Persian Love Cake

Last Saturday I made the aforementioned Persian Love Cake for a friend before she moved away. Wendy said, "You're baking the love cake for a girl?" Yes, in fact, for one of my dearest friends, who was involved with the curious incident of the stapler in Jell-O, dinner parties, baking escapades, and introducing me to amazing Persian and Indian foods.

It was a chiffon cake, which has a really light texture, more similar to angel food cake than your typical butter cake. An angel food cake uses only egg whites (no yolks) and doesn't use any added fats like butter, oil, or dairy. A chiffon cake uses egg whites and yolks and oil. For both cakes you have to be careful to whip the egg whites long enough or they won't have that trademark fluffy texture and rise. For the chiffon cake, I whipped the whites to marshmallow fluff consistency, then stirred one-third of the whites into the yolk mixture to lighten it, then gently folded in the rest.


The creamy frosting for this cake had saffron and rose water in it. Very delicious. It also had rose petals on top which were painted with egg white and sugar to give them a sheen. And while the poor lighting in my house made it look a little radioactive in photos, it was a pretty cake.


I love the strong cardamom flavor in this cake. And yes, those rose petals and pistachios on top are edible. I think the cake was a hit with Gul's family. This is a good one to add to the repertoire.