Persian love cake with fresh nutmeg

I’m pretty sure I know why this is called Persian love cake – because everyone who eats it loves it and has seconds! I made this and the Basque burnt cheesecake for our Beer ‘n Books club and this one was the stand out. It’s super easy and keeps well too, I snacked on the left overs the next morning while the kettle was boiling and then poof it was gone. Using fresh nutmeg is key – the flavour is super important. Just stare out the window while you’re grating the hard nuggets of nutmeg, it will be done before you know it. I would imagine substituting the nutmeg for ground cardamom or even a tiny dash of rosewater would be good too. All variations I will try, I just need more occasions to bake for others. Who wants to come over for dinner?

Ingredients

  • 3 cups almond meal
  • 1 cup raw sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 120g butter, softened
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 250g Greek yoghurt
  • 1 tbs freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/4 cup pistachios roughly chopped

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180C.  Using your fingers, rub the almond meal, sugars, butter and 1 tsp salt in a bowl until you have coarse crumbs. Tip half the mixture into your lined springform pan* and press the base down with your fingers.
  2. Add egg, yoghurt and nutmeg into the remaining crumb mixture and with a wooden spoon beat together until creamy. Pour into tin, smooth the top and sprinkle the edges with pistachios. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until golden. Cool completely in the pan** before serving with extra yoghurt.

 

* Mine was in use with the cheesecake, hence the photo using a loose bottomed tart tin.

** Since I didn’t line my tin, the butter and sugar had caramelised in the edges so I couldn’t easily disrobe my cake. I warmed it slightly in the often to soften the sides and that worked a treat.

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