Sri Lankan Love Cake

Spread the love around this holiday Season with a Sri Lankan Love Cake!

Ingredients

50g of glacé cherries
150g of unsalted butter
350g of caster sugar
6 eggs
3 tbsp of honey
2 tbsp of rose water
1 orange, zest only
1 lemon, zest only
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground cinnamon
200g of cashew nuts, unsalted, roughly chopped (optional)
250g of semolina, coarse
25g of mixed peel
25g of crystallised stem ginger
icing sugar for dusting

Directions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 150˚C/gas mark 2 and line a 20 x 30cm (10 x 12 inches) cake tin with baking paper

Step 2

Dice the butter and leave in a warm place to soften. Once soft, cream the sugar and butter in a bowl using a wooden spoon, until light and fluffy
* 150g of unsalted butter
* 350g of caster sugar

Step 3

Add in the eggs, one at a time and beat well. Add the honey, rose water, orange and lemon zest, nutmeg, cardamom and cinnamon. Use a spatula to gently fold through
* 6 eggs
* 3 tbsp of honey
* 2 tbsp of rose water
* 1 orange
* 1 lemon
* 1 tsp ground nutmeg
* 1 tsp ground cardamom
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Step 4

Next fold through the cashew nuts, semolina, glacé cherries, mixed peel and crystalized ginger until combined. (If you are not using cashew nuts, replace with 200g extra semolina.) Do not over mix as this will ruin the final texture of the cake
* 200g of cashew nuts
* 250g of semolina
* 50g of glacé cherries
* 25g of mixed peel
* 25g of crystallised stem ginger

Step 5

Turn into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 1 hour or until a pale golden colour on top. The cake comes out best in a slow-cook process and should ideally feel chewy on top and moist in the middle

Step 6

Allow the cake to cool in the tin for about 20 minutes. Turn out of the tin, dust with icing sugar and serve
* icing sugar for dusting