Vegan Persian Love Cake (Almond, Orange, Cardamom & Rose Cake)
Whether you’re celebrating an anniversary or simply want to make something special for your loved ones, this delicious vegan Persian love cake is definitely worth trying!
Itโs not only stunning to look at but tastes amazing too. Moist, perfectly dense and balanced with orange, cardamom, almond in the cake, and rose and pistachio in the glaze. You canโt go wrong with that combination.
Easy vegan cake with the show stopping looks
It looks romantic and decadent, but youโll be pleasantly surprised by how straightforward it is to make. Youโll need 25 minutes to prepare it, and the rest you can leave to the oven to do.
The glaze takes 30 seconds to make, and topping it is the fun part!
So, if you want to have another delicious cake recipe under your belt to impress others, this should be bookmarked or pinned for later use.
Why is it called a Persian love cake?
The cake’s origin goes way back to when a Persian woman fell in love with a Prince and wanted to win over his love. She set out on a mission to bake a cake with magical powers that would make him fall in love with her.
With a name like Persian love cake, you would think that the magical spell worked! Unfortunately, nowhere has the definitive conclusion of what happened to this romance.
Disclaimer: I don’t claim that this cake will make anyone fall in love with you, but you can always try ๐
Tips for making this rose cake
- If you canโt find cardamom powder, remove the seeds from the cardamom pod and turn them into a fine powder using your spice or coffee grinder.
- Some rose water is stronger than others so make sure you adjust to your taste. If using rose extract, start with ยฝ teaspoon for the icing and add the rest of the liquid either by using water or plant milk.
- Please make sure you cool the cake completely before glazing it as otherwise, the glaze will run, and you’ll end up with a bit of a mess.
- It’s important to use almond flour for this cake, not almond meal. Thereโs a difference. The flour is finely ground which ensures the cake isn’t too dense.
- This cake can be made ahead of time for up to 2-3 days and stored at room temperature in an airtight container or with a cover like foil or cling wrap. If your environment is on the warmer side, store it in the fridge.
- The cake is best consumed within a few days but will store at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.
This cake is:
- Moist
- Spongey
- Rich
- Floral
- Citrusy
- Fragrant
- Perfect amount of spice (none of the spices overpower the flavour, but work in synergy with one another)
- Ideal for Valentineโs Day, anniversaries, or birthday celebrations!
Itโs already winning over hearts
I made this cake a couple of times through the testing process, and it only needed minor tweaking. Iโve shared it with about a dozen people, and they all loved it!
All age groups have tried it, and it has been a massive hit. My husband, Michael, said that itโs the best cake heโs had in a long time. My neighbours said that itโs the best cake that Iโve made to date, and that says a lot since theyโve probably tried 80% of the cakes on this website. So it seems to win over everyoneโs hearts!
If you like the sound of the flavour combination, Iโm sure youโll fall in love too!
Other recipes youโll love:
- Easy Rose and Pistachio Chocolate Truffles
- Rose and Chocolate Raw Slice
- 4-Ingredient Vegan Ginger Chocolate Truffles
- Vegan Tiramisu (Gluten-Free)
- No-Bake Vegan Chocolate Mousse Cake
- Chocolate Orange Cake (Gluten-Free)
If you try this recipe, let me know! We’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below. If you want to go that extra mile, tag us on Instagram or share your photo of the recipe on Pinterest.
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Vegan Persian Love Cake (Almond, Orange, Cardamom & Rose Cake)
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Bake Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes*
- Yield: 1 8-inch cake (8-10 slices)
Description
This Persian love cake is perfect for celebrations! It’s a moist and dense cake beautifully balanced with orange, cardamom, almond in the cake, and rose and pistachio in the glaze.
Ingredients
- 1 medium-sized orange (approx 210g)
Dry:
- 1 cup / 140g plain flour
- 1 cup / 100g almond flour (not almond meal)
- 1 cup / 225g granulated sugar (raw or white cane sugar are best)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cardamom powder*
- ยฝ teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
Wet:
- โ cup / 70ml neutral oil
- ยผ cup / 60g vegan yoghurt (plain or vanilla are best)
Glaze:
- ยพ cup / 90g icing sugar (aka confectioners sugar)
- 1 tablespoon rose water*
Decorate:
- Food grade rose petals
- Pistachios, chopped
- Orange zest (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (355 degrees Fahrenheit) line an 8-inch cake tin with parchment paper on the base, and oil the sides. Set aside.
- Place the orange in a small saucepan and cover with water, bring to a boil and cook on high heat for 15 minutes. It’s cooked when you can pierce the orange without too much resistance. Drain the water and set it aside.
- While the orange cooks, in a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.
- To a high-speed blender, add the wet ingredients with the cooked orange. The whole thing including the skin. Blend on high for around 90 seconds until you get a smooth thick liquid. You may have tiny chunks of orange; that is fine.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth out with the back of a spoon or spatula. The batter is pretty thickโBake for 50 minutes – 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Let it cool completely before removing it from the cake tin.
