My latest obsession is printing out recipes, friends. I can’t say that I always make the recipes, but I have created a mighty fine collection of those items I’ve placed on my “to be baked” list. At the moment, Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes are next up on my list . . . mostly because I’ve gotten more into spicy foods lately. Oh, how the palate does change!

But a long-running item on my “TBB” list is the pistachio cake from The Pioneer Woman, that purveyor of all things delicious and heart-warming. We all know she’s my hero — and I once made Spencer stand in line for four hours with me to meet her — and her recipes, when I actually give them a whirl, are always so tasty.

And this pistachio cake is no exception. After running over to the grocery store with Eric, my sister’s boyfriend, to track down some non-sugar-free pistachio Jell-o (the sugar-free varieties don’t have enough in each package for the recipe), I set to work after dinner.

Only there was little work to be had.

The recipe is, miraculously, very simple — and I think that’s why I printed it out in the first place! Grab your white cake mix (any brand), a box of pistachio Jell-o, some eggs, oil, orange juice (unusual), chocolate syrup — and bam! You’re done. Bake that baby. Congratulate yourself on a job well done.

Just don’t put it in the oven at 8:15 p.m., like I did. You’ll soon find your family members circling the oven like vultures, cursing you for making them wait until at least 9:30 for dessert. But it wasn’t my fault. Plus, “American Idol” was on — and my tears of happiness for those kids and their parents might or might not have made up the “secret ingredient” in my cake.

But now I’m just channeling The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake. Which I haven’t read. But really want to.

And now you need to go make this.

I baked this recipe completely as-is, though I cheated and did cover it in chocolate frosting! And I couldn’t find our bundt pan, so I used a long bread loaf pan. Worked just fine. The cake itself is moist and very good, but it needed a touch of sweetness. I frosted just the top of the cake so, when cut, each piece has a thin band of chocolate goodness across the top. Perfection! (Oh, and I added two drops of green food coloring to make this extra green. I wanted major greening going on.)

Pistachio & Chocolate Cake

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Ingredients:

• 1 box White Cake Mix
• 1 package (4 Ounce) Pistachio Instant Pudding Mix
• ½ cups Orange Juice
• ½ cups Water
• ½ cups Vegetable Oil
• 4 whole Eggs
• ¾ cups Chocolate Syrup (such As Hershey’s)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour bundt pan.

Mix all ingredients but chocolate syrup and beat for two minutes on medium-high. Pour 3/4 of the batter into the bundt pan.

Add chocolate syrup to the remaining batter and mix well. Pour chocolate-laced batter on top of the pistachio batter.

Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Note: You can use a knife to swirl chocolate batter into the pistachio batter for more of a marbled design.