Persian Love Cake
To celebrate Valentine's Day, we've created our own adaptation of a popular recipe: the Persian Love Cake, with a rose tea pairing. The story goes that this cake was made by a woman so desperately in love with a prince, that she created a recipe bound to attract his admiration and reciprocate her love. There are typically two ways in which this cake is prepared and enjoyed - one that comes with an almond crust base, pistachios and spice, and the other in a light sponge with cardamom and whipped rose cream. Taking initial inspiration from Aimee at Twigg Studios who married these two ways together, we removed the rose element of the cake so that we could serve our rose tea on the side. After all, cake and tea have long gone hand in hand. Think not of it as a Persian Love Cake then, but a Persian Love Affair.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup 250ml yogurt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup (220g) caster sugar
- 1 1/4 cups (150g) ground almonds
- 1 cup plain flour (150g) or semolina
- 6 cardamom pods
- 6 tbsp chopped pistachios
- Pinch of saffron strands
- 100ml almond milk (or whole milk)
- Zest from a lemon or orange
METHOD
- Pre heat oven to 180⁰C or 350f
- Peel the cardamon pods open and remove seeds, crush with a pestle and mortar.
- In a cup, add the saffron strands to the milk and warm in the microwave.
- In another bowl beat the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy then fold in the yogurt
- Fold in the ground almonds, semolina or flour and baking powder. Then add the ground cardamom, orange or lemon zest and chopped pistachios, add the milk and saffron mixture.
- Stir into the cake batter and pour into a deep lined tin (22cm 9 inch)
- Bake for about 45 minutes
EXTRA
- juice of 1 orange or lemon
- zest of 1 orange or lemon
- 1/2 cup 125ml water
- 1/2 cup 125g caster sugar
- add all ingredients into a pan and simmer until thickened. (approx 5 minutes)
- brush onto warm cake
- decorate the cake with chopped pistachios and rose petals
Pair With...
Ceylon & Rose Tea
To create this blend we have selected a low-grown medium bodied Ceylon base - the perfect partner to sweet, beautifully floral whole rosebuds. The result is a deeply fragrant tea, ideal to savour over a long, relaxed afternoon. Serve with a wedge of Persian Love Cake - the black tea complements the lemon and nuttiness of this recipe, while the rose marries well with the pistachios.
