Sugar and spice and all things nice! Hint of citrus and subtle spices. A fragrant rose cake flavored with freshly ground cardamom and almond flour, and topped with crushed pistachios and rose petals. Persian love cake is a perfect combination of rich and moist.
A heavenly combination of all fragrant spices, rose petals and almonds with the most moist and delicious butter cake. Its a combination of all things calming and soothing. Persian Love Cake is a rich, moist cake flavoured with rose water and citrus. You’ll be smitten!!
Besides the intriguing Middle Eastern scents, the name is what got me.
There are two legends surrounding this scrumptious cake. The story behind the name, with alternative climaxes, begins with a Persian woman madly in love with a handsome prince. To make him fall in love with her, she baked him this cake, filled with magical love powers. There are two endings to the story. In the first, the prince returns her love and they live happily ever after. In the second he doesn’t, and she consoles herself by eating the entire cake! Either way, its a happy ending ending, one that we all deserve, especially with the dreaded or much awaited day (depending on our current relationship status) around the corner.
Ingredients for Persian Love Cake
- Almond Flour– Almond flour give a distinct flavour, undeniable moistness and creates the most lovely texture. I used fine California Almond flour to make this cake.
- Cardamom & Saffron – Cardamom gives a warm flavour to the cake and saffron adds to the floral tones.
- Rose petals – You can also add dried rose petals to the cake batter for some mild sweet fragrant notes. I have used home dried rose petals to top the cake, you could also use store bought ones.
- Rose Water – Rose water gives a nice subtle flavour to the cake. Dont add more than what the recipe asks for, or it could become overpowering.
No Icing Sugar? Make it at home –
If you have run out of icing sugar or can’t find any to buy, you can make your own by whizzing granulated or caster sugar in a food processor. For every cup of granulated sugar, add 1 tbsp of Cornflour/Cornstarch.
To make this cake –
Storing
You can store this cake in the refrigerator for upto 7 days. Maybe heat it up a little to enjoy it soft and fragrant.
Like this recipe? Also try –
Valentine’s day baking –
- Rose Lemon Shortbread Cookies
- Rose Preserve Bundt Cake
- Eggless Red Velvet Cake
- Vegan Beetroot Brownies With Ganache
- Strawberry Chocolate Brownies
More cakes –
- Kashmiri Kahwa Bundt Cake
- Carrot Walnut Cake With Caramel
- Whole Wheat Fruity Rum Cake
- Chocolate Orange Marble Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake
- Coffee Date Cake
- Chai Spiced Butter Cake With Streusel
Happy Baking!
Hint of citrus and subtle spices. A good balance of moist, fluffy and the perfect blend of spices.
Ingredients
200 g Unsalted Butter, softened
200 g Sugar
4 Eggs, at room temperature
100 g Almond Flour
150 g All-Purpose flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
2 tbsp Rose Water
1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
Pinch of saffron+ 1 tbsp milk
- Glaze
100 g Powdered Sugar
1 tbsp Rose Water
1.5 tbsp Whole Milk
50 g Pistachios, coarsely chopped
3 tbsp Rose Petals
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 170C.
- In a bowl, cream room temperature butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Add eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition.
- Soak a pinch of saffron (6-8 strands) in 1 tbsp of cold milk. Keep aside.
- Sieve the flour and baking powder. Fold in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add rose water, lemon juice, lemon zest, cardamom powder and saffron milk. Fold until incorporated.
- Grease a heart shaped pan generously. Pour in the cake batter.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 mins. Check with a skewer or knife and remove from the oven if it comes out clean.
- Sugar Glaze
- In a bowl, combine icing sugar, rosewater and milk. Whisk till you get a smooth consistency. Pour over cooled cake.
- Sprinkle chopped pistachios and rose petals.
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