Saturday, March 24, 2012

Birthday Love



The tradition in my family has always been the family recipe chocolate cake for birthdays and celebrations. This year I decided to try something new and found a recipe for a Persian Love Cake (recipe from epicurious.com, from Bon Appetit June 2005).




Step 1: The Garnish
this was my first attempt at caddied rose petals
1 egg white
granulated sugar
petals from organic roses


Lightly beat the egg white until frothy
Brush egg white on petals and sprinkle with sugar
I brushed and sugared one side of each petal and then went back and did the second side
Leave them on a drying rack to dry. This took a lot longer than I expected so doing this the night before is a good idea




Step 2: The Cake
turn on the oven to 325 and prepare cake pans by putting parchment in the bottom and buttering completely.

Mix together dry ingredients
1 cup cake flour
7 Tbl baker's (superfine) sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix together wet ingredients
3 egg yolks
6 Tbl water
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1/4 tsp cardamom seeds (removed from pods)

Combine the 2 mixtures and mix until smooth

make a meringue
3 egg whites
7 Tbl baker's (superfine) sugar

Fold the meringue in to the batter mixture, divide into the two cake pans and bake for about 25 minutes

Step 3: The Frosting
put 1/2 cup cream and a pinch of saffron on the stove, when it begins to simmer remove it from the heat and let it sit for 20 minutes, then chill in the fridge

Beat together
2 cups of cream
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp rose water

when peaks form strain in the saffron cream and beat until peaks form again
Frost the cake and decorate with candied rose petals and unsalted pistachios
If you are not serving immediately store in the fridge



I'm usually not a fan of whipped cream frosting but it was perfect for this cake. If you make it be sure to have lots of people to eat it because it does not keep well for very long.

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