Cynthia Shanmugalingam's Love Cake recipe

Love Cake recipe by Cynthia Shanmugalingam

"Love cake is a dense teatime treat, the consistency and golden colour of a blondie, made with cashew nuts, semolina and rosewater. Crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside, the origins of love cake are unclear and often attributed to the Portuguese. I suspect the cake has Arabic rather than European roots, given its similarity to Egyptian babousa and similar sweets eaten all over the Middle East, where instead of cashews they use ground almonds. Traditionally, the recipe requires a lovely pumpkin preserve, a candied winter squash called puhul dosi, but I find with a little extra fragrant spice – cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg – the cake stands up beautifully without it. Whatever the origins, I hope you like it as much as we do in our family. Wrap some up for your friends for a little teatime love."

Rambutan: Recipes from Sri Lanka by Cynthia Shanmugalingam, published by Bloomsbury Publishing. Photography ©Alex Lau

Ingredients

Serves 9–12

250g butter, plus more for greasing

500g caster sugar

6 large organic or free-range eggs, 5 separated into yolks and whites

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cardamom

4 cloves, crushed in a pestle and mortar

1 tsp grated nutmeg

2 tbsp rosewater

2 tbsp honey

300g raw cashews, very finely chopped

250g semolina, lightly toasted in a dry frying pan and cooled

Optional: 1–2 tbsp icing sugar, to serve

How to Make

STEP 1

Preheat the oven to 170°C/Fan 150°C/Gas Mark 31⁄2. Line the base and sides of a 20cm round or square cake tin with baking parchment. Grease the paper with butter.

STEP 2

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Add the whole egg and egg yolks one at a time, beating well before adding the next one. Add the cinnamon, cardamom, crushed cloves, nutmeg, rosewater, honey, chopped cashews and semolina to the bowl. Mix together thoroughly.

STEP 3

In a separate clean mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Scoop a quarter of the egg white mixture into the batter and stir it once. Then fold in all the rest of the egg whites. Be careful not to overmix it at this stage.

STEP 4

Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour, until the cake is golden brown on top. Let it cool in the tin for about 15–20 minutes before slicing and serving dusted with a little icing sugar, if you like