Hamed's Persian love cake

Why 'love cake'? The story goes that a village woman tried to woo a prince with this cake. He swooned over the cake but rejected the girl and she ended up eating it all herself. I hope your romantic cake adventures are more successful, though I have to say that eating the cake is also winning!

Persian love cake Credit: Kitti Gould

• serves

  8

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 300 g almond meal
• 180 g caster sugar
• 185 g light brown sugar (1 cup lightly packed)
• 125 g unsalted butter, softened, diced
• 2 eggs
• 260 g Greek-style yoghurt
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cardamom
• 2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 50 g flaked almonds
• 35 g slivered pistachio kernels
• edible dried rose petals, to serve (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan-forced). Grease a 20 cm round cake tin. (Tip: using a springform tin will make it easier to remove once cooked).
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond meal, sugars and butter and mix with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Press half the crumb mixture into the cake tin, creating an even base.
3. Add the eggs, yoghurt, salt and spices to the remaining crumb mixture and, using a wooden spoon, mix until smooth. Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and smooth the surface with a spatula. Sprinkle the nuts over the top.
4. Bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Start checking after the 50 minute mark to ensure it's not colouring too quickly. Cover the cake with foil if necessary.
5. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate with dried rose petals (if using) and serve.
6. The cake will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3–4 days.

Photography by Kitti Gould.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

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Watch The Full Episode Here

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