Persian love cake

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Just Teddy in Hyde Park is famous for this beautiful gluten-free cake. Says chef and cookbook author, Teddy Zaki “We thought long and hard about sharing this recipe. Eventually, the pure beauty of the ingredients, the aromatics of the spices and the mystique of the rose petals made their own overwhelming argument in favour of this recipe appearing in this book, our book, which would not be complete without the Love Cake.

Legend has it that a Persian woman was madly in love with a prince. To make him fall in love with her, she baked him this cake filled with the magical powers of love. Allegedly there are two endings to this story: one tells of the Prince returning her love and how they lived happily ever after. The second is a tale of woe – her love is unrequited, and she consoles herself by eating the entire cake! Whatever your intention, and the outcome, one thing this recipe promises is a slice of delicious gluten-free cake!”

Ingredients

For the sponge:
200 g unsalted butter, softened
150 g caster sugar
4 medium free-range eggs
1 T rose-water
1 lemon, zested and juiced
100 g rice flour
¼ t ground cardamom
275 g ground almonds
1 t baking powder
a pinch of salt
For the drizzle:
1 T lemon juice
2 T caster sugar
1 t rosewater
For the icing:
150 g icing sugar
2 T lemon juice
cold water, enough to form a stiff paste
To decorate:
pistachio nut slivers
edible gold leaf
edible rose petals

Cooking Instructions

1. Grease a deep 20 cm springform cake tin and preheat the oven to 160°C.

2. Beat together the butter and caster sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the rosewater and lemon zest.

3. Sift together the rice flour, cardamom, almonds, baking powder and salt.

4. Add the flour to the egg mixture alternating with the lemon juice and mix. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean.

5. To make the drizzle, heat the lemon juice, caster sugar and rose-water together in a saucepan. Boil until slightly thickened and set aside.

6. Pour the drizzle over the cake in the tin and allow to soak in. Allow the cake to cool, then remove from the tin.

7. To make the icing, sift the icing sugar, add the lemon juice, then add enough water to make a thick, pourable paste.

8. Pour the icing over the cooled cake. Allow the drizzle to run down the sides of the cake.

Find more cake recipes here.

Extracted with permission from Just Teddy - Petals from Paris by Teddy Zaki. Images courtesy: That Food Guy Publishing - a division of That Food Guy Group