Persian Love Cake

Google Persian Love Cake and you’re sure to find a hundred different variations. Some feature lemon juice and yoghurt. Some contain semolina, others ground pistachios. Some are gluten free. Some dairy free. You’ll even find some versions with nutmeg, in addition to the cardamom. Some versions feature a lemon syrup drizzle, while others (like this one) are done with an icing or glaze.

Apparently, as the story goes, the original Persian Love Cake was made by a girl who’d fallen madly in love with a Prince, so she made a beautiful cake with magical powers to make him fall in love with her. However, there are as many versions of the story as there are versions of the cake itself and so let’s not get caught up on the details, shall we?

I was eager to try this cake after buying a miniature version from Birdie Noshery & Drinking Est. in Orange over the weekend. Theirs was an orange and almond cake topped with fluffy icing and adorned with rose petals and pistachios.

I took inspiration for this Thermomix version from the clever folks at Taste. As a Thermomix owner, I’m always on the hunt for new recipes to ‘Thermify’ and love how easy it is to create all of the elements in just one bowl!

For this version I’ve used delicious Australian oranges, raw almonds, rapadura sugar (or brown if you prefer) and butter, but the highlight of this cake is the delightful pop of colour you get from the orange glaze with rose petals, slivered pistachios and orange rind.

This cake will be fine at room temperature for a couple of days, but can also be stored in the fridge.

You can source those beautiful rose petals and pistachios, as well as rose water, from a specialty store such as The Essential Ingredient.

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Persian Love Cake

Servings: 12

Author: Rebecca McAlister

Prep time: 10 MinCooking time: 50 MinInactive time: 1 HourTotal time: 2 Hour

Ingredients

• 100g raw almonds
• 125g rapadura or brown sugar
• Zest of 1 orange
• 200g butter
• 3 eggs
• 250g self raising flour
• 150g orange juice (approximately 2 large oranges)
• 1 tbsp rosewater
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 150g icing sugar mixture
• 20-30g orange juice
• Dried rose petals
• Slivered pistachios
• Finely sliced orange rind

Preparation

For the cake

1. Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees (fan forced) or 180 degrees (conventional) and prepare a 23cm cake tin.
2. Then, place 100g almonds in Thermomix bowl and mill 10 seconds/speed 10 to create almond meal. Set aside. If you already have almond meal made, you can skip this step. 
3. Remove rind from your orange with a vegetable peeler (no white pith) and place into Thermomix bowl with sugar. Mill 5 seconds/speed 10. Scrape down sides.
4. Add butter and eggs and mix 30 seconds/speed 4. 
5. Add almond meal, flour, 150g orange juice (you will need 20-30g more for the icing), plus spices and rose water and mix 30 seconds/speed 4. 
6. Pour into prepared caked tin and bake for around 50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. 
7. Meanwhile, clean and dry Thermomix bowl.
8. Cool cake in tin for 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before moving on to the icing.

For the icing

1. Weigh in icing sugar and 20-30g of orange juice. Mix for 10 seconds/speed 3 or until smooth. 
2. Pour over cooled cake, allowing it to drizzle slightly down the sides.
3. Decorate with dried rose petals, pistachio slivers and finely sliced orange rind.

Recommended Products:

Rose Gold Springform Cake Pan

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