You might be familiar with Watergate Salad, the fluffy, green, marshmallow-studded gelatin ‘salad,’ but have you tried its similarly green and equally as pistachio-flavored cousin, the Watergate Cake? With the same tongue-in-cheek name and electric hue, the vintage dessert has quickly become our most saved dessert recipe of the past month. Don’t let the Shrek coloring fool you, this easy old-school recipe is proof of the magic of instant pudding and the miracle of boxed cake mix doctored up to taste a little better and more like homemade.

What’s In Watergate Cake? 

Just like the salad, the cake prominently features pistachio instant pudding mix (both in the batter and the frosting). Chopped and toasted pistachios reinforce the flavor, while other mix-ins (sweetened flaked coconut and pecans), add even more texture to the delicate sponge. As mentioned up top, the sponge base is a white cake mix, but with many flavor enhancements, no one will ever know. 

The real secret ingredient in this cake is the lemon-lime sparkling water. It helps create a light and fluffy crumb. The whipped cream frosting on top is also light and not too sweet, balancing out the rich cake nicely. Instant pudding not only adds pistachio flavor to the frosting, but helps stabilize the cream ensuring it won’t deflate.

Where Does The Name Come From?

While Watergate Salad might be more commonly known in some circles, the Watergate Cake actually predates the fluffy concoction. According to NPR, the first known recipe for the cake appeared about a month after Nixon resigned in September 1974, and is credited to Christine Hatcher in Hagerstown, Maryland (although she said she got it from a friend, who in turn got it from someone else). 

Hatcher said that the name for the cake was “because of all the nuts that are in it.” Other recipes that followed would also joke the cake earned its name because “it too had a cover-up,” says NPR. The cake, then the salad, became increasingly popular across the country as the public responded to the now infamous White House scandal. So much so, there was a 1975 shortage of Jell-O pistachio pudding in Washington, which could be attributed to both a bad pistachio crop and the popularity of the cake. 

One five-star comment on our recipe alludes to the original popularity of the dish, “Family liked it, but I liked the salad better after the scandal came out,” wrote Terri Freedman. We think scandal or not, the cake is pretty tasty. Plus, there’s no shortage of controversy in modern politics—use this recipe as a starting point for your own cheeky and timely dessert.