Traditional Sri Lankan Love Cake Recipe

Traditional Sri Lankan Love cake recipe, made with love and made for loved ones. This is one cake that we can truly call Sri Lankan. This cake is specially made during Christmas time, rich in cashew nuts and puhul dosi also known as pumpkin preserve, Sri Lankan spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, rose water. It’s just so rich & flavourful that it gets quite addictive once you eat it.

My Mum’s Secret Sri Lankan Love cake recipe

As a child growing up, this is one cake my mum made every Christmas and no one, in my opinion, no hotel, no relative, no catering business could beat her love cake. Am I biased because she is my mother? hmmm, maybe but I also truly understand flavours and can tell you when a love cake is good. It’s made with so much love, that even when I make it, I still feel something is missing, and that’s my mothers love that goes into this cake.

Until today when we go home for Christmas, I would ask my mum to make me a huge batch of love cake to take back overseas so I can eat:) although I tell her I am going to distribute it with my friends, I end up eating it all hah hahaha she still thinks I give her love cake to people but how can I when it is soooo good.

I still have memories of my mother making this cake, I wait eagerly till the end to lick the bowl and the batter, mind you my mum’s love cake was loaded with brandy, no wonder I was happy as a kid always hahahhaha. She would start the process about 1 week in advance by hand cutting, not chop!!! but hand cutting the cashew nuts to tiny pieces, then she would hand-cut!!! not grate the lime rind, but hand-cut into tiny pieces.

Then the puhul dosi is also hand cut and she makes a huge batch so you can imagine how many kilos and kilos of cashews, puhul dosi and lime rind gets hand cut. To be honest, I don’t have time to be hand cutting, I simply chop them roughly and grate the lime, probably that’s what’s missing in my cake, that love and passion she puts into her love cake.

When I asked my mum to give me her recipe, she decided to give me new information every time I baked the cake and when I complained that it was not like hers, she would tell me bits and pieces that she would do to get a perfect love cake. So I ended up making 5 cakes to get the perfect texture. Well, she is very protective of her recipe and I am about to give you that secret recipe.

Sri Lankan Love cake history

We all eat love cake but do we know where it really comes from? it is said that this cake was an invention when the Portuguese colonised Sri Lanka. The Portuguese men at that time did not have Portuguese women to marry, so they married the Sinhalese and Tamil women who was the two largest ethnic groups at that time, which was also encouraged by the government in that era.

It is said that this love cake was born as a result of the Sri Lankan women trying to win the hearts of the Portuguese contenders.

We know this cake is influenced by the Portuguese because of the puhul dosi used, which is actually a fruit that originated from Portugal. But Sri Lankan women in that era made this cake using all the spices and nuts that were popular in Sri Lanka and loaded the cake with rose essence, almond essence, cashews and all the spices like cinnamon, nutmeg which was very popular in Sri Lanka making it a bold and truly Sri Lankan cake.

Because this cake was an invention of the Sri Lankan women trying to win the hearts of its contenders, the name ‘love cake’ was born. Just like love, it’s sweet, delicious, rich, highly addictive, it is fragrant and intoxicating therefore the cake definitely lives up to its name.

Traditional Sri- Lankan Love cake recipe ingredients

There are a million recipes on the internet and millions of ways to do this cake. While respecting everyone’s recipes passed down through generations. There are a few ingredients that are compulsory in a Sri Lankan love cake. They are:
Puhul dosi ( pumpkin preserve) is non-negotiable
Cashew nuts – Very important
Flavour essences like vanilla, almond and rose water
Spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg which now comes in a packet called allspice or mixed spice

Different ways to do traditional Sri- Lankan Love cake recipe

Now I have seen, tasted many recipes and some may not use puhul dosi, for me this definitely needs to be there, the taste is not the same without it.

Some recipes are dry and have a butter cake-like texture; that’s definitely not what you want. it needs to be rich, heavy, gooey in the middle and chunky. A little bit of a crusty and burnt top is exactly what you need to expect.

How long in advance to make traditional Sri Lankan love cake?

Now the love cake definitely gets better with time, but unlike the Christmas cake, it cannot be kept for a long time. I make my love cake around the 15th of December, and keep it until the middle of January. But I also use brandy in my love cake, which helps with the shelf life.

How to store traditional Sri Lankan love cake

Store in a cool dry place away from sunlight for up to 4 weeks at room temperature covered in an airtight container. I have actually stored mine for even 2 months, but all climates are different so 4 weeks will be ideal. Don’t refrigerate as it will not be the same.

Sri Lankan Love cake with pumpkin preserve

There are different names for pumpkin preserve, melon candy, puhul dosi. Make sure to buy the one that is dry, not the one that is soaked in syrup. Many countries have this available in speciality Sri Lankan shops. I have heard that in some countries it is hard to find it, I have also seen amazon or eBay sell them as well, just do a quick google search and I am sure you will find it. I use Araliya puhul dosi which is the best.

Can I make an eggless traditional Sri Lankan Love cake

No, you cannot, I am sorry to disappoint any of my readers, substituting ingredients from an authentic love cake recipe will not be the same, and I don’t want to destroy this beautiful cake by giving alterations

Can I make the Sri Lankan Love cake without alcohol?

This year I have taken off the brandy in my recipe as my mum has updated her recipe and she believes it tastes better without brandy and I gave it a try and it does, so I have taken off the brandy.

Why does my cake break and fall apart

If you over toast the semolina, it will become very hard to cut or handle, as it will break into small pieces easily, so make sure the semolina is only lightly roasted, The semolina doesn’t have to turn brown.