Persian love cake..and how to court a girl in two steps

 Moral of this recipe: Should have made the taro chiffon cake. I was going to bake a taro chiffon cake. I then realised I needed to buy lots of ingredients in order to bake it. There was no way I could carry all the ingredients home along with my full suitcase on wheels, full environmentally friendly shopping bag and hand bag. Therefore, I decided to bake a Persian love cake and save the chiffon for another time. I figured with such a name (Persian love cake) it must be a great cake. I pictured it as being the kind of cake you could use for courting your potential future husband/wife/significant other.


Should have made the taro chiffon cake. I read some other blogs and everyone who made the Persian love cake had positive experiences. Not me. It turned out to be an expensive cake.

Persian love cake
I found this recipe on the Australian Gourmet Traveller website. It is by Gerard Yaxley from Qöm, which was once (according to Urban Spoon) a Middle Eastern restaurant on the Sunshine Coast.
I used a 20cm diameter spring form tin
I changed the recipe slightly by using my home made natural yoghurt instead of Greek yoghurt and used prunes to decorate the cake instead of crushed pistachio nuts

What you need

• 3 cups almond meal
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 120g butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 250g natural yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
• 6 prunes, stoned and cut in half

What you need to do

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. Line a 20cm diameter spring form tin with baking paper.
3. Combine almond meal, brown sugar, raw sugar, butter and salt in a bowl. Rub the ingredients together with your hands so you have a crumble.
4. Place half of the mixture into the prepared tin. Press the mixture down so that it forms an even layer in the tin.
5. Add eggs, yoghurt and nutmeg to the remaining mixture in the bowl. Combine together.
6. Spoon the yoghurt mixture into the baking tin and smooth the top.
7. Arrange the halved prunes around the edge of the cake.
8. Bake in the oven for 30-60 minutes. Keep your eye on it!
9. Cool the cake in the tin on a wire rack.
10. Serve with yoghurt if you so desire.

For me, the problems started at the 30 minute baking mark. The cake was not baked and remained in the oven for around an hour until it was.

Once baked and cool, I attempted to take the cake out of the spring form tin. I unclipped the side and the rim did not detach from the base. Uh oh.... All the butter and sugar had caramelised where the rim connects to the base. Ugh.

I have since placed the spring form tin into a frying pan full of boiling water, hoping this will dislodge all the clumps of caramelised butter and sugar. Otherwise, I am off to buy another tin:(

I recommend lining the tin with one big piece of baking paper, as opposed to lining the base and then the sides. As in, form a kind of bowl with the baking paper in the spring form tin. This way no butter/sugar will seep out of the baking paper 'bowl' and ruin your tin. I hope I do not have to throw my tin away.

The cake looks quite pretty and tastes a bit meh and sugary for me. Though my dad and other family members enjoyed it. The base is pretty much almond meal and sugar and it is not really my thing. Though if you like crunchy, caramelised things that stick to your teeth, then I suspect you will like this cake.

I was disappointed. To be honest I would have preferred a Greens chocolate packet cake. Oh well...I will have to make the chiffon cake. That will cheer me up:)

I would not make this cake again and there is no way I would use it to court any potential husbands. I do not think it would work. I predict any potential husbands would take one bite and then venture off to the shop in search of a Greens packet chocolate cake....where they would meet a pretty 6ft girl also looking for a Greens packet chocolate cake. Goodbye potential husband.

If you found this blog entry by googling courting techniques, then I can share some with you.


How to court/impress a girl in two steps
By Miss Kimbers

Step 1
Save her from something. This 'something' may be a scary barking dog, house fire, the ATO, big spider or a leech...or many leeches....

'Ahhh there's a leech on my shoe! Ahhh there's a leech IN my shoe ahhh and on my leg! WAAAA' said Miss Kimbers

'Never fear Kim. I ate a full breakfast today just so I could be big and strong in order to impress you by saving you from evil leeches.' said Alan as he reached for the closest leech killing thing he could find and picked the leeches from the shoe of Miss Kimbers

Step 2

Buy her something. I recommend a bunny rabbit. Quite a few girls like bunnies. Sweet little fluffy cuddly bunny rabbits:)

Bunny rabbits are also oh so tasty:)

That is how you court/impress a girl:) Easy, no?