Almond Cake With Saffron and Honey
- Total Time
- 2 hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:8 to 10 servings
- ½cup/115 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), melted, plus more for greasing the pan
- ½cup/90 grams fine semolina flour
- ¾cup/150 grams granulated sugar
- 1cup/95 grams finely ground blanched almonds, or substitute almond meal
- 1½teaspoons baking powder
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 4eggs, beaten
- Zest of 1 orange
- Zest of 1 lemon
- ½teaspoon almond extract
- 1cup/240 milliliters orange juice
- ¾cup/150 grams granulated sugar
- 2tablespoons honey
- 6whole cloves
- 6cardamom pods
- 1(1-inch) piece cinnamon stick
- Pinch of crumbled saffron (optional)
- 12dried apricots, softened in boiling water and drained
For the Cake
For the Syrup
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)
375 calories; 17 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 53 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 42 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 94 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch diameter cake pan and line with parchment paper.
- Step 2
In a large bowl, mix together the semolina, sugar, almonds, baking powder and salt. Whisk in eggs and melted butter. Add the orange and lemon zests and almond extract and beat well. Pour into prepared pan.
- Step 3
Bake for about 45 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Invert onto a wire rack and let cool.
- Step 4
As cake cools, make the syrup: Put orange juice, sugar, honey, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, saffron and apricots in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve sugar, and then simmer gently for about 5 minutes. Set aside. Transfer cake to a serving plate. Use a skewer to poke holes all over and slowly pour syrup evenly over cake. Once the syrup has cooled slightly, arrange the spices and apricots on top of the cake to your liking. Leave cake for at least an hour to fully absorb syrup, or, if possible, wrap and store in a cool place (don’t refrigerate) for up to 5 days.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Sif
Really lovely. We scattered pomegranate over the top rather than the apricots and served with vanilla ice cream. The saffron was a brilliant addition to the orange/almond/honey.
Kevin Kehoe
This similar to another Turkish classic, revani. Having made revani several times, I would use a springform pan. I would plan on leaving the warm cake in the pan and slowly pour the syrup over it in small amounts until it is saturated. I would serve it from the base of the springform pan as the top would be marred by the inverting process to remove the base. We’ll be making this one in a week or two.
Patricia Caldwell
Buttering the pan holds the parchment in place.
Katherine
Not just lovely but superbly delicious. Because a guest is gluten-free, I replaced the semolina with more almond flour, and liked the result so much I'll do it again that way. Also I used just 1/2 cup sugar in the cake, knowing that plenty of sweetness was coming via the syrup. But, to my surprise, the end result was not overly sweet. All guests had seconds; one had thirds.
Earthling
Made this today. Interesting texture due to the amount of ground almond. Used an 8 inch round cake pan. Why is it necessary to butter the pan and then line with parchment? I lined it with parchment only and it was fine.
Em
Made this last night. Substituted 6 tablespoons olive oil for the butter for a dairy-free crowd. It baked in 30 minutes in my oven - not sure if this is because my oven is hot or if the oil changes the baking time. Used ½ the amount of sugar in the syrup after reading another review, and it was still plenty sweet. The apricots were delicious, wish I'd added a few more, or experimented with some other dried fruit. Turned out quite well, I would definitely make it again.
Roslyn
To my taste, this was much too sweet. I'm sorry I didn't trust my judgment on the amount of sugar and honey, but David Tanis recipes have been infallible for me in the past so I set aside my misgivings. As it is, I didn't use all the syrup, of which there is quite a lot.
Donna
I made this tonight for our Thanksgiving dessert. It was delicious. I used 1/3 of the sugar for the syrup, and it was plenty sweet. I added crushed pistachios and pomegranate seeds on the top of the cake. It looked beautiful. I will definitely make this again.
niquej
Lovely texture, however i thought it would be too sweet! (1.5 c sugar for 1.5 cups dry ingredients), so i did the following: Left cake ingredients the same, resulted in a 1” high 9.5” cake (used a springform) For syrup: combined juice, 2Tbsp honey and 2 TBSP (YES!) of sugar with the spices AND the un-soaked apricots! Brought that to boil then lowered to simmer for another few minutes until sugar was melted! Its the perfect amount of “glaze”, apricots kept their shape taste! Eliminated a step!
Hope
Ten inch pan is too big, cake was less than an inch high. Would do again in 8” pan.
Lizanne Pastore
Offering humble sugg's in technique, not taste. It was just delish--am huge fan of honey, cardamom, and saffron. Do grind the almonds if you can. For those wanting less sweetness, easy to adjust. But, when zesting, zest into the dry ingredients and massage zest into the flour mix, it makes a difference. Also, if a lighter, higher cake is preferred, consider separating the eggs and folding your stiffly beaten egg whites into batter at the end. Agree with others- garnish of crushed pistachios.
vt chef
Semolina flour is more absorbent of liquid than wheat flour, along with the ground almonds it seems fine.
