Persian Love Cake has been on my “to bake” list for a while now.
If you haven’t made a Persian Love Cake before, you start by crumbling most of the ingredients together and pressing half of them into a cake tin as the base. Then you add eggs and yogurt to the rest of the crumble and that makes your cake batter that you pour on top of the base.
I find this method really interesting, and have been curious to see how the two layers of the cake bake up.
So when I saw this chocolate love cake recipe, I thought it would be perfect to bake for my family for Easter (I know I’m sharing this late – sorry!).
And we really liked it! Almost everyone in my family went back for seconds. With the mascarpone cream and raspberries that I’ve piled on top it’s barely Persian, but it’s a delicious love cake nonetheless.
It was really easy and quick to make, and it was nice having the two layers within the one cake. I loved the rich and fudgy chocolate cake layer, and the crumble aspect that the almond base brought to the dessert.
Just a little note though: The recipe calls for half brown sugar and half raw (or Demerara) sugar. I found the raw sugar didn’t quite dissolve in the crumble base and was a little too “crunchy”, so I’ll probably try using all brown sugar next time. Others in my family liked the crunch though, so please use whichever you think you’ll prefer.
- FOR THE CAKE:
- 160g unsalted butter, slightly softened and cubed (3/4 cup)
- 2 cups almond meal (200g)
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- ⅔ cup raw sugar (or use all brown sugar, see note above)
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 130g dark chocolate, chopped
- 130g cream
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 130g greek or natural yogurt
- ¾ tsp cinnamon
- ¾ tsp nutmeg
- FOR THE TOPPINGS:
- 150g mascarpone
- 150g heavy cream
- 2 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
- 1 punnet raspberries
- ¼ cup pistachios, roasted and chopped
- Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and grease and line a 9 inch springform tin with baking paper
- To make the cake, put the almond meal, sugars, salt and butter in a medium bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- Put half this mixture into the prepared cake tin and press down to form an even base.
- Place the chocolate and cream in a large metal bowl and place this over a pot of simmering water.
- Stir this occasionally until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is combined.
- Take the chocolate mixture off the heat and using a rubber spatula, beat in the egg, the egg yolk and the yogurt. Then mix in the remaining crumble mixture. Stir in the cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Pour this batter over the crumble base.
- Bake for 35 - 45 minutes, until the cake is set.
- Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan before removing.
- To make the mascarpone cream, whip the mascarpone, cream and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment until thick and fluffy.
- Fit a piping bag with a round nozzle and fill with the mascarpone cream.
- Pipe the cream all over the top of the cake. Arrange the raspberries amongst the dots of cream, and scatter the pistachios over the top.
- Serves 10 -12. Keep refrigerated.
- Happy baking!
Adapted from Adam Liaw via Sunday Life Magazine.