Mildly sweet, super textured and divine, this semolina cake is very delicious and the pistachios.. gives the semolina a new dimension.
I love the color green, it gives me this optimistic feeling always, in our culture it is the color of growth and prosperity, so I would like for my valentine to be green not red this year 😍.
When my little one came back from school and saw this settings for my shots, he kept staring at it and told me you have small red hearts and big green hearts, small heart is me and the big green chocolate heart is you and dad ... It was so sweet of him to say this, clever boy.
It is amazing how we - as parents- mean the world to our kids, they look at us always want to please us and always want to hear encouraging words to uplift their spirits, we are role models for them so we better be careful.
This Valentine, I encourage you to not let this be just a trend of the day or even the month, do not let this spirit of love fade away. Show some love to not just your sweetheart, extend the love to your family, friends and to fellow humans around the world.
A couple of years ago, I urged you to show love to the Syrian refugees, but really look around, there are a lot of heart breaking stories and disasters around us. Let's just dream big, of a world without poverty, without wars, without greed, without misery, let's dream of the perfect world and take steps trying to make it that way.
Today, I share with you this delicious and easy semolina cake, that is going to brighten anyone's day - whether it is Valentine or not. This easy to make pistachio cake is mildly sweet, textured and tastes nutty with these loads of pistachios in and on top.
In the Middle East we love semolina or farina. Semolina and Farina are two terms that are used interchangeably , I've tried searching for this many times before when I was making my basbousa and besbes cake recipes. In the Middle East when we say semolina we mean the one with the coarse grains mostly, so in this recipe I've used the coarse one, I've found it here in the farmer's market near by under the name farina cereal. In this recipe you can use either, I like using the coarse grain - known here as farina- as it is gives more texture to the end product.
Ran out of eggs? do not worry you can still make this recipe, checkout these easy vegan egg substitute for baking, I am sure you'll find one that you already have.
Related Recipes
- Basbousa is a traditional Egyptian dessert made from semolina flour, coconut, yogurt and soaked in simple syrup. It’s delicious and easy to make!
- Here is a delicious lokma dessert recipe to try when you are craving Middle Eastern dessert. Rounded sweet dough balls are deep fried then soaked in syrup, this is a common street food throughout many Middle eastern countries.
I hope you'll like this recipe and please if you make this recipe, snap a pic and hashtag it #amiraspantry — I love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter!
Don’t want to miss a recipe? Sign up for the FREE Amira's Pantry newsletter delivered to your inbox with lots of tips and surprises! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram for all the latest updates.
Pistachios semolina cake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup farina (coarse semolina).
- 1 cup pistachios + more for garnishing - ground.
- ¼ cup milk.
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup oil.
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder.
- 2 eggs
- A dash of vanilla powder.
- * Half a can of condensed milk - or more depending on your liking.
Instructions
- Pre heat your oven to 350F. Beat the eggs with the vanilla.
- Add sugar and continue mixing until mixture is pale yellow.
- Add oil, milk and sour cream and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, mix the pistachios, semolina and BP, mix well.
- Add the semolina mixture to the wet mixture and mix.
- Prepare an oven dish then pour the mixture into the dish.
- Bake for 30 - 40 minutes.
- Drizzle with condensed milk while it is still hot and garnish with more pistachios.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Sign up and learn more about Mediterranean flavors
Would you like to save this post?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
ann
Read through a few times. Size of baking dish ? 9×13 ? 8×10 ? 9x9?
Amira
Ann, this is a 13x9 pyrex pan.
Sneha
Can the eggs be replaced in this recipe for something else, Amira Ma'am?
Amira
Sneha, I am not sure I haven't tried this before.
Donna Quigley
Hi Amira, a blessed/happy New Year!
I’ve been unemployed for too long and have need to supplement my income. So, I’m seriously thinking about making for selling some of your recipes at a weekly indoor Farmers’ market. I was wondering if you would be happy to include some ’notes/tips’ at the end of your recipes regarding the possibility of freezing the product/cooking from frozen or defrost first, how to reheat, storage, how long the product keeps. It’d be mainly your cakes, breads/dough items to start with.
This might be too great an ‘ask’, and I will fully understand ‘no’ from a very busy wife and mum. However, I’m hopeful you’ll say ‘yes’. Perhaps, you’ve already added ’tips/notes’ to some of your recipes that I haven’t discovered, as yet.
Looking forward to hearing from you whatever you decide. Really enjoy your site and I’m getting better at the fatayer dough products.
Yours sincerely,
Donna
Rocio Herzzi
Thank you, Amira for this wonderful recipe. My friends made a Lebanese dinner and I had to bring dessert. I made this cake and everyone LLOVE it. Just amazing.
Amira
Rocio, thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your feedback. I am happy that you all loved it.
Maral
Love this recipe!
I added 1/2 tsp Orange blossom water,I’ll add 1 tsp next tine...and there WILL be a next time!
Amira
Thank you Maral for your comment and photo. It looks so delicious and I am happy you liked it.
Avril Bulloch
Your recipes look lovely I am looking forward to making some of them.
Amira
Thank you Avril for your sweet comment, I appreciate it. This pistachio cake is one of my best, I hope you'll like it. Please do come back and tell me how it went. If you need anymore assistance do not hesitate to tell. Do you need any more suggestions to start with?
Sammy
I've been craving a good pistachio ma'amoul lately and this looks like a yummy subsitute 🙂
Amira
Well I guess you are right, this might be a good sub for those craving ma'moul - until they get their fix 🙂
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
I'm so intrigued by this cake. We love pistachios here but they are expensive but this looks completely worth it! 😀
Amira
Yessss, it really is expensive around here too, so this a delicious and a little bit expensive way to say I love you :).
John/Kitchen Riffs
Clever boy indeed! Clever recipe, too -- this looks wonderful. Thanks.
Amira
Thanks John, I hope you'll try this.
Evelyne Cultureatz
I just adore pistachios, this cake looks great! Happy green valentine! 🙂
Amira
I hope you'll try this .. it is so delicious. Thanks Eve.