David
you cut the parchment into a circle that fits the bottom of the pan
OCM
Loved this! Easy enough as novice baker, yielded fantastic results. Made for mother, who loves Turkish/apricot-based sweets; high praise from guests who don't often go for those flavors too. Cut sugar by ~30% in batter & syrup, still plenty sweet. Also grated 2 dry apricots into batter w/rinds; gave lovely, subtle flavor to cake. SYRUP: used apricot liquid for easy base. Added verbena (could sub rosemary/basil) to cut sweetness. *NOTE* poke more holes than you think you should pre-pouring.
Lakshani
Very nice cake, much like the Turkish revani. I use 1/3 the amount of sugar for the batter. Everything else was as the recipe called for.
Jared
This was delicious, complex and warm from the spices, still bright from the citrus! The store had Meyer lemons, so I zested them and added that to the cake before juicing them. Seemed a shame to throw out the zest! I also made if vegan subbing Miyokos plant butter and JustEgg egg replacer and it turned out great! Made it for a dinner party last night and it was a huge hit. One person had 3 pieces and another had 2!
Catherine
surely it is too think with a 10 inch diameter tin and only 90 g semolina and 95 g ground almonds. Is there an ingredient blissing? Or should we have whisked the eggs and sugar until ribbon stage and then folded in the semolina and almonds. The illustration shows a far taller cake than can be achieved with the ingredients and method provided.
Ellen Tabor
Delicious, except there wasn't enough syrup. I poked what I thought was enough holes let it soak for two days and the syrup had only penetrated about 1/4 of the cake. I baked it in a 9" pan, so it was higher than a 10" cake would have been. It was still moist and very delicious but next time I will triple the syrup. I brought the cake to a party and everyone seemed to love it, but I wanted the syrup to soak the cake all the way to the bottom.
Sean
Really great recipe. I substituted the semolina flour for the gluten free flour blend sold at Trader Joe's. I found the cake still turned out great. I agree with many others that this recipe creates a very sweet cake; you probably only need about half the syrup that the recipe makes. Maybe you can save the rest and sweeten a nice cocktail.
Lizanne Pastore
Offering humble sugg's in technique, not taste. It was just delish--am huge fan of honey, cardamom, and saffron. Do grind the almonds if you can. For those wanting less sweetness, easy to adjust. But, when zesting, zest into the dry ingredients and massage zest into the flour mix, it makes a difference. Also, if a lighter, higher cake is preferred, consider separating the eggs and folding your stiffly beaten egg whites into batter at the end. Agree with others- garnish of crushed pistachios.
yvonne
75g sugar in cake, 2 tbsp in syrup
GC
This was delicious. I used mix of almond (1 c.) and regular flour (1/2 c.) since don't really like and didn't have semolina and it worked fine. Recommend using a sweet, spiced syrup even if not this exact syrup. Keeps cake moist, adds flavour - even my mother-in-law ate it and did not complain! All was silence, just eating. A great recipe! Thanks!
Vanessa
Oh my! This was just devine. I made it the night before I had guests over and it was such a treat. I had a left over piece this morning and it’s so true, it just gets better and yummier. I recommend making it a couple of days in advance. I followed the recipe completely and I wouldn’t change a thing!
me
30m cook time
Lakshani
Very nice cake, much like the Turkish revani. I use 1/3 the amount of sugar for the batter. Everything else was as the recipe called for.
Hope
Ten inch pan is too big, cake was less than an inch high. Would do again in 8” pan.
Swati
yum, this was great!! i followed the recipe for the cake almost exactly, except i used 75 gms of sugar -- i found this was more than enough, thanks to the syrup. to the syrup, i also added crushed pistachios, rose petals, some orange rind, and pomegranate seeds. i also didn't have an oven, so i made it in a makeshift oven using a pressure cooker; and it took hardly 20 minutes to bake; as soon as it was done, i poured syrup onto it, and it got really nicely absorbed.
Bake for 30 minute
Ours was done in 30. Would have been overcooked if we let it go to 40.
Audrey Post
Reviewers' comments: Use a Springform pan; don't invert. Pour syrup slowly in small amounts until it is absorbed. Serve from pan base. Buttering the pan holds the parchment in place Add pomegranate seeds to the garnish and serve with vanilla ice cream
Barbara H
Wonderful cake. Reduced the sugar a bit, but otherwise stuck to the recipe. It didn’t need any more than 40 minutes in the oven, and probably could have worked with less. Served with a dollop of vanilla Greek yogurt on the side - yum!
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