- For the glaze, combine the glaze ingredients and pour it over the cake. The mix is quite thick, so you will have to work quickly before it sets. I like it thick; however, you can thin it out with another teaspoon of liquid if you want it to drip down the sides of the cake more.
- Decorate with rose petals, pistachios and orange zest, and it’s ready to enjoy.
Notes
Cardamom: If you canโt find cardamom powder, remove the seeds from the cardamom pod and turn them into a fine powder using your spice or coffee grinder.
Rosewater: Some rose water is stronger than others, so make sure you adjust to your taste. If using rose extract, start with ยฝ teaspoon for the icing and add the rest of the liquid with water or plant milk.
Please make sure you cool the cake completely before glazing it as otherwise, the glaze will run, and you’ll end up with a bit of a mess.
It’s important to use almond flour for this cake, not almond meal. Thereโs a difference. The flour is finely ground, ensuring the cake isn’t too dense.
Want to make ahead of time? This cake can be made ahead of time up to 2-3 days and stored at room temperature in an airtight container or with a cover like foil or cling wrap. Store it in the fridge if your environment is on the warmer side.
This cake is best consumed within a few days but will store at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.
Time: The time doesn’t include cooling time for cake.
- Diet: Vegan
Hello!
Your recipe looks absolutely delicious. Would love to make this for a friendโs birthday. What natural sweetener can I use instead of white sugar, without altering the texture?
Hi Linda, I certainly would! You could try coconut sugar, however, the colour of the cake will be much darker. I haven’t tried it, so I can’t guarantee the same results, but that’s the closest alternative. Liquid sweeteners won’t work as a direct substitute here. I hope that helps!
Simply amazing!! This has to be the best cake I have made all year. Super easy recipe to follow. I canโt express how much I loved this one thank you for the recipe!
Oh wow! Thank you so much for your lovely review and I’m so happy to hear you loved it! x
I made this recipe as written, except for one thing which may have been a mistake on my part. Though I weighed all the other ingredients, I failed to weigh the orange. I thought my orange was small so I used 1 1/2 oranges cut in half and submerged them in the water to cook.
The cake was STUNNING. I made it in three stoneware mini loaf pans and baked for 40 minutes due to the smaller sized pans.
The cake is so moist and delicious. The only thing is, the reason I went searching for this recipe is because I had it from a bakery a couple of months ago and loved it, and especially because it was vegan.
My cake, though lovely in its own right, was not like the bakery at all. Mine was overpoweringly orangey. I can’t taste the rose, pistachio or almond flavors, just orange-but I do think this is because I used too much weight in oranges.
I will try this again because the cake itself is amazingly moist and beautiful as decorated. It is one of the prettiest cakes ever. I’ll just be sure and weigh my orange first!
Thanks for sharing, Morgen! It probably was a little too much orange if it was overpowering. Persian love cakes vary from recipe to recipe, so they could have also been a bit more heavy-handed with some other ingredients or incorporated others. Let me know how you go next time ๐
How much cardamom do I use if I grind it from the pod. Still 1 tsp? Will the cardamom flavour be too strong? Thank you.
Hi Sue, you’ll want to only grind the seeds inside (remove them from the pod). If it’s freshly ground, use less. Maybe start with half the amount. I haven’t tried it, so I’m not 100% sure sorry. It also depends on how much cardamom you like in desserts ๐
Any recommendations for adapting for cupcakes? I’d love to make this for my coworkers without the mess of plates and cutlery.
I haven’t tried it myself, but it should be fine. Bake them for 30-40 minutes and see if they’re cooked all the way through; if not, bake until the skewer comes out clean. Let me know how they turn out ๐
This cake has been a huge hit in my household. I took a few extra steps by adding 2 tablespoons of rosewater and some bloomed saffron into the cakemix. I’m not a huge fan of glazes so I just sifted some icing sugar on the cake and it turned out great! Persian new years is coming up so I will def make this for my family. Happy new years!
Happy New Year! I’m so glad you all enjoyed it, Bahar! Thank you for your lovely feedback and for sharing your changes x
Absolutely loved how easy and delicious this recipe is! The only modifications I made included a pinch of salt to the batter and to lessen the rose water to 1/2tsp. The first one I ate by myself in less than 24 hours.
So glad you enjoyed it, Sarah! It’s a little addictive, isn’t it? ๐ Thanks for sharing your modifications x
Made this yesterday and everyone is raving about it! How genius to use whole oranges, saves the hassle of grating & squeezing ๐ Awesome creation!
I’m so glad to hear everyone loved it! Thank you for the lovely review x
Can this be made gluten-free?
๐
I haven’t tried it myself, however, you can try and substitute all-purpose gluten-free flour and see how it turns out. It won’t be as light as this one but worth a shot. The other option is to use the base of my chocolate and orange gluten-free cake and follow the rest of the recipe as above otherwise. Let me know how you go!