In honor of Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share an extra-special ice cream recipe with you. This is an ode to my favorite cake, called Persian Love Cake— it is incredibly light and perfume-y. I have made this cake for extra-special occasions, including baby showers, bridal showers, and even my cousin’s wedding. One of the best parts of the cake is the saffron and rosewater frosting. This ice cream is a version of that ethereal topping. It is so exotic and wonderful– yet uncomplicated to make!
Persian Love Ice Cream Recipe
What You’ll Need
- 2 cups of heavy cream (I used 1 cup of the raw cream I bought at the vineyard this weekend)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 small pinch of saffron threads (find it online here)
- 1/3 cupsugar (honey would also work here, and I actually use xylitol)
- 2 teaspoons rose water (you can find it here or at an ethnic market)
- chopped pistachios (totally optional)
- dried or fresh rose petals (also totally optional, but pretty!)
An ice cream maker (this is my favorite one) would be ideal, but because of the very high fat content of this recipe, you could also freeze it in a glass container, and scoop it pretty successfully.
What to Do:
1. Pour half of the cream into a saucepan, and add the saffron threads, sugar and egg yolks.
2. Turn the heat on low, and gradually warm the cream. Use a whisk to incorporate the egg yolks into the cream and keep things moving, whisking more as the mixture thickens. You are turning the cream into a custard and infusing it with saffron at the same time. You don’t want to boil or simmer the cream– just heat it until it thickens.
3. Once the cream mixture has thickened up a bit, turn off the heat. Add the rose water. If you’re using raw cream for the 2nd cup, you will want to let it cool a few minutes to preserve your cream’s unpasteurized goodness. Add the cold cream, and stir to incorporate. You are almost done. Taste it to see if you need a little more sweetness (freezing it will dull the sweetness a little, so you should aim for a tad sweeter than you want your ice cream to taste.) Also taste that the rosewater is coming through, adding a little more, if needed.
4. Pour it into your ice cream machine, or into a container to freeze. Give it time to solidify, and then scoop it up!
5. You can garnish the ice cream with rose petals and/ or chopped pistachios, but it’s also just wonderful on its own.
Eat it with someone you love.
This post was shared at Sunday School, Mostly Homemade Mondays, Fat Tuesday, Family Table, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Party Wave Wednesday, Tasty Traditions, Thank Your Body Thursday, Food on Friday.
Yum! I love rosewater. I’ve made a much simpler rosewater and lemon cake before- I love the sound of the Persian Love cake.
I’m trying to figure out whether I might be able to make the cake (or a similar one) with almond flour. I know the flavor of the almonds would be wonderful with the lemon and rose (and in this case, cardamon.) I think I’ll have to at least try!
Love it! I am doing a valentine’s linky from midnight, please add this recipe to it. Looks like a variation on my favourite Creme Brulee
Ooh, that sounds wonderful! I’ll have to investigate that idea– I love creme brulee.
That sounds really good especially with the saffron and the rose water!
I love your photos. So beautifully staged for each part of the process on every recipe you post. You have a great eye. I am looking forward to your cookbook when it comes out.
Thank you, Joy! How did you know I am secretly planning a cookbook?…
Beautiful, Ariana!! I had some of this at Nepalese a restaurant two weeks ago. Saffron and cream are such a lovely pair! Thanks for the recipe! Pinning!
Courtney, I had no idea that they used these flavors in Nepal! I am not sure I’ve even had Nepalese food before, but now I’ll need to do some investigating…
Ooooo! Sounds heavenly! Rosewater is one of my favorite things to cook with when making desserts. Thank you for providing me with a new rosewater recipe. 🙂 And thanks for sharing this on Wildcrafting Wednesday!
Ariana, you have a lovely yet simple recipe there. The photos are lovely too. Saffron and rose really give it an exotic twist. Thank you for sharing. Would love to give it a try. Lina.
I hope you try it, Lina!
OMG that sounds gorgeous!
I’m so excited about this recipe 🙂 My absolute favorite festival where I live is the Festival of Nations…. we try really hard to not repeat food when we are there, we always want to sample food from as many places as possible. The saffron, pistachio, rose water ice cream was an exception… we had it both days and both days I sighed with happiness and have dreamed about it ever since. So this comment is a really long way to say thanks for posting this 🙂 I can’t wait to try it! 🙂
Hurray! So glad I found you your pined-after recipe. And thanks for letting me know, this made me really happy.
That is so pretty what a great idea.
That looks totally yummy!
Interesting. 🙂 And we have the same ice cream maker.
Oh wow – this looks just lovely. I’m going to have to try this 🙂 I remember you telling me about that cake before – did you say it was from Epicurious? I want to look up the cake too – I’d forgotten about it until I read this post. But I do think I will start with the ice cream! Remind me to send you my favorite brown butter ice cream recipe – it is just ridiculously yummy and creamy – heavenly! PS I have the identical red ice cream maker you posted somewhere – I hope that wasn’t the one that broke!
The recipe for the cake is on Epicurious, and is linked at the beginning of the post– it is SO GOOD! And the ice cream maker I linked to is actually the one I wish I had– it was the one I used for years before we moved over here. Darn these UK appliances, they ALL break down so quickly!
Oh, Persian Love Cake is one of my absolute favorites, too! I haven’t had it in years, and now that I’ve seen this ice cream recipe I think I need to make both. Thank you for sharing!
Isn’t that cake just so unique? I love it, and also really enjoyed the process of making candied rose petals. So lovely. I hope you try the ice cream!
This looks absolutely luxurious! Amazing recipe. Thank you so much for sharing!
Wow! That looks divine! Yum. 🙂
Hi there. The current Food on Friday on Carole’s Chatter is collecting links to posts about ice cream and sorbets – or anything similar like gelato. I do hope you link this in. This is the link . Please do check out some of the other links – there are a lot of good ones already. Have a great week.
Ariana ,thanks for joining the link up for Food on Friday on Carole’s Chatter. I hope you enjoyed looking at some of the other links. I have been reading them all and must say my ice cream cravings are now almost out of control! Cheers
Ps I am signing up to follow your blog. A follow back would be great – or maybe you have already?
My first batch of this is in the freezer…My little treat after a rough day…Thanks Ariana! Hope you pull through that last bit of cold!
Linda K
This recipe is in my future! Oh my goodness!!
Oh my goodness, this seriously sounds so amazing and decadent. Such lovely pictures too.
I can’t wait to make it!
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