Persian Love Cake

Ingredients

• 7¾ ozsugarbeaten with the eggs until fluffy
• 4eggslarge, at room temperature
• ½ cupoilneutral or light olive oil
• 2⅔ tbsprose waterfor the batter, optionally also for glaze or syrup
• 1 tspcardamomgreen, ground
• 6⅔ ozflour
• 2 tspbaking powder
• 1 pinchsalt
• 2 tbspsaffronground and bloomed in hot water; for batter, glaze or syrup
• 1 ozpistachioschopped or slivered, for topping
• dried rose petalsedible, for decoration
• 2 tbspOrange blossom waterfor the batter (optional)
• 2⅛ ozpowdered sugarfor the saffron glaze (optional)
• ½ cupHoneyfor the soaking syrup (optional)
• ¼ cupOrange juicefor the soaking syrup (optional)

Method

1. Prepare oven and saffronHeat the oven to 345 °F and grease your tin or line it with baking paper. Pour a little hot water over the ground saffron and leave it to steep until the liquid turns a deep golden yellow.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugarBeat the room-temperature eggs with the sugar until pale and fluffy and noticeably increased in volume.
3. Add oil and aromaticsPour in the vegetable oil in a thin stream, then stir in the rose water and ground cardamom.
4. Fold in the dry ingredientsAdd the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt, and fold them in only until no dry flour remains; overmixing will make the cake dense.
5. Bake the cakePour the batter into the tin, smooth the top and bake for about 35 minutes, until a wooden skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean.
6. Cool and turn outLet the cake cool briefly in its tin on a wire rack, then carefully turn it out.
7. Make the saffron glazeStir the powdered sugar with enough of the saffron water to make a smooth, pourable glaze, and spoon it over the cake.
8. Decorate with pistachios and petalsWhile the glaze is still wet, scatter over the pistachios and dried rose petals so they stay in place.

Tips and variations

Instead of the glaze, you can soak the cake in a warm syrup of honey, orange juice, rose water and saffron: prick the cake all over, pour the syrup on top and leave it to soak for several hours or overnight. For a variation, add 2 tbsp orange blossom water to the batter and bake the cake in a bundt tin. As muffins, the little cakes need 18 to 20 minutes; for these, milk, saffron and pistachios go straight into the batter. For a richer version, make the batter with ghee, Greek yoghurt, almond flour and semolina, bake it in a springform tin and scatter it with flaked almonds. To serve, wait until the glaze has set before cutting, then use a sharp knife to divide the cake into twelve slices.