Recipe video above. A beautiful Persian cake with a lovely subtle citrus flavour and hint of spice. For an authentic Persian flavour, don't skip the rosewater! They differ in strength so start with a small amount and adjust to your taste - too much can be overpowering.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time1 hourhr
Total Time1 hourhr15 minutesmins
Course: Cakes
Cuisine: Persian
Keyword: Persian Love Cake
Servings: 12
Calories: 423cal
Author: Nagi
Ingredients
2 cups (200g)almond meal(almond flour)
1 1/2 cups (165g)semolina
1tbspbaking powder
1/2tspground nutmeg
1.5tspground cardamom
120g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (150g)brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup (150g)white sugar
2eggs
1 cup (250g)plain yoghurt
Zest of one orange
50g / 2 ozraw pistachios, chopped or slivered (or almonds)
Syrup:
1/3 cup (85 ml)lemon juice
1/3 cup (70g)white sugar
1tsp+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.
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!