The Legend Of The Love Cake
The story of the Persian Love Cake originates long ago in Persia, where a young woman has grown deeply in love with a Persian prince. Unfortunately, the prince did not reciprocate her love and to change her misfortunes she concocted a magical cake using saffron, rose water, rose petals, cardamom spice & pistachios. Whoever ate this magical love cake would then fall in love with her.
The next day the prince was due to travel far away to which he may never return. And here's where the story is divided and you can choose your ending:
Ending #1: The fairytale ending, where before the prince vacates, he eats her magical cake and of course falls in love with her and they live happily ever after.
Ending #2: The prince leaves without eating the cake and she eats the love cake herself, where she falls in love with herself and lives happily ever after.
I much prefer the second ending with the message of truly loving yourself and not craving the acceptance of others.
So the legend of the Persian Love Cake was born and of course, when I made this cake myself I understood why it has become a popular cake for home bakers to make, especially when top celebrity chefs like Yotam Ottolenghi and Nigella Lawson are feeling the Persian love.
Although I fell in love with the cake myself, I quickly found a problem. The Middle Eastern ingredients like saffron, almond, pistachios, rose water, rose petals, and cardamom are collectively very expensive to purchase in one transaction, but more importantly, they're difficult to source and find in smaller sized quantities. The last thing I need is to buy lots of ingredients that I only use in small amounts and then store them away in the pantry for a long time.
That's when the light bulb moment arrived and I created the first ever home baker's Persian Love Cake Baking Kit. The idea is that you receive the baking kit with all the hard-to-find ingredients needed to concoct your own magical Love Cake. You would only need to add a few everyday items like eggs, butter, yoghurt and your preferred choice of sugar.
- Persian Love Cake Mix (Gluten Free Available) - 300g
- 1 x Mini Bottle of Rose Water - 15ml
- Icing Mix - 100g
- Pistachio, Almond & Edible Rose Petals Garnish - 17g
- Full Printed Recipe Instructios
-
2x XL Free-Range Eggs
-
1 Cup Natural Yoghurt (Appox 200g)
-
160g Softened Butter
-
1 Cup Sugar
-
A 20 cm Cake Tin
**For a vegan-friendly option you can replace the eggs with mashed banana or egg replacer and use coconut yoghurt inside of natural greek yoghurt. Please also read my recipe for Egg and Dairy Free Persian Love Cupcakes here.
How To Make The Persian Love Cake:
1- Preheat oven to 170C (160C fan-forced). Line the cake tin with baking paper.
2- Using an electric mixer cream the softened butter and sugar. Add the eggs one by one and beat. Add the yoghurt plus 2 tbsp water.
3- Add the Persian Love Cake mix and fold it to evenly mix (The batter will be thick).
4- Pour into the cake tin. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a chopstick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake completely cool down then decorate.
Decorate With Rosewater Icing & Edible Rose Petal Garnish:
Place the Icing Mix in a small bowl then add the rosewater provided little by little until dissolved. If the icing is too thick, add water or a few drops of lemon juice. Spread over the cake or divide between cupcakes (recipe here) then garnish with the provided rose petal garnish pack with slivered almonds & ground pistachios.
Each Persian Love Cake kit comes with a recipe card (which is also available to download here).
Top Tips:- For cream frosting, whip 250ml cream with the icing and rosewater. - For a two-layered cake divide the batter between two 20cm cake tins, reduce the baking time to 30 mins and layer with your choice of frosting. - If you have a silver colour cake tin, use that over black to achieve a lighter crust. -Bake the cake the night before and decorate just before serving for optimum flavour. - Store baked cake in an airtight container below 20C for up to a week. Or freeze. |
Unbox The Baking Kit Here:
The Persian Love Cake Baking Kit offers a unique gift for anyone who might love exotic flavours and the baking experience. I have included the kit in two of our most popular hampers The Middle Eastern Feast and Exotic Night.
Please see the hamper range to learn more these special gifts. (The Hamper Range).
The Saffron Persian Love Cake Baking Kit
