Turmeric & tahini diamonds

Even before you cook the cake, the batter has a bittersweet fragrance redolent of the Middle East as well as a glorious gamboge yellow colour. Both are intensified in the oven heat.

An interesting quirk of this Lebanese home kitchen favourite is that the tahini is used to grease the tin rather than combined into the sponge. Beyond that, it is the easiest one-bowl recipe imaginable. Its name, ‘sfouf’, means ‘lines’, signalling the cuts made to form it into diamonds or squares.