Persian Love Cake

Cake

• 300g unsalted butter, softened
• 225g  castor sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 6 eggs
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp orange blossom/ rose water
• 60ml sour cream
• 150g Golden Cloud Cake Flour
• 300g ground almonds
• 100g desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp cardamon powder
• 1 tsp baking powder

Syrup

• 200g granulated sugar
• 120ml water
• 1 tsp rose water

Icing

• 200g icing sugar
• 1 tsp rose water
• 60ml water
• Pistachios & Rose petals for sprinkling

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160 °C. Prepare a Bundt pan with baking spray.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, castor sugar and lemon zest together for 4-5 minutes.
3. Add in the six eggs, two at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. Pour in the lemon juice, orange blossom and sour cream, and mix till well combined.
5. Add in the cake flour, ground almonds, desiccated coconut, cardamon powder and baking powder. Using a spatula, mix till well combined.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes.
7. Towards the end of baking time, prepare the syrup. Combine the sugar, water and rose water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the syrup starts to thicken, remove it from the heat. Use while warm.
8. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, poke a few holes in it. Pour the warm syrup over the cake, and use a silicone brush to move the excess syrup around. Allow the cake to soak up the syrup and cool completely in the tin.
9. Once the cake has cooled completely, remove it from the Bundt pan and prepare the icing.
10. Combine the icing sugar, rose water and water in a bowl. Add the water in, a little at a time and mix until the icing is smooth and glossy.
11. Spoon the icing over the cake and finish off with a sprinkling of pistachios and rose petals.