(Almost) Paleo Persian Love Cake – A Gift to Brittany’s Supporters

You did it! All you wonderful donors, shares and prayers. You all helped push to the half-way mark to $25,000 for Brittany Dangerfield. A little over $15,000 total have been donated. Hundreds of donations. A little under 1,000 shares via Gofundme alone. Thousands of faith-filled prayers. Hundreds of words of encouragement and support. The outpouring of your love and support has been overwhelming and humbling. Speaking of love…

I wanted to share my love and gratitude for all of you! I promised a special gift for all of you for helping reach the halfway mark! My gift to you is… !!! (Almost) Paleo Persian Love Cake!!!

The lore behind the Persian Love Cake says that a woman fell in love with a Persian prince and wanted to make him fall in love with her. So she made this exotic cake (filled with herbs and flavorings thought to be aphrodisiacs).

Now I’m not trying to make anyone fall in love with me. But I do want to share my love and gratitude with you. Food is a love language for me (turns out there’s more than 5 love languages). And having my never-before-published secret, Camilla-safe Persian Love Cake, and sharing it with others, is … LOVE!

You’ll see in my notes that I haven’t quite yet perfected this recipe. I haven’t yet figured out exactly how much coconut flour to use, so start small!

It’s almost paleo because it is grain free, sucrose free, but not 100% lactose free. I used heavy cream so as to keep the lactose within a tolerable level for me. So it’s nearly lactose-free, but not quite. If you absolutely cannot have lactose or whey protein, skip this recipe or replace the heavy cream with coconut cream instead. However you end up adapting it to fit your needs (or wants), I hope you feel – and taste – my deep appreciation for all you have done for my friend, sister, and hero Brittany Dangerfield.

Paleo Persian Love Cake

Cake

• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp paleo baking powder
• 2 1/2 cups almond flour (I use this)
• 4 tsp. coconut flour (try halving it – it was too thick the last time I experimented)
• ¼ tsp. ground cardamom
• 8 eggs (separate egg whites from yolks)
• 3/4 cup (+ ¼ cup for egg whites) cup honey
• 1/2 cup oil
• ¼ cup finely grated peeled zucchini

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease two 8’ or 9’ diameter cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Combine almond flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.

In a small bowl, combine egg yolks, oil, lemon peel, and cardamom and mix until smooth. Pour egg yolk mixture and ½ the honey into large bowl with dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.

In another small bowl, beat egg whites until they form a soft peak. Add remaining honey and mix until stiff peaks are formed.

Gently fold egg whites into the large bowl with the batter. Pour batter into each cake pan evenly.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Allow to cool 10 minutes, then remove from pan and place onto a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

• 2 ½ cups chilled heavy whipping cream
• pinch of real saffron threads
• 1 tsp rose water
• honey to sweeten

In a small sauce pan, bring ½ cup of heavy cream and saffron threads to a boil. Remove and let steep for 20 minutes, then cool in the fridge until completely chilled. (I usually do this step the night before I make the cake, and let it cool in the fridge overnight.)

In a medium bowl, combine saffron cream, remaining heavy cream, rose water and honey. Whip until it forms a stiff peak. Frost the cooled cake and enjoy a full meal guilt-free! (Who needs a main course anyway?)