Cake for Shabbat – Tahini cake

March 6, 2025 by Dagny @ break thy bread 135 Comments

to the right - spiral Tahini cake covered in sesame seeds on a vintage cookie pan with one slice missing . center- Halva chunks. left upper - slice of the cake

Sesame paste, referred to as tahini, is a fundamental component of Mediterranean cuisine. This cake draws inspiration from Halva, a traditional Mediterranean sweet treat made by combining tahini and sugar, resulting in a subtle Halva flavor in the cake. Notably, the cake’s simplicity is characterized by merely combining ingredients in one bowl and baking, with no need for separating eggs or even utilizing a mixer. This effortless recipe yields a heavenly cake in mere minutes.

Ingredients:

4 eggs at room temperature

1 cup sugar

Orange zest from one orange

1 cup oil

1 cup raw tahini

1 cup orange juice/milk/water

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

For brushing:

2 tablespoons raw tahini

Sesame seeds

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 170°C or 340°F.

Brush a 9-inch kougelhopf pan with raw tahini, and sprinkle it with sesame seeds.

In a big bowl, combine sugar, orange zest, and all the wet ingredients together with a whisk.

Mix the flour with the baking powder and sift into the bowl. Whisk to combine and pour into the prepared pan. The batter will be liquidy, and that is fine.

Bake in the lower third of the oven, no convection, for 40-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with crumbs. If it comes out dry it is overbaked. . Let the cake cool, then flip it over onto a serving plate.

Store in a cake container at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.

Enjoy

This cake is in memory of Tsahi (49) and Maayan (18) Idan, father and daughter. On October 7th, 2023, Hamas terrorists broke into the house of Idan Family in kibbutz Nahal Oz, Israel.

Tsahi (right) and Maayan (left) Idan RIP

The family hid in the safe room. Tsahi tried to guard the door. Maayan, the oldest daughter who had just turned 18 four days ago, saw that there was a crack in the door and rushed to help barricade the door, but one of the terrorists inserted the barrel of the gun through the crack and shot Maayan in the head. Tsahi let go of the door to tend to his daughter, and the terrorist dragged the family to the living room where they asked Gali, the mom, to give them her phone and they livestreamed the terrorized family on her facebook page. When the younger kids (girl 11, boy 9) realized their sister was dead, they started crying, asking the terrorists if they were going to kill them too. In the video, you can see that the kids are trying to talk to their dad too, but he sits there in total shock, unresponsive and covered with Maayan’s blood. Later, Tsahi was kidnapped to Gaza. Gali and the kids in the video survived the attack. Thier other daughter, Sharon (15 at tge time) survived as well, since she spent the weekend away from the kibbutz. A hostage who returned to Israel after 51 days in Gaza said she met Tsahi 48 hours before her release. At that time, he did not know if his family survived or not. The family was hoping for a happy ending, but Tsahi’s body returned to Israel and was buried last week next to Maayan.

RIP Tsahi and Maayan

** I did not know the family. This is my way of keeping their memory alive. All the information was taken from Israeli news sites. I apologize in advance if there are any inaccuracies. Feel free to correct me or add anything in their memory if you knew them. If you want to read more, try this link:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/…/tsahi-idans-family…