Turmeric Cake, from ‘Syria: Recipes from Home’
In 2016 our founder Itab and trustee Dina travelled through Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Germany and the UK, cooking with displaced Syrian women in their tents, rented apartments, and asylum accommodation. As they chopped, baked and fried, they talked, sharing stories of the foods that made them think of home. The cookbook ‘Syria: Recipes from Home’ was the result - a collection of recipes, memories and food nostalgia from one of the richest cuisines in the world.
For Valentine’s Day, here is one of our favourite recipes from the book - Turmeric Cake, or Sfouf in Arabic. Pretty as a picture, and sweet as falling in love, this cake will make a romantic gesture that will be remembered for a long time.
Ingredients
250g ground almonds
175g fine semolina (substitute fine polenta to make it gluten-free)
1.5 tsp baking powder
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp aniseed, crushed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nigella seeds
300g butter at room temperature
200g sugar
3 eggs at room temperature
icing sugar, to sprinkle
handful of broken pistachios, to sprinkle
For the sugar syrup
80g sugar
1 lemon
80ml water
Method
Heat the oven to 160 C/ 320 F/ gas mark 3 an dline a round, 23cm springform tin with baking paper.
Mis the first seven ingredients together in a bowl.
Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. A food processor works perfectly well for this. Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating well. If it starts to curdle or looks too runny, simply add a spoonful of the dry ingredients.
Fold in the dry ingredients, then pour the mixture into the tin, level with a spatula and bake for around 40 inutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
While the cake is in the oven, make the sugar syrup. Add the sugar, lemon juice and water to a pan and simmer until the sugar dissolves, The longer you simmer it for, the thicker the syrup will become. 10 minutes should be about right.
Take the cake out of the oven and insert a skewer around the edges, then, while still warm, pour the syrup all over so that it seeps into the cake itself. Leave to cool, then remove from tin, sprinkle with icing sugar and pistachios, and serve.
