Persian Love Cake

 

After hearing about and seeing the combination of rose + pistachio + cardamom several times (hi Great British Baking Show!) I decided I really wanted to try it for myself, and settled on this cake while looking for recipes because it seemed relatively simple to make. I already know I like cardamom and I'm still trying to figure out how to use rose flavor in cooking and baking, and I thought this would be a low-risk way to try it out.

I am so pleased with how it turned out. The almond flour gives it this lovely plush texture. The contrast of sweet glaze + salted pistachios was really great. It was sweet but not too sweet, you could taste the rose but were not overwhelmed by it. It was my favorite thing at the tea party I served it at and I will definitely be making it again.

Notes:

• The original recipe calls for an 8-inch round pan. I made it in an 8-inch square pan and cut it into 16 2x2 inch squares for a tea party. The cake squares surprisingly did not dry out much at all despite being cut and uncovered for ~6 hours before serving.
• I couldn't find the rose water brand that was recommended, but I did find Ziyad brand rose water at the Asian grocery store and it worked well. Amazon reviews suggest it is low quality though so if you can find better you should probably use that instead.
• The glaze hardens quickly so you want to work fast if you want it to be smooth, and you may need to push the rose petals and pistachios in a little bit to get them to stick.
• You might like to make additional glaze if you're cutting the cake into small pieces like I did, especially if you want to cover the entire top of each piece. It didn't look like enough to me but it tasted like just enough. It thickened pretty quickly while I was pouring it so you may need to microwave it a few times.
• I omitted the candied ginger because I'm not a big fan of it, and I didn't miss it.
• I got the dried edible rose petals from a health food/alternative medicine type store that sells dried herbs by weight.

RECIPE: Persian Love Cake