This Pistachio Rose Cake, also known as Persian Love Cake, is a rich moist cake flavoured with a hint of rosewater and cardamom, and drizzled with a golden hued syrup of honey, orange juice and saffron. It’s perfect to serve with a cup of strong tea.
The name of this cake is in reference to the legend that it was first made to enchant a Persian prince. With such romantic beginnings, I just had to make this cake part of my rotation. Consequentially, I made it for the Persian side of my family and they enjoyed it thoroughly, and perhaps became even a little enchanted.
Although you won’t find a recipe for Persian Love Cake in traditional Persian cookbooks, its flavours are reminiscent of many of the sweets you can find in Persian bakeries.
What You’ll Need to Make Persian Love Cake
8 inch springform pan
Parchment paper to line your pan
Unsalted butter
Light olive oil *see note below
Granulated sugar
Greek Yogurt (or another thick yogurt)
Rosewater *see note below
Ground Cardamom ( I like to buy my spices in small batches to ensure that they’re fresh when I need to use them. You can certainly buy your spices in larger quantities, but just be aware that spices can lose their potency over time.)
Almond Flour
All purpose flour
Semolina flour (a strong durum flour that is coarser than regular flour). You can find it in the baking aisles of most grocery stores)
Baking Powder
Flaked Almonds
Honey
Orange juice
Saffron *see note below
Pistachios (look for the roasted, unsalted variety)
How to Make Pistachio Rose Cake
- Cream together sugar and butter then whisk in eggs, yogurt, rosewater and cardamom.
- Sift dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
- Pour batter into the pan and sprinkle flaked almonds over the top.
- Make the syrup: combine honey and orange juice in a pot and boil for 5 minutes. Stir in rosewater and saffron and pistachios.
- Drizzle syrup over the warm cake and let it sit for a couple of hours before serving.
- Enjoy!
Julianne’s Notes
Saffron has a very unique and distinct flavour. It’s earthy, floral flavour is instantly recognizable in both savoury and sweet dishes.
Saffron is known as one of the most precious spices in the world. It is handpicked from the saffron crocus flower and comes with a hefty price tag compared to other spices. The good thing about saffron is that a little goes a long way. Although the flavour is hard to describe, you always know it when you taste it!
Saffron can be found in many grocery stores and can also be ordered online.
Rosewater is exactly what the name implies: water that is infused with rose petals. Rosewater has been used for centuries in Middle Eastern and Indian cuisines. It can be used to add a hint of floral taste to both savoury and sweet dishes. Desserts flavoured with rosewater are very popular in Persian baking.
You can find rosewater in many grocery stores, including Persian and Indian supermarkets. It can also be ordered online.
If you let the syrup boil for too long, it runs the risk of becoming too thick. A thick syrup will not soak into your cake and will be sticky.
Keep an eye on your syrup when you’re letting it boil. You shouldn’t have to leave it on the boil for any longer than 5 minutes.
It might seem strange to use olive oil for baking, given its more typical savoury uses, but you can absolutely use in the place of other cooking oils.
What I would say, is to use a ‘light’ olive oil, which would be the pure olive oil and not virgin or extra virgin. Pure olive oil tends to be a lower quality than the other oils, although it makes a great substitute for other cooking oils. Save the virgin and extra virgin oils for drizzling over your salads or pasta.
You’ll want to prepare this cake at least a few hours before you wish to serve it to allow time for the cake to greedily absorb all of the warm syrup.
Check out these other simple cake recipes:
Share your baking!
If you make this cake recipe, be sure to leave a comment. I love hearing from you! Also, if you make this recipe, I’d love for you to share your photos on Instagram! Remember to use the hashtag #bakersbookshelf.
If you’re looking for a simple cake that’s a little bit different than your usual vanilla and chocolate, then I encourage you to give this pistachio rose cake a try!
Pistachio Rose Cake (Persian Love Cake)
Equipment
- 8 inch spring form pan
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- 6 tablespoon olive oil, light
- 1 cup sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup Greek yogurt, (or another thick yogurt of your choice)
- 2 tablespoon rosewater
- 2 teaspoon cardamom, ground
- 1 cup almond flour
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup semolina flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 handful almonds, sliced
Honey Rose Syrup
- ½ cup honey
- ½ cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoon rosewater
- ½ teaspoon saffron, threads or ground
- 2 tablespoon pistachios, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C)
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, melted butter and oil. Give everything a good whisk until creamy and the sugar is fully incorporated.
- Whisk your eggs in one at a time. Continue whisking until everything is emulsified.
- Whisk in your yogurt until everything is combined.
- Gently stir in the rosewater and ground cardamom.
- Again, with a light hand, whisk in the almond, all-purpose, and semolina flours until combined.
- Add your baking powder and a pinch of salt and stir everything together.
- Pour the cake batter into your prepared pan. The batter should be light and fluffy.
- Scatter a handful of almond slices over the top your cake.
- Bake your cake for 30 – 40 minutes. A cake tester should come out clean and the top of your cake will be golden brown.
Honey Syrup – while your cake is baking, you can get on with making the golden syrup.
- Pour the rose water into a small bowl and sprinkle over the saffron. This will allow the saffron to infuse the rose water while you make the rest of the syrup.
- In a small pot, over medium heat, combine the honey and the orange juice and bring it to a boil.
- Lower your heat to a simmer and let the syrup gently bubble away for 5 minutes. The syrup should thicken slightly.
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the rose water/saffron.
- Add your pistachios.
Final Step
- You’re now going drench your cake in the scented syrup. Both your cake and syrup should be warm for this step.
- Poke holes all over the cake with a toothpick or sharp tip of a kitchen knife. The holes will help the syrup to soak down through the cake.
- Pour the syrup all over the cake (in the cake tin) and allow it to really soak into the cake. Leave it for a minimum of 2 hours and up to overnight.
- When you’re ready to serve the cake, remove it from the springform pan and cut into wedges.
- This cake will keep fresh in an airtight container for 3 days. If you’d prefer it to last a little longer, you can keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days.
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