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Sfouf: recipe illustration
Snacks & baking

Sfouf

A moist cake made with semolina, flavoured with aniseed and cinnamon, tinted with turmeric and often topped with pine nuts. Sfouf is the traditional cake for celebrations and births in Lebanon, served in small pieces with coffee.

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Ingredients

Ingredients

Sirop

Spices & seasoning

Optional extras

On the side

Instructions

  1. Heat the milk with the aniseed, cover and leave to infuse for 10 minutes, then strain it.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the semolina, flour, sugar, baking powder, turmeric, cinnamon, mahlab and salt.
  3. Add the warm infused milk, the oil and the orange blossom water. Mix with a spatula until you have a thick, smooth batter. Leave to rest 30 minutes so the semolina swells.
  4. Butter a rectangular tin about 25 x 30 cm and spread the batter evenly. Scatter over the pine nuts and, if you like, the coconut.
  5. Bake at 180 °C for 35 to 40 minutes, until the surface is golden and a skewer comes out dry.
  6. While it bakes, make the syrup: boil the sugar and water for 5 minutes. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, pour the hot syrup over it. Let it soak in, then cut into squares.

Variations and tips

Without syrup. For a lighter version, simply dust the sfouf with icing sugar when serving.

Using what you can find. If you don't have mahlab, use a pinch of almond extract; without aniseed seeds, add a pinch of ground aniseed.

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Original Ecomely recipe.