Sfouf

It is not soaked in syrup, which is what separates it from the semolina cakes that are.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

the cake

• 300 g fine semolina
• 150 g plain flour
• 250 g caster sugar
• 400 ml whole milk
• 150 ml sunflower oil
• 2 tablespoons ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon ground aniseed
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 80 g ground almonds

for the tin and the top

• 3 tablespoons tahini, for the tin
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 2 tablespoons blanched almonds

Method

1. IT IS NOT SOAKED IN SYRUP, WHICH IS WHAT SEPARATES IT FROM THE SEMOLINA CAKES THAT ARE. No syrup is made, none is poured over, and the cake is finished the moment it comes out of the oven. That makes it a dry, crumbly, faintly oily cake rather than a dense wet one -- eaten in small squares with coffee or tea and keeping for a week. Nearly every other semolina cake in the region is drenched the instant it leaves the tin, so the absence is the thing to know. Syrup it and you have made a different cake.
2. TWO TABLESPOONS OF TURMERIC, WHICH LOOKS LIKE A MISTAKE AND IS NOT. It gives the deep saffron-yellow colour the cake is recognised by, and at that quantity a mild, faintly earthy warmth rather than anything that tastes of curry. A teaspoon gives a pale beige cake that looks wrong and tastes of nothing in particular.
3. THE TIN IS GREASED WITH TAHINI, NOT BUTTER OR OIL. Three tablespoons rubbed over the base and sides. It stops the cake sticking and it leaves a thin nutty, faintly bitter crust on the outside that is part of the flavour. It is also why the cake needs no butter anywhere in it.
4. THERE IS NO BUTTER AND NO EGG IN IT AT ALL. Oil, milk, semolina, flour and sugar. That is what gives the characteristic dry open crumb -- and it means the cake is incidentally suitable for anyone avoiding eggs, which is part of why it appears at gatherings.
5. THE BATTER IS RESTED TWENTY MINUTES BEFORE BAKING. The semolina needs to take up the milk or the baked cake is gritty. It thickens visibly over that time.
6. IT IS CUT INTO DIAMONDS AND THE NUTS ARE PRESSED IN BEFORE BAKING. Scored through the batter, one nut set in the centre of each diamond. The score lines stay open because a semolina batter does not flow back together, and they make the squares easy to lift later.
7. The tin greased all over with the TAHINI.
8. The semolina, flour, sugar, TURMERIC, aniseed, baking powder and ground almonds mixed.
9. The milk and oil stirred in to a thick pourable batter.
10. RESTED 20 MINUTES -- it will thicken.
11. Poured into the tahini-greased tin and levelled.
12. SCORED into diamonds and a pine nut or almond pressed into the centre of each.
13. Baked at 180°C for 35 to 40 MINUTES, until a skewer comes out clean and the top is deep yellow-gold.
14. COOLED IN THE TIN. NO SYRUP.
15. TESTED: the crumb should be dry and open and the colour deep yellow throughout. Pale means too little turmeric.
16. Cut on the score lines. Keeps 1 week in a tin.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Lebanon · All recipes