Our next Sephardic dessert originated in Turkey. The word for the dish, Tishpishti, has a number of different English spellings (tishpitti, tezpishti, etc.). Jews adopted the cake because, like macaroons, it is generally unleavened and can be eaten during Passover. The cake’s flavor is quite exotic; it’s a dense cake that is soaked in sugary syrup. The longer you soak it, the better it tastes.
There are many versions of tishpishti, including one made with rosewater. I really like the way that citrus enhances the nutty cake dough, so my recipe uses orange flavors throughout.
My recipe requires 2 cups of nuts. In Spain, this cake is made with hazelnuts. You can use almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or any combination of those three. I like the flavor or walnuts and almonds, so that’s what I’ve listed here.
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Tishpishti
Ingredients
Syrup
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1/2 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 tablespoon orange blossom water
Cake
- 2 cups matzo meal
- 1 cup walnut pieces
- 1 cup blanched almonds
- 5 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- Juice of one orange
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 tablespoons walnut or almond oil
- 20 whole almonds for garnish (optional)
- Fresh orange slices for garnish (optional)
NOTES
Instructions
- First, prepare the syrup. Place all syrup ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer on medium high for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let the syrup return to room temperature while you are preparing the cake.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Place matzo meal in the food processor. Process until the matzo crumbs become powdery fine (about 1 minute). Add walnuts and almonds to the food processor and process for another 45 seconds, until nuts are ground very fine and mixed well with the matzo powder.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whip 5 eggs with a hand mixer or immersion blender. Add sugar, orange zest, orange juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1 tbsp of walnut or almond oil to the bowl. Continue whipping till mixture is well blended and frothy. Add egg liquid to the food processor. Process the matzo and liquid together for about 1 minute, until it is well mixed and the texture resembles Play-doh.
- Liberally grease 8x8 inch baking dish with remaining walnut or almond oil. Press the cake dough firmly into the dish until it forms a shallow cake. Make the cake as even as possible across the top; you can use a flat silicone spatula to help you flatten it out.
- Traditionally, this cake is served in diamond-shaped pieces. Cut the cake into diamonds by slicing the dough crosswise, then making diagonal cuts across the rows, like this:
- Or you can cut it into squares if you prefer. Optional: Garnish the center of each piece with a whole almond.
- After slicing, place cake in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until top is firm and edges are browned. Test for doneness with a toothpick.
- Remove cake from oven. Run your knife through the cuts again, making sure the slices go all the way through the cooked cake to the very edges (if you have a glass baking dish, you’ll be able to see the cuts better). Pour the room temperature syrup evenly over the freshly baked cake. Cover with foil and allow the cake to absorb the syrup for at least 2 hours—if you can leave it overnight, even better. The syrup will keep the cake moistened, not soggy. Will keep for several days.
- I like to serve each piece of cake on top of two sliced fresh orange rings. Sometimes I make a little extra syrup and soak the orange rings in that before plating the dessert. Enjoy!
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
Hi Tori,
Is it possible to substitute the matzo meal with a gluten free flour mix??? Or would that affect too much the structure of the cake and the rest of the recipe? Thank you!!!
Hi Natasha, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. We have not experimented with this recipe using gluten free flour mix, so unfortunately I cannot guarantee great results. If you decide to to give it a try, please let us know how it turns out!
If I can’t find Kosher for Passover orange blossom water, is there a way to make it or substitute something else? Is it worth making this desert without it?
Hi Alexandra. In all honesty I haven’t made this recipe in quite some time (it was one of the first recipes I posted on my blog). I plan to retest it and repost it soon, just to make sure it’s as good as I remember it. Till then, I would hold off on making it. If I find any Passover substitutes during my testing I will post them here.
Hi Shiksa! I m from Turkey. We call this dessert name Sambali…
This is great! I found the recipe for Passover Honey Nut Cake w/Soaking Syrup on epicurious.com and it’s pretty much the same thing. It was DELICIOUS. I let it soak for about 2 days and by the time it was seder on Monday, the cake was dense, moist and sooooo good.
I love your recipes – keep up the great work!
Hi dear Tori in my country we have this something like this called scnhintskayavaklavas, which is translate roughly to czars hat corners. best galina
Loved this recipe! Love the name even more!!!
I made this last night as a trial run for the Seder! delicious! it was all gone by this morning. (oops)
Hey Tori,
I haven’t written yet, but I love your blog! I love following your adventures in the kitchen, and congratulations on converting! I guess calling you “Converted Jew in the Kitchen” doesn’t have the same ring, ha ha. Anyway, on the subject of desserts… I’m a real chocoholic and so is my family. Any more chocolate desserts for passover? I liked the matzoh cake, but I made that on day one when it appeared on your blog and will make it again for the first seder, butI want to find something special for the second seder. Early chag sameach!!! xo Val