Based on two variations on Persian Love Cake, this Persian Love Bundt cake is the perfect sweet treat to serve up on Valentines Day.
A tale of two loves
Persian Love Cake is all over the internet (Pinterest in particular…) but for such a famous cake no one seems to know where it originally came from with some sites suggesting it was only first published in 2005.
I’m a sucker for the history behind different dishes and if there’s a romantic tale or tragedy behind its construction then even better! So, with a name like Persian Love Cake I expected there to be a tale of love, passion and perhaps even a bit of lust involved.
The best I could find was the following courtesy of ChocolateChalk.com:
a French woman fell in love with an Iranian prince and created this cake to show her feelings for him. However, she was unaware of his severe allergy to one of spices she has used in the cake and he died on the spot after only a few bites
Note to self: re-check OH’s allergies before baking for him…there’s a lesson for us all there!
Some of the stories I came across were a little happier but who doesn’t like a bit of tragedy. It’s no Romeo and Juliet but I guess it will have to do!
A tale of two cakes
It would seem however that for every version of the story behind the cake there is a different recipe.
The two biggest variations being the ingredients for the sponge. Some say that Persian Love Cake is made from a chiffon sponge spiked with the flavours of cardamom and pistachio, topped with light, rose flavoured cream. Others say its a much more dense cake made from ground almonds instead of flour. This second variation is often dusted with icing sugar and topped with rose petals and chopped nuts.
It would seem just like love itself Persian Love Cake comes in many forms. So I decided to break the mould and come up with my very own Persian Love Bundt which is a bit of a mix of both!
A Valentines Day Treat
The exotic, aromatic flavours of rose, cardamom and pistachio are bound to stir up a few emotions making this recipe the perfect sweet treat this Valentine’s Day.
I baked this cake to celebrate another special occasion, the engagement of my big sister Niki and her partner Chris! It’s the perfect cake for a romantic celebration!
Who will you bake your Persian Love Bundt for?
Persian Love Bundt – The Recipe
Ingredients Instructions Notes 1. Use a food processor on the 'pulse' setting to chop the pistachios quickly. 2. The batter is quite wet. Don't panic! It's meant to be like that.
Get the look!
When you make this cake your kitchen will be filled with the heady aromas of spice, citrus and roses. If you other half isn’t already swarming around you like a bee around honey they will be when they can smell this cooking.
This year as well as nibbling on slices of cake and sipping herbal tea, we’ll be celebrating Valentine’s Day in the not so traditional style of the Chinese New Year parade in central London which just happens to fall on the same day. We never have been a very traditional couple – always trying to break the rules! It will be nice however to get out of the house and let someone else cook dinner!
How will you be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year? Do you cook for your loved one on special occasions? I’d love to hear in the comments below!
This cake sounds utterly delicious and your photos give it justice – very vibrant and evocative! I have a bundt tin too, but its not as swirly as yours so maybe an excuse to buy a new one before attempting a love cake like this!
Thanks Ceri 🙂 I was pretty pleased with how the photos came out and that my sister and her fiancé loved it!!! You sound a lot like me too…I almost bought a new bundt tin just for this cake…I feel like I need a different tin for each recipe :-p
Well that story had a hilariously tragic twist I was not expecting! I’ve actually never seen this cake around before, but it’s gorgeous! Citrus and rosewater is such a great combo. I bet your sister and her fiance loved this. That’s so sweet of you to make it for them!
Awww thanks Tracy 🙂 I love the story too :-p it’s certainly not a classic love story hehehe but you’re right citrus and rose is a beautiful combo which this cake takes to a whole new level. You should give it a go!
First, what a beautiful cake. It’s really lovely. 2nd – what an interesting story — check allergies for sure!
Love the backstory, even if it’s perhaps not very old! And your bundt looks stunning, not least because of those gorgeous roses!
What a great story! The cake is absolutely gorgeous!
How very odd, just before I commented I was reading about the backstory to this cake. Your take on it looks immense!
What a coincidence 🙂 I’ve seen so many different variations but was very pleased how mine turned out, I’m glad you like it 😀
This cake looks amazing! I think I may have to try to make this too!
You definitely should Sam! Let me know how it goes 🙂
Such a beautiful cake! Love the ingredients list too!
Thanks April. It is certainly full of amazing spices and aromatics! A real treat!
What a beauty!! I would certainly fall for someone who gave me a cake like that 🙂 it sounds delicious Emma
Awwww Lucy that’s so sweet 😉 bookmark it for the other half? :-p
I love the flavours in this as much as I love the name 🙂 Truly a gorgeous cake.
Thank you so much Lucy it is a rather special ingredients list! Well worth it!
Wowee Emma, this is absolutely stunning! Enough to blow the socks off anyone’s valentine, and what incredible photos too – hope you’re super-proud of this one!!
Thanks Kate. I was really pleased with how this one turned out!
Thanks for a great recipe! Made it for my daughter on Valentine’s Day. Wish I could send you a pic, it is so pretty! Cheers.
Awesome 😀 if you have twitter or Facebook you can always send it to me there! The Facebook page is named after the blog ad my twitter handle is @KitchenGoddess3. I would love to see it 🙂
Great you mentioned the story! It was unknown to me 🙂 a bit sad but hey… I think the guy had a great last dessert and thought! Awesome photography too!
Thanks Simon 🙂 I was quite proud with how the photos turned out means a lot to me!
What a crazy love story that is. Love learning about food history!
Me too Christine! 🙂 makes it all the more interesting!
What a beautiful cake! I love the flavors as well!
Thank you so much Gwen 🙂 that means a lot!
Love the photos! What an adorable cake and a great story to go with it. Though I will certainly check for any allergies before serving. 🙂
Haha thanks AnneMarie ! We can all learn a lesson from this love story 😉
*Squeal* it’s so pretty! Oh what glorious photographs and the cake looks bootiful 😀 I can’t stand rose water (I swear I can detect it’s presence at a concentration of 1 part per million 😉 ) but there is so much going on here that I love I bet it would be superb without it 😀
Thanks Jo you’re very sweet 🙂 you probably could leave the rose water out. Perhaps replace it with orange blossom instead? Let me know if you do tweak it! Would be interested to see how it turns out
Beautiful cake.
Can I use ordinary milk instead of almond milk ?Have all the ingredients apart from this one.
Making it tomorrow. Thank you
Hi Kathryn! Normal milk will work just fine 🙂 enjoy!
This cake looks amazing! I want to make a 4 layer cake for the bottom tier of a wedding cake, would this recipe work? Or would it be too heavy? Thanks!
Hi Tina. I’m no experts at wedding cakes but provided you were using dowel rods between your layers I think it would be fine 😀 what a lovely idea!! And good luck!
Hi
I made this cake last week. It was lovely, but something seemed missing. Should there be butter in this recipe? There is no mention of it in the recipe or directions, but I did notice butter was mentioned as a tag.
I’m about to try them again, and wonder if this would help to make a more tender cake.
Thanks!
Hi Kelley. I hope you’re well! Thank you for thr feedback on the cake. I don’t make mine using butter – the yogurt brings many of the same properties but is more acidic which is true to the more authentic recipe. By all means try it with butter and let me know your thoughts!