Baklava Cake
, Updated Oct 13, 2022
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This Baklava Cake has all the wonderful spices and nuts of traditional Baklava. Deliciously moist and fragrant, topped with crisp phyllo pastry and soaked in a sweet honey syrup.
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I adore Baklava… the crisp phyllo layers, the crunchy nut filling, the intoxicating aroma of spices and the sweet sticky syrup bringing it all together.
My husband and I got married in Greece and we had an absolutely massive baklava at our wedding reception. I am not exaggerating when I say it was the size of a small table… and yet not a crumb was left at the end of the night.
I wanted to bring all the elements of Baklava together in a cake that would be just as deliciously aromatic and sweetly addictive but easier to make!
Baklava Cake Ingredients
You will need a 9 inch springform cake pan for this cake recipe. The batter can be made using an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer.
- Walnuts and pistachios – or whatever nuts you prefer
- Flour – all purpose /plain flour plus baking powder and soda
- Light brown sugar and granulated sugar
- Ground cinnamon and ground cardamom (optional)
- Orange zest
- Large Eggs
- Softened butter or a baking spread (such as Stork)
- Milk
- Phyllo pastry (also, confusingly, spelled as fillo and filo)
- Melted butter
- Sugar, honey, orange juice, orange flower water for the syrup
HOW TO MAKE BAKLAVA CAKE
Full measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page. Please take a look at the steps and video before attempting this recipe!
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 9 inch springform cake tin and mist with cake release.
Put all the ingredients for the syrup in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Transfer the syrup into a jar to cool down while you prepare the cake.
Blitz the nuts with one tablespoon of granulated sugar and ground cinnamon until you have a coarse texture.
Sift the flour, both the sugars, baking powder and soda into a mixing bowl. Stir in ⅓ cup (60g) of the chopped nuts. Add the orange zest, eggs, butter and milk. Beat together to combine until a smooth batter forms. Pour into the prepared tin and level.
Place one piece of phyllo on your countertop and brush with melted butter using a pastry brush. Bring the two opposite corners together and twist to form a phyllo “rose”. You will need to make 8 phyllo roses.
Position the phyllo roses over the cake. Sprinkle sparingly with the chopped nuts.
Bake for 55 minutes to an hour or until the cake has risen, the phyllo is crisp and a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Leave the cake in the springform tin. Pierce the cake a few times with a skewer and pour the syrup over it while the cake is still warm. Leave the syrup to sink into the cake before releasing from the pan.
Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the cake, slice and serve or store in an airtight container for a couple of days.
Troubleshooting and tips
- Don’t push the phyllo pastry into the batter when topping the cake. Place it on top gently.
- Make sure the syrup has cooled down before pouring over a warm cake so that it soaks in.
- If you would rather skip the phyllo topping then you can simply leave it out. The cake will bake in around 45-50 minutes.
- This baklava cake is delicious served a little warm with some vanilla ice cream.
HAVE YOU MADE MY BAKLAVA CAKE RECIPE? Please leave a rating, post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram with @supergolden88 and the tag #supergoldenbakes and make my day!
Baklava Cake
Video
Ingredients
Chopped Nuts
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 100 g (¾ cup) shelled pistachios unsalted
- 100 g (1 cup) walnut halves
Baklava Cake
- 300 g (1¾ cups + 2 tbsp) cups plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tbsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- ½ tsp salt
- 60 g (½ cup) of the chopped nuts
- 1 orange zest only
- 200 g (¾ cup + 1 heaped tbsp) softened butter or baking spread such as Storck
- 180 ml (¾ cup) whole milk
- 3 large eggs
For the phyllo
- 8 phyllo sheets
- 60 g (⅓ cup) melted butter or as needed
For the syrup
- 100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 80 ml (¾ cup) fresh orange juice or water
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp orange flower water (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 9 inch springform cake tin and mist with cake release.
- Put all the ingredients for the syrup in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Transfer the syrup into a jar to cool down while you prepare the cake.
- Blitz the nuts with the sugar and spices in a food processor until you have a coarse texture. You will be using
- Sift the flour, both the sugars, baking powder and soda into a mixing bowl.
- Add the chopped nuts and stir to combine. Reserve the remaining nuts to sprinkle on top of the cake.
- Add the orange zest, eggs, butter and milk. Beat together to combine until a smooth batter forms. Pour into the prepared tin and level.
- Place one piece of phyllo pastry on your countertop and brush with melted butter. Bring the two opposite corners together and twist to form a phyllo “rose”. You will need to make 8 phyllo roses.
- Position the phyllo roses over the cake. Sprinkle sparingly with the chopped nuts.
- Bake for 55 minutes to an hour or until the cake has risen, the phyllo is crisp and a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Leave the cake in the springform tin. Pierce the cake a few times with a skewer and pour the syrup over it while the cake is still warm. Leave the syrup to sink into the cake before releasing from the pan.
- Sprinkle with any remaining nuts, slice and serve or store in an airtight container for a couple of days.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is always approximate, and will depend on quality of ingredients and serving sizes.
Great cake. Good flavour. The only reason to mark it down was because I couldnt work out where to put the rest of the nut mix. As per the recipe I used 60g in the cake mixture, a sprinkle on the top before it went in and again a really good sprinkle afterwards before serving but I still have a bowlful.