Sfouf Lebanese Turmeric Cake

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Sfouf is an exquisite Lebanese semolina turmeric cake made with fine semolina, sugar, flour, milk, and aromatic turmeric in lieu of traditional Curcuma powder.

Sfouf is an eggless cake with bright yellow color. It's one of those desserts that's always on the side of a good cup of Arabic coffee or cardamom tea.

If you like sfouf, try other delicious semolina cakes like syrup-drenched namoura and basbousa.

Lebanese Sfouf

There is a feeling of comfort and home when this yellow cake is served for early morning gatherings or afternoon tea. The smell of this delicious Lebanese cake is enough to bring back beautiful childhood memories and time spent with loved ones.

Ingredient Notes

Fine Semolina: I use fine semolina for this recipe to keep the cake's texture perfect. Avoid using coarse semolina. Semolina is a common ingredient in Middle Eastern desserts like basbousa, namoura, ma'amoul bars, and mafroukeh.
Flour: Semolina blends with all-purpose flour to make this cake fluffy and gorgeous.
Oil: I use canola oil but any vegetable oil that's not strong on flavor works here too.
Milk: I recommend using cow's milk for this recipe with any fat content, so fat-free, whole-fat, and reduced-fat milk works.

How To Make Sfouf Turmeric Cake

add the milk and oil to the dry ingredients

Preheat the oven to 350 ℉ (177 ℃). Measure out all of the ingredients. Add the semolina, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and ground turmeric to a large bowl. Mix the dry ingredients together. Pour the wet ingredients (milk and oil) into the dry ingredients.

mix the sfouf semolina cake batter together really well

Mix everything really well until you get a blended batter.

Pour the batter into a greased 9-inch square baking dish. Place the baking tin into a preheated oven. Bake at 350 ℉ (177 ℃) for 45 to 60 minutes or once a toothpick is inserted in the center of the cake and comes out clean.

Serve this Lebanese semolina cake with a cup of coffee or a cup of tea.

Tips and Tricks

Measure out the ingredients: This is super important to ensure that you get the perfect texture.
Preheat the oven: The sfouf cake batter is quick to make, so preheat the oven. This will speed things up a bit.
Cool it down: Don't cut the sfouf cake into pieces before you give it some time to cool down so that it doesn't come apart.

Variations and Substitutions

Tahini sfouf: In Lebanon, many people add tahini paste to the sfouf recipe or drizzle it over the cake once it's out of the oven.
Anise/cardamom sfouf: I sometimes add a teaspoon or two of ground anise seeds to the batter and the taste comes out heavenly. Some people I know also use cardamom to give sfouf a unique flavor.
Nutty Sfouf: You can add some chopped almonds or pine nuts to the batter to get some crunch in your cake.
Vegan Sfouf: Christians in Lebanon created a vegan version of sfouf to enjoy during lent season. This vegan sfouf basically omits the milk and replaces it with water. I tried this version once and I can tell you it's oh-so delicious.
Carob Molasses Sfouf: This is one of my mother's favorites and to make it we simply replace the milk with a cup of carob molasses or "debbes."

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