This flavorful carob molasses & pumpkin cake with tahini caramel sauce is incredibly moist and very rich in Lebanese flavors.
This cake was inspired by a very famous Lebanese cake called “sfouf”.
Sfouf is a Lebanese cake prepared with semolina and other vegan ingredients. We usually prepare this cake in the easter lent season because it has no eggs or dairy in it.
There are two types of sfouf one made with turmeric and it has a very rich yellow color. And another one was made with my favorite Lebanese carob molasses and it has a very rich and deep dark color.
The name “sfouf” means lines and it comes from the way we cut this cake into lines.
Now for my recipe today. I used this traditional “sfouf” recipe for the batter of the cake and created one with carob molasses and one with turmeric and an extra twist of pumpkin to make it even moister and rich. I layered the two batter in a bundt cake and baked.
And let me tell you this carob molasses and pumpkin Bundt cake is worth every bite.
And to make it even more delicious and rich in flavor, I prepared a super delicious tahini caramel sauce. the tahini caramel sauce complements the deep flavor so well.
This carob molasses and pumpkin bundt cake with tahini caramel sauce is just a mixture of my childhood memories in a piece of cake. If you are Lebanese like me, I can assure you that you will have flashbacks of your Lebanese memories with each bite.
This carob molasses and pumpkin bundt cake is a very convenient dessert plate if you are having guests because it is vegan, dairy-free, egg-free, and very easy to prepare in advance. Some ingredients might be too Lebanese for you but don’t worry I will mention some substitutions options for you if you cannot find the carob molasses. But a fair warning nothing of the substitution will ever be close to the exquisite taste of carob.
If you like to explore more recipes with carob molasses make sure to check my carob molasses delicious recipes!
And for more fall recipes like this check out my fall-inspired recipe section!
Carob molasses & pumpkin turmeric cake with tahini caramel sauce
Ingredients
For the pumpkin turmeric batter:
- 1 ½ cup semolina flour
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose or cake flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp turmeric powder
- ½ cup olive oil see notes
- 1 tsp rose water
- 1 tsp orange blossom water
- ½ tsp mastica grounded
- ¾ cup cane sugar
- 300 g pumpkin puree see notes
- 3/4 cup water
For the carob molasses batter:
- 1 ½ cup semolina flour
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose or cake flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp anise powder
- ½ cup neutral vegetable oil
- 1 cup carob molasses
- ¾ cup water
for the tahini caramel sauce (not vegan) see notes for the vegan version:
- 1/3 cup honey
- ¼ cup tahini
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp sea salt
Extra tahini for brushing the Bundt pan
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 180 C° and grease your Bundt pan with tahini. Set aside.
For the pumpkin turmeric batter:
- In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients (semolina, flour, baking powder, turmeric)
- Mix in another bowl the wet ingredients (olive oil, rose water, orange water, mastica, sugar, pumpkin, water) until the sugar is fully dissolved.
- Combine the wet and dry mixture together and mix until smooth and fully mixed.
- Set aside to prepare the carob molasses batter.
For the carob molasses batter:
- In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients (semolina, flour, baking powder, anise powder)
- Min in another bowl the wet ingredients (oil, carob molasses, water) until the molasses is fully dissolved.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until smooth and fully mixed.
Assemble and bake:
- Spoon half of the pumpkin turmeric batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Pour over the carob molasses batter over top. Finish by spooning the remaining pumpkin turmeric batter over the carob molasses batter. Using a butter knife, swirl the batters together with a zig-zag motion, going three times around the pan.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until a wooden skewer inserted in the cake come out clean.
Making the tahini caramel:
- While the cake is baking, prepare the caramel sauce.
- In a small pan on low heat: mix tahini, honey and oil, and salt. Keep stirring until bubbles start to show up and the sauce starts to thicken a little. Remove from heat and set aside until the cake is done baking.
Assembly:
- Once the cake is done baking. Allow it to cool in the baking pan for 2 hours. After that invert the cake into a wire rack or serving plate and drizzle with salted caramel if it is completely cooled down. Or wait a little bit until cool before drizzling the caramel sauce.
- Serve with some Arabic bouza (ice cream) and enjoy!
Notes
- The oil used in the recipe: I like to use a mix of vegetable oil. Between olive oil and a neutral oil like canola or sunflower. You can use only neutral vegetable oil for the two batters instead of using olive oil for the pumpkin batter and neutral for the carob molasses. But if you want to use olive oil make sure you only use as noted in the recipe don’t substitute the whole oil quantity for olive oil the taste will be too intense for the recipe and will change the overall taste.
- Pumpkin puree: I used homemade pumpkin puree for the recipe. You can use a canned one. And if you don’t have pumpkin and still want to make this recipe you can omit the pumpkin and just add ¼ cup more water.
- For the tahini caramel sauce: I like to use honey for this caramel sauce but if you want to keep the sauce vegan with the vegan cake, just substitute the honey with maple syrup or any other vegan syrup.
- Semolina: you can use coarse semolina or fine semolina but don’t replace the semolina with more all-purpose flour, it won’t yield the best results
- Storage: you can store this cake for 7 days at room temperature in an airtight container or for about 10 days in the fridge.
- Ingredients sourcing: you can find some Lebanese-specific items like semolina, carob molasses, tahini, mastica, and rose water and orange water at the middle eastern markets, natural-foods stores, and even in large supermarkets or online often located with other middle eastern ingredients.