‘Like a warm hug from home’: The addictive love cake only baked at Christmas

Fruity, nutty and slightly tangy, this deliciously rich, spiced cake symbolises love and affection – and making it is a true labour of love.

We never had a white Christmas growing up in Sri Lanka, but it was a time of joy. It was the season when supermarkets put up Christmas trees, homes were decorated with images of snowmen, kids gathered to practice Christmas carols and twinkling lights flickered in the night. But the best part of Christmas was biting into a slice of slightly crunchy and decadently moist love cake, a traditional Sri Lankan Christmas dessert. For me, this addictively fruity, nutty and slightly tangy cake pinned the season into place.
One of my earliest memories tied to love cake was the rustling sound of wrapping paper as my mother opened a piece she received as a gift. At first glance, love cake appears brown, boring and bland, but then the heady fragrances hit you: citrusy, floral and spicy. This dense, rich cake melds roasted semolina and chopped cashew nuts with pumpkin preserve. It’s flavoured and perfumed with ground spices like cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, along with lime zest, rosewater and honey. Firm and crusty on the outside and soft and fudgy on the inside, love cake feels like a warm hug from home.
Sri Lankan-born chef Dhayanie Williams – a media personality and MasterChef Australia contestant – says that love cake has a fascinating history that goes back several centuries. She explains that love cake was first baked in colonial Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was known during the 16th Century), borrowing influences from the Portuguese and the Dutch – who controlled Sri Lanka’s coasts for their spice trade – and merging it with local culinary customs.
“The idea of a rich, spiced cake symbolising love and affection likely stems from Portuguese traditions of baking dense, flavourful cakes with ingredients like nuts, spice and preserved fruits,” Williams says.