Sri Lankan Love Cake by Alfred Prasad

Cook: 60 mins

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 and spices.

150 g unsalted butter

350 g caster sugar

6 medium eggs

3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons rose water

Grated zest of 1 orange

Grated zest 1 lemon

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

200g unsalted cashew nuts, chopped coarsely [optional]

250 g coarse semolina

50 g of glacé cherries [can be replaced with wine gums of jelly babies]

25 g of mixed peel

25 g of crystallized stem ginger

Icing sugar to dust

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This recipe is brought to you by Ocado, Great British Chef Alfred Prasad and non-profit organisation Peace One Day. Ocado is encouraging families across the UK to unite for peace in the kitchen. The tasty initiative calls for mums and dads and their little sous chefs to bake and share their cake with family and friends.

Cooking Time
60 minutes

Main ingredients
Fruit, Eggs, Sugar

Recipe Type
Party Food, Cakes & Baking, Cake Stall

Cuisine
Indian

Level of Difficulty
Easy