You’re going to fall in love with this Persian Love Cake!!! Made with semolina and almond meal with a hint of citrus and subtle spices, this cake is soaked with hot syrup to make it moist and add sweetness.
Straightforward to make, a beautiful cake for afternoon tea or to finish off a Persian or Middle Eastern themed meal – try these slow cooked Persian Lamb Shanks and Crispy Saffron Rice!
Welcome to the 3rd and final instalment of PERSIAN WEEK! A week in which I’m sharing 4 recipes so you can make your very own Persian feast at home!!
Here’s what’s on the menu for your Persian Feast:
- Persian Lamb Shank recipe – the main event! Braised until fall apart tender in a beautiful aromatic broth. Incredibly easy with every day spices you’ll find at any supermarket!
- Persian Saffron Rice – that golden, crispy beauty… and it tastes as amazing as it looks!!!
- Persian Cucumber Tomato Salad (in the Lamb Shanks recipe)- lovely and fresh, with a little sprinkle of Sumac for a touch of Persian exoticness; and
- Persian L♥ve Cake (today’s recipe)- made with semolina and almond meal, this cake is soaked with a lemon-rosewater syrup, with a hint of citrus and spice flavours. You’re going to LOVE this Persian Looooove cake!
AND SO THE STORY GOES…
A Persian girl madly in love with a Prince made a beautiful cake with magical powers to make him fall in love with her.
As for whether it worked – I never got to the bottom of that. Some say they lived happily ever after, others say he never returned her love – though hopefully she got to eat the whole cake herself.
Now – I can’t promise that this cake has magical powers to woo your secret crush (whether it be George Clooney or a boy band) but I can promise that it tastes as enchanting as that story (despite the unsatisfying ending to the fairytale!!)
ABOUT THIS PERSIAN LOVE CAKE
This is a cake is made with semolina and almond meal instead of the usual flour. It has subtle spicing from cardamom and nutmeg, a hint of citrus from orange and some lovely tang from lemon in the syrup.
Most people say that the best part about making this cake is pouring the syrup over the cake when it’s fresh out of the oven so it soaks right through, adding sweetness as well as moisture.
I’d argue that and say that the most satisfying part is jabbing lots and lots of holes in the cake.
It’s totally not in the spirit of a Persian Love Cake. More Basic Instinct, really.
But I cannot lie. It’s my favourite part! (Other than eating it, of course). – Nagi x
PS Decorated the Persian way with dried edible rose petals from Essential Ingredient, my favourite gourmet food store. I spend hours in there every time I go and always treat myself to something a little special. Last time it was the pictured rose petals. 🌹🌹🌹
A PERSIAN FEAST
Persian Lamb Shanks | Tachin – Saffron Baked Rice | Persian Chopped Salad (in Lamb Shanks recipe) | This Persian L♥ve Cake
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Persian Love Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups (200g) almond meal (almond flour)
- 1 1/2 cups (165g) semolina
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1.5 tsp ground cardamom
- 120g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter , at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) brown sugar , packed
- 3/4 cup (150g) white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (250g) plain yoghurt
- Zest of one orange
- 50g / 2 oz raw pistachios , chopped or slivered (or almonds)
Syrup:
- 1/3 cup (85 ml) lemon juice
- 1/3 cup (70g) white sugar
- 1 tsp+ rosewater (adjust to taste, start with less)
Instructions
- Preheat oven 180C/350F (standard) or 160C/320F (fan). Grease and line a 22cm/9" cake pan.
- Mix almond meal, semolina, baking powder, nutmeg and cardamon in bowl.
- Beat butter and both sugars with an electric beater until incorporated. Add eggs, beat until smooth. Then add yoghurt and orange zest, beat until smooth.
- Add dry ingredients. Stir until mixed through.
- Pour into pan, smooth surface. Scatter over pistachios.
- Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour, until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Poke 30 - 40 holes all over the cake using a skewer (poke all the way through). Pour warm syrup over while cake still hot. Leave to soak for 1 hour+ before removing from pan. Cool then slice to serve.
- Pictured decorated with dried rose petals. Alternative: no decorations (pistachios alone look great!), dust with icing / confectionary sugar, of a Lemon Glaze (use this one)
Syrup:
- Place ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to simmer and stir to dissolve sugar. Simmer for 2 minutes. Keep warm (or reheat) for pouring.
Recipe Notes:
- General note: cakes made without flour like this can tend to be a bit crumbly and dry. This cake is not - the moisture comes from the syrup poured over the cake while it's hot!
- Nutrition per serving.
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Me – in Vietnam.
Dozer – with the golden retriever boarder, running wild with his friends.
Hi Nagi, many thanks for the wonderful recipes which have become family favourites, regarding the Persian love cake is it ok to replace the semolina with polenta and if so how much? ta
Hi Peter, I find polenta too grainy unfortunately!- N x
I love this page Nagi, you have a way with words that I love and such a great sense of humour. keep up the good work. 🙂
Aww thanks so much Samantha ❤️
Hi Nagi! Made this tonight and it was fantastic. So flavourful! It sagged a little in the middle but I chalked that up to old baking powder. I didn’t have dried rose petals but I did have dried lavender flowers (also from the Essential Ingredient 😉). They complimented the rose water in the drizzle sauce just fine. Will be making again, often.
Sounds amazing Roger!
