Peace One Day's Love Cake

By Great British Chefs
This wonderfully simple cake is a Sri Lankan delicacy made with love at birthdays or special occasions. A legacy from the Portuguese rule in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), this cake is a great combination of dried fruit, nuts…
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Time and servings

Total time
Prep time
Cooking time

Ingredients

16 total
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 tbsp of rose water
  • 1 tsp of cardamom, ground
  • 250 g of semolina
  • 50 g of glace cherries
  • 25 g of crystalised stem ginger
  • 150 g of unsalted butter
  • 350 g of caster sugar
  • 3 tbsp of honey
  • 1 orange, the zest of
  • 1 lemon, the zest of
  • 1 tsp of nutmeg, grated
  • 200 g of unsalted cashew nuts, coarsley chopped
  • 25 g of mixed peel
  • 1 dusting of icing sugar
  • 1 tsp of ground cinnamon

Method

9 steps
  1. Step 1

    Preheat the oven to 150˚C/300˚F and line a 25 x 30 cm (10 x 12 in) cake tin with baking paper.

  2. Step 2

    Dice 150g of unsalted butter and leave in a warm place to soften.

  3. Step 3

    Once soft, cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

  4. Step 4

    Add in the eggs, one at a time and beat well.

  5. Step 5

    Add honey, rose water, zest, nutmeg, cardamom and cinnamon. Use a spatula to gently fold through

  6. Step 6

    Next fold through the cashew nuts, semolina, glacé cherries, mixed peel and crystalized ginger until combined. Do not over mix.

  7. Step 7

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

  8. Step 8

    Allow the cake to cool in the tin for about 20 minutes.

  9. Step 9

    Turn out of the tin, and when completely cool dust with icing sugar.