FRUIT & FLOWERS LOVE CAKE
It's our fourth wedding anniversary this week. The traditional gifts of the fourth wedding anniversary are flowers and fruit, hence this slightly adapted version of a spicy Persian love cake to celebrate with notes of rose water and cardamom. A wonderful tea cake to enjoy with a nice cuppa.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours
Servings 8 slices
Ingredients
- 275 ml hot English Breakfast tea
- 125 g dried apricots roughly chopped
- 125 g currants
- 150 g sultanas
- 125 g light brown soft sugar
- 10 green cardamon pods
- 75 g pistachios finely ground
- 200 g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp rosewater
- 2 medium eggs beaten
- For the icing
- 150 g icing sugar
- pink food colouring optional
- 1 - 1 1/2 tbsp water
Instructions
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Pour the tea into a medium bowl and add the dried fruit and sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar, then leave to soak overnight.
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Preheat oven to 150°C Line a cake tin with greaseproof paper.
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Bash the cardamom pods in a pestle and mortar, pick out seeds and discard the husks then grind the seeds to a powder. Add the cardamom with the flour and pistachios into a large bowl and mix. Add the soaked fruit, the rosewater and the eggs and give it all a good stir.
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Scrape mixture into prepared tin, level and bake for 1hr 20-1hr 30min until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in tin for 5min, remove from tin and cool completely on a wire rack.
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Transfer cooled loaf to a board; remove parchment. Sift icing sugar into bowl and mix in about 1½tbsp cold water to make a thick but spreadable consistency (you may need a drop more water). Dye pink with food colouring, if using. Spread over top of cake, so it dribbles down sides. Scatter over pistachios and rose petals, if using.
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Allow to set before serving in slices.
