This recipe for Persian Love Cakes has been adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi who offers all sorts of amazing recipes for us to enjoy. This one is from Sweet, which I do not have a copy of. Something to be added to my wish list for sure.
Head straight on to the Recipe For ♥ Persian Love Cakes ♥
Running on empty
When the low / no carb diet became a fad, a friend of mine decided it would be good for her. She was an avid runner, and ran several afternoons a week. But, without the energy carbohydrates provide, she discovered she could no longer run. Which makes perfect sense, as her body didn’t have the fuel it needed. I am totally against any diet like this, especially ones which encourage high fat intake. I really feel if you eat a balanced diet, i.e., everything in moderation, you will be healthy. And I think I have proven the model in our health. Next to come along was intermittent fasting, and now there are 3 day fasts, with people only drinking water. Whereas you can survive without food for 3 days, you cannot thrive! We naturally fast from dinner to breakfast, and I can see no reason to extend that.
Training and eating
If like me, you train in the morning, you will need the wherewithal to do so. I train four days a week before breakfast. But within half an hour of training I have had a nutritious smoothie, with a few added extras. On the morning I have breakfast first, I do my most intense cardio training. And within an hour or so of this, I need food. As this is my baking day, I usually taste test what I have baked.
Persian Love Cakes
When I saw a recipe for Persian Love Cakes, I knew I had to make them. The cakes are best served warm. which made for the best ever after training treat. But, they were perfectly good later that day, and kept well in an airtight container. This recipe contains buckwheat flour which was new to me. According to Yotam, this adds a nutty and slightly sour taste. This was highlighted by the mascarpone added as a frosting.
Take a look at this inspiring recipe for ♥ Persian Love Cakes ♥ from Lavender and Lime #LavenderAndLime Share on X
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
Persian Love Cakes
Ingredients
- 240 g almond flour
- 190 g coconut sugar
- 80 g demerara sugar
- 80 g butter, cubed
- 50 g buckwheat flour
- 160 g thick yoghurt
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 3.75 mls ground nutmeg
- 1.25 mls almond extract
- icing sugar, for dusting
Optional toppings
- mascarpone at room temperature
- pistachio kernels, finely chopped
- pomegranate seeds
- rose petals, finely chopped
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius
- Place the almond flour, coconut sugar, demerara sugar, butter and buckwheat flour into a blender and blitz a few times until the mixture has the consistency of breadcrumbs
- Place 430g of this mixture into a jug then add the yoghurt, eggs, nutmeg and almond extract
- Mix to combine and set aside
- Measure 1 heaped tablespoon of the left over dry mix into each hole of a 6 x mini loaf tin
- Use your fingers or the back of a teaspoon to press the mix into the base of the tin so that it is compact
- fill each hole to the top, with the yoghurt mix, and level off
- Place the tin onto a baking tray, place into the oven and bake for 35 minutes
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins for 30 minutes before turning them out
- Dust with icing sugar, add toppings if you want, and serve
See the links below for blog posts I published on March 6:
- 2022: Apples Never Fall
- 2020: Pea And Spinach Pesto Arancini
- 2019: February 2019 Showcasing In My Kitchen
- 2017: Seed Rolls
- 2016: Commander In Chief
- 2015: Liebster Award V
- 2014: Lemon Syrup Pudding
- 2013: Charles Fox
- 2012: Red Capsicum And Tomato Pasta Sauce
Plus! Plus! Plus! Think about eating very much the way you do! Have always appreciated Ottolenghi altho’ have never owned this particular book. Don’t really look at cakes . . , they just don’t ‘appeal’ but just love your ingredients and am wondering about tastes 🙂 ! Buckwheat and almond flours and yoghurt . . . you can see my nodding my head . . . 🙂 ?
They just sound healthy!
Hi Tandy, I like that this recipe has proper sugar in it. I know you can’t eat sugar but I prefer a small amount of sugar to a substitute. This sounds very nice.
I was using up what I had from previous blog drop offs. I use coconut sugar a lot as I seem to be able to tolerate it much better 🙂
I have Ottolenghi’s & Goh’s “Sweet” and love it – I make a pistachio rose cake from it and it is absolutely divine – these ones sound amazing too!
Thank you Shashi 🙂
I too work out in the morning, but with a mix of HIIT, Weight and a long yoga stretch…then I would devour a steak or two 🙂
Love your mini version of Persian love cakes…easier for portion control and storage.
Again problem with commenting…
I wonder why you are having issues? I have never tried HIIT training, but the yoga stretches have been a daily habit with me for over 40 years 🙂
These sound lovely. I love Ottolenghi! My husband does the intermittent fasting. He thinks it will improve his longevity. 🙄
How long does he fast for?
My wife bought me an Ottolenghi cookbook and I now have three…always interesting flavors and I love learning more about the culture around the recipe as well…this looks great
His books are wonderful, and I am sure you get a lot of use out of them 🙂
Hi Tandy,
Can’t wait to try this recipe, the combination sounds amazing! I have buckwheat flour (the dark and the light, both) which one did you use?
We only get one version here, which is light in colour! I will have to look out for the dark one when we are overseas 🙂
That’s interesting! we only get the darker version (Bob’s Red Mill) I grind the lighter one from buckwheat groats. Here’s the lighter I used https://www.simpleglutenfreekitchen.com/2018/08/buckwheat-zucchini-crepes.html
thanks for sharing!
What a delicious looking cake, and the toppings are my favourite! Loving the use of buckwheat flour, too.
Thanks! It was so delicious 🙂
Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes have certainly become popular and for good reason. These Persian love cakes sound simple and wonderful using healthy ingredients. I agree that a very low carb, high fat diet is not healthy. I tried it for 3 weeks when I was younger and was constipated, had low energy, and irritable. I do intermittent fasting now which means I just don’t eat breakfast until 10:30 or 11:00 and stop eating dinner by 7 pm. I am not hungry in the morning anyway. Of course I don’t train but I do walk every morning for 4 miles. The stevia in the recipe is about 1/2 teaspoon. It is one little packet that is the size they have in restaurant for coffee.
Thanks for letting me know about the Stevia 🙂 A friend recommends that if you want to fast, doing so at night is much better than in the morning. I could not last until 11am without food 😉