FOOD PORN #02: Persian Love Cake!

Prepare to fall in love! This is my favourite dessert...ever. It's a wonderfully fragrant, aromatic combination of ingredients. Rose water, nutmeg, pistachios...they make you think of wandering around a busy souk, taking in the exotic sights and smells. 

This is a flourless recipe, so it's gluten free. Does that make it healthy?! Well, let's just pretend it does ;) 

There's two layers to a Persian Love Cake: a crunchy biscuity base, and a pleasingly soft granular texture on top.

If you're looking for a dessert to make for your loved one, look not further. Oh, and nutmeg is an aphrodisiac you know...

Before I start the recipe, there's a funny old tale behind this cake. The story goes: many many years ago there was a woman who worked for a Persian king. She fell in love with him. As we all know, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so what did she do? She baked him a cake. Our Persian Love Cake. What the poor love-struck lady didn't know was that the king hated nutmeg! After one bite, she was thrown out of the royal household, a woman spurned! But the recipe lived on.

Hopefully you, lovely Steemies, are luckier in love than our female protagonist. Here's what you'll need. This makes enough for 8:

• 360g ground almonds
• 220g dark brown sugar
• 220g light brown sugar
• 120g unsalted butter, softened
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 250g Greek yoghurt, plus extra to serve
• 1 tbsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 40g unsalted pistachios, some finely chopped, some kept whole
• 2 tsp rose water
• rose petals, for decoration (you can also use edible rose petals found in good supermarkets)

You'll need a springform cake tin lined with greaseproof paper- I've used a 20cm one, but 26cm also gives a good result.

Here's what to do:

1. Preheat oven to 180c.
2. Combine the ground almonds, sugars and butter in a large mixing bowl, and rub with your fingertips until you form coarse crumbs.
3. Spoon half of this mixture into the cake tin and lightly press it down with the back of a spoon, to evenly cover the base.
4. Add the egg, yoghurt, nutmeg and 1 tsp of the rose water to the remaining mixture, and stir thoroughly until smooth.
5. Pour over the prepared base.
6. Pop it into the oven for 25-30 minutes, until it's just starting to lose its wobble. Take it out, and scatter over a handful of the pistachios, then place it back in the oven for another 10 minutes until golden brown.
7. Cool in the tin on a wire rack until it reaches room temperature. Don't be impatient with this part!
8. Serve with a delicious dollop of yoghurt mixed with the remaining rose water (or to taste), and scatter the pistachios and rose petals on top. I've also drizzled a little warm blueberry jam for an extra colour on the plate. 
9. Light those candles, dim the lights, and prepare to fall in love! 

Here's me in the garden picking the last rose of the summer!

See you soon Steemies! XXX

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