Love Cake

Submitted by Chef #766085

"A delicious blend of fruit and spices. A very popular cake in Sri Lanka, Love Cake is made for special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. It is a recipe which has its roots in colonial times, when, first the Portuguese and then the Dutch colonized Ceylon ( as it was then called)"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 80 pieces
• Serves: 80

ingredients

• 7 eggs, yolks and whites separated
• 1 lb caster sugar
• 125 g butter
• 8 ounces semolina, roasted
• 8 ounces raw cashews, finely chopped
• 8 ounces pumpkin, preserve
• 2 tablespoons rose water (optional)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1⁄2 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground mace or 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1⁄4 teaspoon almond essence
• 2 tablespoons brandy (optional) or 2 tablespoons rum (optional)

directions

1. Grease and line a 20 cm (8 inch) square tin with 2 thicknesses of greaseproof paper.
2. Brush inner paper with melted butter.
3. Soften butter and mix with semolina.
4. Beat the egg yolks and caster sugar until thick and creamy.
5. Add semolina and butter mixture and beat until well mixed.
6. Add in the cashews, pumpkin preserve, rose water, honey, lemon rind and spices. Set aside.
7. Beat egg whites until they hold firm peaks and fold into the mixture.
8. Add the almond essence and brandy (optional).
9. Pour the mixture into prepared tin and bake in moderately slow oven (Oven temperature 150 celsius/300 Farenheit) until cake is evenly golden brown on top and feels firm to the touch.
10. Remove from oven and leave in the tin till quite cool before turning out.
11. Cut into small squares and serve as is or with custard or vanilla ice cream.

Reviews

[dbfly]

Excellent recipe. We have tried many recipes and finally found yours. We knew when we had mixed the ingredients this was the one. We cooked at 300 for 30 minutes then at 250 for about an hour. We droped the temp worried about the top cracking. Next time a little less sugar. But thank you for a wonderful recipe that brought back the flavors of Ceylon.

 

[joelrose]

I just made this cake this evening, I'm only giving 4 stars because the recipe does not specify the actual baking time. And I was wondering if I should really add the 7 egg whites or only 4 of it. I also added 02 TBL spoons of Golden syrup. Anyway the cake started cracking on top when I took it out of the oven. And I don't think you can cut 80 pieces baking in an 8x8 pan. May be 25 pieces. I baked my cake under 300(F) for about 1 hour & 15 min.

 

[sashus]

This is the most delicious cake I have had in my life :)