾ cup pistachios (save the rest for decorating). Blitz into a powder using pulses, taking care not to turn it into a paste. I use a NutriBullet (2 x 2 sec bursts). Spice grinder or small food processor would also work. Some larger pistachio bits are fine, but aim for 98% powder. (Note 6)

Break up clumps - Put the pistachio powder in a large bowl with the flour. Briefly whisk to combine then use your fingers to rub pistachio powder clumps into a powder. No need to be meticulous here, just get the larger ones.

Dry - Add the remaining Dry ingredients then whisk to combine.

Wet - Put all the Wet ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk until combined.

Combine wet & dry - Pour the Wet into the Dry ingredients bowl. Use a rubber spatula to mix until the flour is almost mixed in.

Colour it! Add the food colouring. Then finish mixing the batter until mostly lump free (small lumps will dissolve when baked).

Scrape the batter into the pan and spread out it out (no need to be meticulous, the surface will smooth out in the oven).

Bake for 40 minutes, turning the pan at 30 minutes so the surface browns evenly, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out without batter on it.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack and cool completely. (~1 hour)

Chop the reserved pistachios (mix of finely chopped and larger chunks).

Spread the cake with the Cream Cheese Whip (steps below). Sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Cut and eat!

Beat the cream cheese for a good 2 minutes on medium high until it's really light and creamy, scraping down the sides as needed. Do not shortcut this step, else you may end up with cream cheese lumps!

Whip - Add the remaining ingredients then beat until the cream is softly whipped and spreadable, about 1 minute on medium high.