You’re going to fall in love with this Persian Love Cake!!! Made with semolina and almond meal with a hint of citrus and subtle spices, this cake is soaked with hot syrup to make it moist and add sweetness.
Straightforward to make, a beautiful cake for afternoon tea or to finish off a Persian or Middle Eastern themed meal – try these slow cooked Persian Lamb Shanks and Crispy Saffron Rice!
Welcome to the 3rd and final instalment of PERSIAN WEEK! A week in which I’m sharing 4 recipes so you can make your very own Persian feast at home!!
Here’s what’s on the menu for your Persian Feast:
Persian Lamb Shank recipe – the main event! Braised until fall apart tender in a beautiful aromatic broth. Incredibly easy with every day spices you’ll find at any supermarket!
Persian Saffron Rice – that golden, crispy beauty… and it tastes as amazing as it looks!!!
Persian Cucumber Tomato Salad (in the Lamb Shanks recipe)- lovely and fresh, with a little sprinkle of Sumac for a touch of Persian exoticness; and
Persian L♥ve Cake (today’s recipe)- made with semolina and almond meal, this cake is soaked with a lemon-rosewater syrup, with a hint of citrus and spice flavours. You’re going to LOVE this Persian Looooove cake!
AND SO THE STORY GOES…
A Persian girl madly in love with a Prince made a beautiful cake with magical powers to make him fall in love with her.
As for whether it worked – I never got to the bottom of that. Some say they lived happily ever after, others say he never returned her love – though hopefully she got to eat the whole cake herself.
Now – I can’t promise that this cake has magical powers to woo your secret crush (whether it be George Clooney or a boy band) but I can promise that it tastes as enchanting as that story (despite the unsatisfying ending to the fairytale!!)
ABOUT THIS PERSIAN LOVE CAKE
This is a cake is made with semolina and almond meal instead of the usual flour. It has subtle spicing from cardamom and nutmeg, a hint of citrus from orange and some lovely tang from lemon in the syrup.
Most people say that the best part about making this cake is pouring the syrup over the cake when it’s fresh out of the oven so it soaks right through, adding sweetness as well as moisture.
I’d argue that and say that the most satisfying part is jabbing lots and lots of holes in the cake.
It’s totally not in the spirit of a Persian Love Cake. More Basic Instinct, really.
But I cannot lie. It’s my favourite part! (Other than eating it, of course). – Nagi x
PS Decorated the Persian way with dried edible rose petals from Essential Ingredient, my favourite gourmet food store. I spend hours in there every time I go and always treat myself to something a little special. Last time it was the pictured rose petals. 🌹🌹🌹
A PERSIAN FEAST
Persian Lamb Shanks | Tachin – Saffron Baked Rice | Persian Chopped Salad (in Lamb Shanks recipe) | This Persian L♥ve Cake
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Persian Love Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups (200g) almond meal (almond flour)
- 1 1/2 cups (165g) semolina
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1.5 tsp ground cardamom
- 120g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter , at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) brown sugar , packed
- 3/4 cup (150g) white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (250g) plain yoghurt
- Zest of one orange
- 50g / 2 oz raw pistachios , chopped or slivered (or almonds)
Syrup:
- 1/3 cup (85 ml) lemon juice
- 1/3 cup (70g) white sugar
- 1 tsp+ rosewater (adjust to taste, start with less)
Instructions
- Preheat oven 180C/350F (standard) or 160C/320F (fan). Grease and line a 22cm/9″ cake pan.
- Mix almond meal, semolina, baking powder, nutmeg and cardamon in bowl.
- Beat butter and both sugars with an electric beater until incorporated. Add eggs, beat until smooth. Then add yoghurt and orange zest, beat until smooth.
- Add dry ingredients. Stir until mixed through.
- Pour into pan, smooth surface. Scatter over pistachios.
- Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour, until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Poke 30 – 40 holes all over the cake using a skewer (poke all the way through). Pour warm syrup over while cake still hot. Leave to soak for 1 hour+ before removing from pan. Cool then slice to serve.
- Pictured decorated with dried rose petals. Alternative: no decorations (pistachios alone look great!), dust with icing / confectionary sugar, of a Lemon Glaze (use this one)
Syrup:
- Place ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to simmer and stir to dissolve sugar. Simmer for 2 minutes. Keep warm (or reheat) for pouring.
Recipe Notes:
- General note: cakes made without flour like this can tend to be a bit crumbly and dry. This cake is not – the moisture comes from the syrup poured over the cake while it’s hot!
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Me – in Vietnam.
Dozer – with the golden retriever boarder, running wild with his friends.
Can I use a gluten free substitute for semolina?
