Persian Love Cake is a moist, aromatic cake flavored with rose water, orange flower water, nutmeg, and cardamom. It strikes the perfect balance between a tender, soft crumb and a rustic texture thanks to nutty almond flour and semolina flour. To really make it a work of art, this cake is topped with a scented glaze and decorated with rose petals and chopped pistachios.
Add all ingredients to a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and then let it boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and cool completely before pouring on the hot cake.
For the Cake:
Preheat the oven to 375F. Butter and flour a 6-inch springform pan. If you don’t have a springform pan, you can use a regular 6-inch cake pan lined with a piece of parchment paper that’s trimmed to fit in the bottom.
Whisk together the all-purpose flour, almond flour, semolina, baking powder, ground cardamom, ground nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl.
Add the butter, sugar, eggs, yogurt, orange blossom water, and rosewater to a large bowl. Use a handheld electric mixer to beat until well-combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet all at once, and beat to combine.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread it out evenly.
Bake until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. If the cake starts browning too quickly, you can place a piece of foil on top.
Once the cake is out of the oven, place it on a rimmed baking tray (in case some of the syrup spills) and immediately pour on the scented sugar syrup.
Let the cake cool completely.
For the Glaze:
Once the cake is cooled, whisk together all ingredients for the glaze in a medium bowl until smooth. You can add more milk if needed to achieve the right consistency.
Transfer the cake to a cake plate (I like to invert it so the flat bottom is now on top), and pour the glaze on top, letting it drip down the sides if you like that look.
Sprinkle the pistachios and rose petals decoratively on the top.
Let the glaze set before serving.
Notes
Change the Flavor: You can omit the rose water and orange blossom water in this recipe and use fresh lemon or orange zest instead. Or simply flavor it with vanilla extract.
Tip: Make the scented simple syrup first. This is because for the cake to properly absorb the sugar syrup, the syrup should be room temperature and the cake should be hot.