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Natalie Silkov-Yianni's avatar

so happy to have signed up to this. Love your Venice pics and now there’s more yippee! i’m back to venice for my birthday in 2 weeks. will be my 12th visit. have added Al Covo to our list. thank you Skye! xx

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Skye McAlpine's avatar

Thank you so much, Natalie! That's so kind of you to say. I hope you have a wonderful birthday trip to Venice and please say hi to Diane for me! Xx

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Bridget Baker's avatar

Ciao Skye, I have loved following your social media over the years. Your beautiful images of Venice and London capture the beauty and individuality of two of my favourite places. So lovely I can enjoy getting a little taste of Italia even though I’m so far away in sunny Perth Australia. Grazie mille. Xx❤️🇮🇹

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Skye McAlpine's avatar

Awww, thank you so much, Bridget! You're so kind. So lovely to think of you reading this on the other side of the world. Xx

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Katie's avatar

Just made the pistachio and rose cake for my other half's birthday - it's delicious! But for some reason it didn't rise as much as I expected - is there perhaps an ideal amount of time you should mix it for once you've added the flour, or a best speed to use on the mixer?

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Skye McAlpine's avatar

I’m so happy you enjoyed the cake, Katie! It is quite a dense cake because of the pistachio butter so I wouldn’t too much. In terms of timings, I would try not to over-beat the batter once you’ve added the flour, so just enough to combine the ingredients: if you beat for too long it risks making the cake more stodgy. But give it a good mix at the start, so when you beat the butter and sugar together you want it to go really light and fluffy before you start adding the other ingredients. Hope that helps a little! Xx

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Katie's avatar

Great, thank you. The pistachio and rosewater combination is so good, I never knew they paired so well!

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Kathy Slack's avatar

So happy to find you here

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Jessica Miller's avatar

My husband and I got lucky the last time we were in Venice and were able to grab a table at Al Covo without a reservation. I we were dressed for the occasion which I think worked in our favor but they were lovely about it and the only condition was that the service might be slower (it wasn’t).

Wasn’t about to test our good luck this time around and got a spot for our last night in Venice later this month. I can’t wait to go back.

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Skye McAlpine's avatar

Oh, I’m so pleased you made it to Al Covo! And that they found a spot for you. I love it so much! S x

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Averil Bosworth's avatar

Enjoyed every morsel of words reading this

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Gillian Longworth McGuire's avatar

Welcome welcome to Substack! I am so happy to see you here. I hope to see you in Venice soon (I just moved to around the corner from your old house)

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Kate Harwood's avatar

Is the pistachio rose cake similar in method to the pistachio butter cake in Table for Friends? So can I make the pistachio cream as outlined there? Pistachios/white chocolate/caster sugar and vanilla. Thinking of making this one for Mother’s Day but obviously don’t have time to buy pistachio cream on line.

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Skye McAlpine's avatar

Yes! Absolutely: you can make the pistachio cream from the book and swap it out for the shop bought 💕 Hope your Mother enjoys the cake! 🍰

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