Persian Love Cake

This moist and delicately scented cake is absolutely divine! There is a story behind the name that once upon a time there was a Persian woman madly in love with a prince. To make him fall in love with her, she baked him this cake, filled with magical love powers. It is unclear whether it worked, as there’s two variations to the ending, but my bet is that it did! As they say, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach!! Either enjoy this cake as is, with the glaze below or try it with my vegan cream cheese icing or Lemon Orange Blossom Icing.

1 cup coconut yoghurt

¼ cup macadamia or coconut oil

2 free range eggs

¾ cup coconut sugar

300g (2 ½ cups) almond meal

1 ¼ cups desiccated coconut

2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 tsp ground cardamom

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp. rose water

Zest of 1 orange/lemon (I used half of each)

½ tsp salt

½ cup raw pistachios shelled

1 tbsp. organic dried rose petals, to decorate

Glaze (optional)

1/2 cup coconut butter

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 tablespoons honey

1.     Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a cake tin with baking paper.

2.     Add the coconut yoghurt, oil, eggs and sugar to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.

3.     Add the remaining ingredients (except for the pistachios) – almond meal, coconut, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, rosewater zest and salt and then blend again until smooth and well combined. If this is too much to fit onto your blender or too thick, just leave the almond meal and coconut out. Blend the rest and then mix it with the almond meal and coconut in a large bowl before pouring into the tin.

4.     Pour the mixture into the lined cake tin. Roughly chop the pistachios and sprinkle half of them over around the outside edge of the cake, reserving the others for final decoration.

5.     Place into the oven to bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes in the tin before serving. If you’re making the glaze or my vegan cream cheese icing or lemon orange blossom icing, then wait for the cake to cool completely.

6.     While waiting for the cake the cool, heat the coconut butter over very low heat. Once softened, remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and honey, whisk to combine and set aside to cool slightly before carefully drizzling it over the centre of the cake, allowing some to drip down the sides.

7.     Sprinkle the chopped pistachios around the outside edge of the cake and then the rose petals just inside the pistachios. Enjoy!