Almond Cake With Saffron and Honey Recipe (2024)

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.

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.

Buttering the pan holds the parchment in place.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Ten inch pan is too big, cake was less than an inch high. Would do again in 8” pan.

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.

Semolina flour is more absorbent of liquid than wheat flour, along with the ground almonds it seems fine.

you cut the parchment into a circle that fits the bottom of the pan

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 co*cktail.

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.

75g sugar in cake, 2 tbsp in syrup

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!

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!

30m cook time

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.

Ten inch pan is too big, cake was less than an inch high. Would do again in 8” pan.

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.

Ours was done in 30. Would have been overcooked if we let it go to 40.

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 placeAdd pomegranate seeds to the garnish and serve with vanilla ice cream

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!

Can this be done without eggs? Anyone tried it or have advice?