Bookish eats: The Wrath and the Dawn | Pistachio cupcakes

Here's my first Bookish Eats feature! I just finished The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh this morning, and I loved it. It was so lush and rich and beautifully written, and I loved the vibrant setting and of course, the descriptions of the food! 

My Bookish eats inspiration was quite literal: Shazi talks about eating pistachio cakes with honey, and my mouth started watering. I obviously couldn't recreate the original Persian recipe, but I did the next best thing: Pistachio and cardamom cupcakes.

It started out as lumpy batter...

Which quickly turned into these gems!

I used this recipe for the cake, but I made up my own frosting. My recipe for the frosting is very simple:

Ingredients:

1 cup whipping cream (really cold)

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1) Whisk the whipping cream until stiff peaks form

2) Stir in the powdered sugar and cardamom

3) top the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with leftover ground pistachios and/or honey!

These cupcakes are literally the best things I have ever made. I loved them! They're so light and fluffy, and I love the flavors of cardamom and pistachio together. It's apparently a popular Persian combination, which fits the book quite well :D

Are you inspired to read The Wrath and the Dawn, or to make these amazing cupcakes? They're both amazing!