This cake is a blast of Middle Eastern flavours, think Turkish Delight, nutty pistachios, cooling yoghurt and sweet floral honey. I have taken inspiration from both Yotam Ottolenghi and Rachel Allen for this recipe. They both use rose, yoghurt and citrus incredibly well together in their dessert recipes.
I have loosely based my version on the Persian Love Cake, a deliciously sweet cake that is traditionally made with semolina or ground almonds, with notes of spice, orange blossom or rose throughout. I have omitted the semolina, almonds and spice, however, to create a simple all-in-one yoghurt cake flavoured with lime. This is similar to my marmalade yoghurt cake from last winter, using limes instead of orange and lemon, and adding sweetness with honey. It is a simple and unfussy loaf, with a few extra flourishes for added flavour. I love a loaf cake, they are straightforward to put together and can be perfectly portioned for teatime.
Sometimes, these kinds of cakes are soaked and bathed in a sticky syrup, which injects even more sticky sweet flavour into them, but most crucially, keeps them moist and fresher for longer. Here, I’ve made a simple lime and honey mixture to drizzle over the hot cake, which soaks down into the cake as it cools. The lime and honey give both tart sourness and floral sweetness and balance perfectly in the cake. The yoghurt and oil (instead of butter) in this recipe also help to retain moistness, so you can omit the syrup step if it isn’t your jam.
The final embellishment is an old-school icing drizzle studded with vibrant green pistachios and rose petals that look like little jewels and pop perfectly against the pale snowy white icing.
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The cake will keep for a few days in an airtight container, but you can also freeze the loaf for a later date, un-iced. Leave it to defrost for a few hours before serving, or cut it into slices and freeze the portions individually. You can also treat the loaf like any other Madeira cake and use any leftover or slightly stale pieces in trifles or for French toast.