Hi Carol, sorry this one requires the semolina unfortunately. N x
My new favourite cake !! The combination of flavours in this cake are amazing, and it is sooo moist and delicious. It was a big hit with all my guests asking where I got the recipe : )
easy to make , looks fabulous and is delicious, great for coeliac or gluten intolerant.
Semolina is from wheat and has a very high gluten content. This is why it is used for Italian pasta.
It is not great for coeliac or gluten intolerant.
Yes 100% Jenny!! N x
Everyone LOVED this, was amazing! Served it as suggested + double cream and was a hit. For me, the best part (out of like, a whole lot of good) is the orange zest. So yum!! <3
Oh i made it exactly as said but half way through i opened the oven to move the tin around and it sank!!!
Hi Jan, unfortunately opening the oven causes a sudden temperature drop which can affect the rising of the cake! N x
This recipe is full of love! First time making it — success! And I’m not even a baker. I just followed the recipe. OK, from the recipe, I made 12 cupcakes (baked 25 mins) + the rest in a loaf tin mold (2 inches high – baked 30 mins). Both at 160 °C. The french crowd admired how it tastes and took turns guessing all the ingredients. Thankyou Nagi, again ;D
My favourite cake recipe to date! I love to bake and there are very few recipes that I follow to a T. This is one of them. It’s perfect- instructions are super clear. My mother-in-law was wow’d (which is very rare) and it’s a showstopper every single time!
For anyone experiencing sinking in the middle, do NOT open the oven to check until the 50 minute mark. Letting air into the oven may be the cause for some people’s cake sinking- nothing to do with the recipe.
I opened it at 55 mins and it still sunk in the middle, cooked an extra 10 mins, looked stupid but still tasted great.
Ah well.
Incredible recipe. Made it for my family and coworkers. Everybody liked it.
I read the general feedback and decided to try cooking at fanoven 170 for 25 minutes and then 160 for remaining time – nothing sank. Served with a side of Greek yogurt decorated with a sprinkle orange zest. Husband loved it 😍. I made the 6 portion size in an 18cm round tin, the cake looked just like the picture with a 3-4cm rise. Definitely a new star in our household.
I have made many of your other recipes with great success, but today am making this one and it’s completely sunk in the middle. I suspect it’s from the weight of the pistachios, as around the edge where I missed the pistachio sprinkle has risen beautifully. The longer it stays in the oven, the more it sinks. I’m sure it will taste nice but I’m a bit sad about my crater cake!
I made this cake today but it sank and all the pistachios disappeared from the top. I followed the recipe carefully. Could it be that 160 was to low for the baking temp? The cake still tasted lovely but didn’t look as nice as yours.
Appreciate your help.
Love your recipes.
I’ve made this cake 5 or 6 times now. Never fails to wow people (me included). I use almond flour (meal has been dicey to find), metric weights when given, and 2 teaspoons rose water. Bakes to perfection and super moist. Incredible recipe, Nagi.
Hi, thank you for the recipe! I have a question I can used honey for the syrup?
My kids made this for their dad’s birthday cake last week and I feel I can’t give a fair review because our stores had no raw pistachio (we subbed almonds) and no semolina (we subbed corn flour) but this was still so good! Our stores have been out of the strangest things thanks to covid : ) I think the corn flour made this almost like a tamale cake so it definitely lost its Persian feel, but it was beautiful and everyone loved it!
Can this cake be made ahead of time? I want to take it with me on a girls weekend but will need to make it the day before.
Could you use orange juice in the syrup rather than lemon, as there is already a zested orange waiting to be used.
Hi Anne, I find lemon cuts through the sweetness better than orange here – but yes you could use orange if you like, the cake will be sweeter. N x
Thanks. I can see that it would be sweeter. I made mine with the lemon and did appreciate the slight tartness it added. Very happy with the results.
I have made so many of your recipes while in iso (Victorian) and will add many of them to my permanent repertoire.
I tried the cake today. I am new baker so not a pro. My cake sank in the middle. What must have caused that?? I followed the recipe point by point.
The same happened to me! I love the taste and texture of this cake (and big fan of all the Nagi recipes!) But each of the three times I’ve tried this recipe it rises beautifully until the 30 minute mark and then collapses 🙁 Not sure what I’m doing wrong as I would love to perfect this. The semolina I bought in the UK is corn based so wondering if that’s the problem?
I had the same problem. But we really loved the cake and it is the cake-of-choice for my partner’s 70th birthday this weekend. So it will be interesting to see if it happens again.
We all loved this cake! My son who never eats cake was really impressed.
That’s awesome Sammie!! N x
Persian Love Cake was delicious and moist,I drizzled the lemon gaze over the top which made it extra lemony, it was a hit with dinner guests.
Thankyou 🙂
Thanks for this recipe
You’re so welcome Orshid!! N x