Nagi, there is fine and coarse semolina available from the shops. Which type do you use for the Persian Love Cake?
Hi Nagi,
How can you make almond flour at home ?
Hi Mayanka, you can use a food processor to blitz almonds, I usually just buy it already done for me though – N x
So sweet, and dominant lemon, orange flavor
Hi Zainab, yes the sugar syrup is quite sweet, you could always reduce the citrus if you preferred – N x
The cake tasted delicious but the lemon in the syrup was a but too dominant for me and masked the spices (it still tasted great though). and although the cake wasn’t dry, it was a bit crumbly. I only added 1/2 tbsp of baking powder because 1 tbsp seemed like a lot.
Hi Ben, yes it definitely needs the full tablespoon to help it rise and you could always reduce the lemon if you prefer – N x
hi nagi, thank you for share this recipe..The story of this cake was very beautiful.. i am Enjoying this legend as an PERSIAN girl
shokufe from iran (:
Thanks so much!
Hi Nagi! I’ve got a rather stupid doubt….are almond meal and almond flour the same? Could I use almond flour for this? TIA
I just tried this recipe. It acted like a lava flow, I thought it was a bit excessive but followed. on. I think you meant one teaspoon of baking powder rather than one tablespoon.
Hi Nagi,
I need to make a double recipe of this cake in a large rectanglular tin on the weekend. What would you suggest for modifying oven temp and cooking time to make sure it cooks evenly?
Hi Hanna, I haven’t tried doubling this recipe unfortunately. I would cook on a slightly lower temperature for longer otherwise you may have the sides dry out before the centre cooks! You will just need to keep an eye on it and check occasionally until it’s done ☺️
Just wondering if this cake would be ok to freeze
Hi Julie, yes this should be fine to freeze ❤️
Hi there,
Just wondering if I can use 1 cup almonds and 1 cup plain flour?
Thank u for the recipe!
Delicious cake!! Was a bit crumbly but I would make again. It’s a beautiful looking and tasting cake. I topped with fresh pomegranate seeds for color (in lieu of rose petals) and the sweet/tart juice pops added to the eating experience. May also try serving with a little unsweetened whipping cream. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hi Karen! Yes semolina cakes are a bit crumblier than usual cakes 🙂 Love the idea of using pomegranate for colour and extra flavour!! N x
Hi, Nagi, I made this as a birthday cake last night and everyone loved it! I didn’t have rose water so I substituted almond essence. The cardamom really gave the cake a lovely, subtle flavour. Thank you for the recipe (and all the others on your site, which have yet to fail me).
Even though the slices held up, the cake was somewhat crumbly. My mum suggested soaking the semolina in water (or brandy or juice) to add moisture. Do you think this would work?
Just made this cake last night for my husband’s birthday (I actually made the whole Persian feast – swoon!) I absolutely fell in love with the photos of this cake when I saw your recipe a short time ago. The result was beautifully moist but I was a bit disappointed as I found the lemon flavour too dominant. It was seriously tasty but I think I was expecting to taste the spices/pistachio more. I only used a tsp of rosewater and it was very (perhaps too) subtle as a result. Texture-wise it was perfection though!
Hi Nagi! Do you think it’s possible to use this recipe in muffin tins, with a shorter bake time/a few adjustments? 🙂
“Soaked in hot syrup” THIS. I need this. I totally have to make this. Loving the nutmeg and cardamon flavors.
I LOVE cakes where you pour the hot syrup over!! It’s so good!!
Dozer is having time of his life. Oh and cake is to die for. Love those kind of cakes with syrup so, so moist and YUMI. Have recept cake with poppy seeds and syrup, delicious. Enjoy your self as much as Dozer does.
This sounds really lovely. When I have seen other recipes for this lovely cake they are always covered in icing or ‘pie’ like.
I have a question: do I pour the hot syrup on hot cake or cold syrup on hot cake or hot syrup on cold cake?
Or doesn’t it matter?
Looking forward to making this. Hope your holiday is going along in a very entertaining fashion!!
Nagi – you know that when cake is mentioned I exit the room at the fastest possible tempo. Not as far as this one is concerned. Just love the ingredients and the promise of fabulous taste . . . the amount of sugar is kind’of divided amongst a number of slices and the rest is so moreish! Yes, semolina is not GF but I am hugely surprised so many readers mention this as only .64% of the population is affected by coeliac disorders: that is less than ONE person in a hundred !!! Why be so worried ? . . . the Dozer photo is a weekend joy naturally . . .
There are many more of us, Eha, who are not coeliac but who have gluten intolerance. I am not coeliac but if I eat gluten I suffer the next day with symptoms unmentionable on such a pure site as Recipe Tin Eats. 😄😉 I read that 12% of Australians (where I live) who have given up gluten have experienced improved health because of it and I am one of them. I also read that coeliac disease has increased 400% since we started agricultural practices so it is definitely on the increase. I hope that helps to explain why so many people comment about it. 😀
I apologize to Nagi and you for having brought this up on a foodie post: I shall not explain further but to say I am a doctor and at the moment still studying nutrition at three universities overseas: have done so since 1994 . . . it simply would be unfair to Nagi if I took up more space with medical facts. Not what people think but how things really are! A gluten-free diet unfortunately can lead to greater problems than it deems to solve. Again my apologies . . .
Here! Here!
Except for the genuine Coeliacs I believe this has just become a fashion statement. It’s so tiring.