Today and we celebrate LOVE (Eshgh)! Maybe with a Persian love cake?
Valentine’s day has come and gone and I am just getting around to posting this Persian love cake recipe on the blog. To state the obvious, Valentine’s day was not always a day that was celebrated in Iran and there was certainly no cake to go with it! But as times have changed, so have some of the traditions and rituals around these holidays.
The Persian love cake is made up of familiar flavors of warming cardamom, fragrant rosewater, and subtle tartness of lemon. I used more almond flour than whole wheat pastry flour to make the cake. You can easily convert it to a GF cake by eliminating the wheat. Substitute it with my other favorite grain, sorghum, or just use only almond flour.
The texture is much like a soft and moist corn cake. If you’d like a more traditional light cake, simply use your favorite tried-and-true basic cake recipe and add in the Persian rosewater and cardamom for flavor.
To me, no cake feels complete unless it’s shared with loved ones around the table, enjoyed with Iranian black tea, stories, and life’s updates.
If you’ve enjoyed this cake and are looking for more delicious almond flour–based gluten free treats, you’ll find my saffron olive oil cake in my book Bitter & Sweet.
Cake Eshgh
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup unrefined sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 4 tablespoons rose water
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice, fresh
- 3-4 tablespoons water
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or all purpose)
- 1 tablespoon cardamom
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Icing
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tablespoon rose water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, fresh
Garnish
- 1-2 tablespoons Rose petals
- 3 tablespoons pistachios, chopped
Instructions
- Set the oven to 350°F and place the oven rack in the center position.
- Lightly spread a small amount of butter all around an 8-inch cake pan, covering the bottom and all the sides. Sprinkle a small amount of flour into the pan and tap the pan while tilting it to make sure the flour has covered the greased surface. Turn the pan upside down and tap out any excess flour. I prefer this method to lining with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the room temperature butter and sugar using a spatula until you have a well-mixed paste.
- Using a whisk, add one egg at a time and mix until the eggs are well incorporated.
- Add the rose water, lemon juice, and water and mix well.
- In a separate bowl add the all the remaining dry ingredients, making sure all the ingredients are well mixed.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet bowl, gently mixing as you go along. I typically start mixing with a whisk and then finish with a spatula.
- Pour the batter into the greased and floured cake pan and gently smooth out the top surface and place in the oven.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes and test with a toothpick to make sure the batter is fully cooked in the center.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before attempting to take the cake out of the pan.
- Using a butter knife, gently loosen the cake from its edges and gently flip the cake out to a plate and then flip again onto a cake platter so that the top of the cake is on top.
- It is necessary for the cake to be completely cooled before icing.
- In a small bowl add all the icing ingredients and mix well. Once the cake is cooled, drizzle or spread the icing over the top and garnish with pistachios and rose petals.
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