AI-generated image
Sfouf
Turmeric semolina cake
Sfouf: golden turmeric and semolina cake with anise and pine nuts
Sfouf is the bright yellow cake you find in every Lebanese bakery window and in plastic tubs at village coffee mornings, cut into diamonds and eaten with tea or a small cup of coffee. Turmeric gives the colour, aniseed and a little mahlab the perfume, and semolina a soft, slightly sandy crumb. Many families make it without eggs or dairy for Lent, and this version is fully plant-based, so it is not the site's eggless coconut-yogurt semolina cake. The tin is greased with tahini, a Beirut habit that gives the base a nutty crust. Chef's tip: use only the turmeric listed; more turns the cake bitter and slightly medicinal.
- Total time
- 50 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 16
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp tahinifor greasing the tin
- 10 ½ oz fine semolina
- 4 oz plain flour
- 8 oz sugar
- 1 ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground aniseed
- ½ tsp ground mahlab (optional)
- ¾ cup sunflower oil
- 1 ¼ cups unsweetened oat or soya milk
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (1)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Heat the oven to 350°F (325°F fan). Spread 2 tbsp tahini thickly over the base and sides of a 30 × 23 cm tin.
Step 2: In a large bowl whisk 10 ½ oz fine semolina, 4 oz plain flour, 8 oz sugar, 1 ½ tsp ground turmeric, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ground aniseed and ½ tsp ground mahlab until the colour is even, with no streaks of turmeric.
Step 3: Rub ¾ cup sunflower oil into the dry mix with your fingers for 2 minutes, until it looks like damp sand; this coats the semolina and keeps the crumb tender.
2 minStep 4: Pour in 1 ¼ cups unsweetened oat or soya milk and stir just until smooth. Overmixing is the common mistake: it makes sfouf dense and rubbery. Pour into the tin and level the top.
1 minStep 5: Leave for 10 minutes so the semolina swells, then lightly score the top into diamonds and press a 1 ⅜ oz pine nuts or blanched almonds kernel into the centre of each.
10 minStep 6: Bake for 30–35 minutes, until golden at the edges, springy in the middle and a skewer comes out clean.
35 minStep 7: Cool completely in the tin before cutting along the score lines. It keeps for 4 days in an airtight tin.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 230 kcal
- Protein
- 3 g
- Carbs
- 32 g
- Fat
- 11 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does sfouf take?
- About 50 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 16 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Reform tortaWalnut meringue chocolate cake
Belgrade pastry shops have sold reform torta since the early twentieth century, and it is still the cake Serbian families bring out for birthdays, weddings and the slava. Three thin layers of walnut meringue, crisp at the edge and chewy inside, are stacked with a dense chocolate butter cream made with egg yolks cooked over steam until thick. It is very rich, so cut thin slices and serve with strong coffee. The usual slip is beating the butter into a chocolate mixture that is still warm, which melts it and splits the cream; let it cool to room temperature first. Chef's tip: assemble the cake the day before; overnight in the fridge the meringue softens a little and the cake slices cleanly with a hot knife.
MansafLamb in yogurt sauce with rice
Mansaf is Jordan's national dish and the centrepiece of its weddings, Eid gatherings and big family days, set down on a huge round tray for everyone to eat from together. Bone-in lamb is simmered until tender in a sauce of jameed, the dried, salted goat's-milk yogurt of the Bedouin, then served on thin shrak bread and turmeric-tinted rice, scattered with almonds and pine nuts and drenched in more of the hot sauce. If you can't find jameed, a mix of thick yogurt and labneh gives a fair stand-in. Chef's tip: stir the yogurt sauce in one direction constantly as it heats, and never let it boil hard before the lamb goes in; that is what keeps it smooth.
Ma'amoulDate and walnut butter pastries
Ma'amoul are delicate shortbread-like pastries made for Eid and Easter across the Middle East. A soft, rose-scented butter dough is wrapped around a filling of dates, walnuts, almonds and pistachios cooked with cinnamon, marked with a fork, baked pale and dusted with icing sugar. Makes 35; they keep well in a tin.