Cardamom nut cake

SERVES 8-10 // PREP TIME 15 MINS // COOK 1-1¼ HRS (PLUS COOLING)

A fragrant, nutty cake with a lot of moisture and richness to it. It’s not a Persian love cake, but we couldn’t help throwing a few rose petals on top for a romantic touch.

160 gm softened unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

Plain flour, for dusting

250 gm raw sugar

150 gm almonds, very finely

chopped

65 gm finely chopped walnuts 65 gm finely chopped pistachio nuts, plus extra, coarsely chopped to serve

Seeds from 7 cardamom pods (½ tsp seeds), crushed with a mortar and pestle 4 eggs

150 gm (1¼ cups) almond meal ½ tsp baking powder

80 gm plain yoghurt, well stirred

Rose petals (see note), and small roses, to serve LEMON & ROSE ICING 90 gm (¼ cup) pure icing sugar, sifted

Juice of ½-1 lemon

Few drops of rosewater

1 Preheat oven to 150°C. Butter and flour a 22cm-diameter cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer until pale (6-8 minutes). Stir in nuts and cardamom seeds, then with the motor running, add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in almond meal and baking powder, then fold in yoghurt. Spoon batter into prepared tin and bake until a skewer withdraws clean (1¼-1½ hours). Cool in tin

(15-20 minutes). Carefully turn out onto a plate, then invert onto a wire rack so the original top is facing up. Cool completely.

2 Meanwhile, for lemon and rose icing, stir ingredients in a bowl to combine. Transfer cake to a plate, drizzle with icing and serve topped with rose petals, roses and pistachio nuts.

Note We brushed some of the petals with eggwhite then dusted them with caster sugar and semi-dried them (we let them stand at room temperature for 2 hours) for decoration, but this is optional.

Wine suggestion Sweet Rutherglen muscat.