Persian Love Cake

Persian Love Cake 

Sponge

• 200g unsalted butter / baking marg, room temp

• 50ml vegetable oil

• 170g caster sugar

• 4 medium eggs

• 12 cardamom pods, seeds ground

• 150g '00' flour, sifted

• 300g ground almonds

• 1¼ tsp baking powder, sifted

• Pinch of salt

• Zest & juice of 1 lemon

• 1 tbsp rose water

• 100ml buttermilk

Drizzle

• 50g caster sugar

• 40ml water

• 30ml fresh lemon juice

• Zest of 1 lemon

• 2 cardamom pods, seeds ground

• ½ tbsp rose water

Icing

• 225g icing sugar

• Juice of 1 lemon

• ½ tbsp water

To Finish

• Handful of dried edible flower petals

• Handful of pistachios, roughly chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 170°C. Grease and line your cake tin.

2. Beat the butter, oil, and caster sugar together until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

4. Fold in the ground cardamom, flour, ground almonds, baking powder, and salt.

5. Stir in the lemon zest and juice, rose water, and buttermilk until just combined.

6. Pour into the tin and bake for 40–45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

7. While the cake bakes, make the drizzle by combining the sugar, water, lemon juice, zest, cardamom, and rose water in a small pan over low heat until the sugar dissolves.

8. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes all over it and pour the warm drizzle over. Leave to cool completely.

9. Mix the icing sugar, lemon juice, and water until smooth and pourable. Drizzle over the cooled cake.

10. Immediately top with dried edible petals and roughly chopped pistachios.

Nutrition (per slice, based on 12 slices): ~420 cal | 7g protein | 28g fat | 38g carbs | 2g fibre