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Persian Love Bundt Cake

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Persian Love Bundt Cake

How to make a Persian Love bundt cake?  This love cake recipe is a pretty looking bundt cake with pink cream cheese drizzle icing topped with rose petals and pistachios. What makes a Persian love cake is the spices; cardamom, cinnamons, hints of rose, lemon and almonds a secret tip to keep the cake moist. To decorate this Persian Love cake with icing, drizzle with this fancy pink cream cheese icing and decorated with pistachios and rose petals. I am sure this would be a delicious cake to try baking any time of year, no need for a special occasion. This bundt cake would work well with alternative flours like spelt flour too. Bake a cake at home and say love someone with a Sue Maree P bundt cake recipe.

What's The Story Behind the Persian Love Cake?

There's a legend that a woman baked a cake like this to charm a Persian Prince to fall in love with her. Apparently the cake is meant to be enchanted, with love in every bite. I asked my Persian friend and she has never heard of the cake. So perhaps, either the legend is made up, or the women's baking was so bad that the Prince didn't fall for her at all. Who knows? Maybe the Prince fell in love with someone else. I can guarantee that you will fall in love with the taste of this cake.

Ingredients

  • 225g unsalted softened butter
  • 200g castor sugar
  • 250g  SR flour (or 250g plain flour or spelt flour + 4 tsp baking powder)
  • 4 eggs room temperature
  • 75g  ground almonds
  • zest (for the batter) and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon (only for the glaze)
  • 130g (1/2 cup) of Greek yoghurt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 tbsp rosewater syrup
  • pinch of salt

Glaze

  • 2 tbsp castor sugar
  • juice 1 lemon
  • 1 tbsp rose water

Pink Drizzle Icing

  • 250g icing sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 180g cream cheese
  • 3 tsp of raspberry juice or a few drops of pink colouring

To Decorate

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 160˚c fan-forced, 180˚C. Generously grease and flour a large 10/12 cup bundt ring tin (23cm/9 inch) or fluted pan.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar on high speed for 2 minutes till pale and fluffy.
  3. Add the eggs one by one, beating to mix after each addition. Sprinkle in some of the almond mixture with each egg to prevent the mixture from curdling. Add in the yoghurt, and beat to combine.
  4. Add the balance of the dry ingredients the ground almonds, flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom powder into this mixture. Then add the lemon zest and rose water. Do not over-mix.
  5. Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
  6. Bake for 40 minutes, at 160˚c
  7. After 35 minutes of baking, start to prepare the syrup. Combine sugar, lemon juice and rosewater syrup in a small saucepan and heat till sugar dissolves and syrup thickens slightly.
  8. Before removing the cake from the tin, poke holes in the top of the cake then brush or drizzle warm syrup over the cake and allow to cool the cake in pan for 10 minutes. Sit on a damp tea towel to help loosen the cake. Gently remove the cake to a wire rack and allow the cake to cool completely before icing.
  9. To make the icing, add 2 tbsp lemon juice to the sifted icing sugar in a bowl. Using either a wire whisk or a spatula, mix together to form a smooth paste. Add cream cheese and pink colouring or raspberry juice (I use the defrosted juice from frozen raspberries).
  10. Place the icing in the fridge to firm up slightly for 20-30minutes. Remove from the fridge and either drizzle with a large spoon or spoon mixture into an icing bag and add only to the top, the weight of the icing will slowly roll down the sides of the cake.
  11. Sprinkle chopped pistachios and rose petals all over the top of the cake. Cut into slices and serve.
  12. To store keep cake covered in a container on the kitchen bench for 2-3 days. Refrigerate if kept for a longer period.