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Dessert

Sri Lankan Love Cake

A moist cake made with eggs, sugar, semolina, cashews, rose water, honey, lemon rind, mace, cardamom, and optional almond essence.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Sri Lankan Love Cake

Oven150 °C
Timeone hour

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Grease and line a 20 cm square tin with two layers of grease-proof paper.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the yolks and sugar until light and creamy.

  2. Stir in the semolina, cashews, rose water, honey, lemon rind, mace, cardamom, and almond essence (if using).

  3. Beat the egg whites until they form firm peaks.

  4. Fold the beaten egg whites into the mixture and pour the batter into the prepared tin.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake at 150 °C for one hour.

  2. If the top browns too quickly, cover it with greased paper or foil.

  3. Do not use the skewer test; the center will finish moist.

  4. Remove from the oven and leave the cake in the tin until it is quite cold.

  5. Cut the cake into pieces while still in the tin, then lift the pieces out.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

385Calories
13 gProtein
19 gFat
46 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 12 ingredients. The other 4 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cashew1 oz (28g / ~18 nuts)157
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Honey1 tbsp (21g)64
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Cardamom1 tsp ground (2g)6
Semolinanot in our table0
Rosenot in our table0
Waternot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Semolina + nutmegtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together53 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Semolina + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together124 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Rose + honeytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together94 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whipped whites give the cake its light, airy structure, while the yolks add richness.
Caster sugar
Sweetens the batter and, creamed with the yolks, helps trap air for a lighter crumb.
Semolina
Provides the body of the cake, setting into a tender, slightly grainy crumb as it bakes.
Raw cashews
Add fat and a rich, nutty texture that keeps the cake moist.
Honey
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the top brown as it bakes.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air only if beaten to firm peaks and folded in gently. Stirring or deflating them makes the cake dense, so the batter must be folded and poured straight into the tin.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, semolina, rose, honey, lemon, nutmeg):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, semolina, rose, honey, lemon, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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