Greek Honey Cake is a light, flavor-packed dessert that skips all the fuss. Make this simple, sweet, and citrusy cake to feed a crowd!
I found Greek honey cake in search of easy desserts that aren’t laden with butter or frosting. This recipe, which features an olive oil cake soaked with a honey, fresh citrus and pistachio syrup rather than frosting, is exactly the not-too-sweet dessert I was craving.
This cake recipe is inspired by desserts on the island of Aegina, where pistachios and honey from local beekeepers are aplenty. To be honest, I was ready to try this Greek honey cake the instant I saw that it involved pistachios–whether in a milk pudding or baklava I’ll take any excuse to use creamy, slightly savory pistachios to elevate a sweet treat.
Aside from its incredible flavor, this yiayia-approved honey cake is also ideal for serving a crowd. The squares can easily feed 12 to 15 or so, and it’s adored by kids and adults alike. Plus, it’s the kind of simple dessert recipe where you dump all the ingredients in one single bowl and mix!
Table of Contents
Greek Honey Cake Ingredients
With tangy Greek yogurt, sweet honey, fresh citrus, course semolina flour, and crunchy nuts, this cake has a delightful balance of flavors and textures. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Eggs: Hold the batter together.
- Citrus: You will need 2 lemons and 2 oranges. Both the zest and the juice are used, so opt for organic citrus and give them a good scrub. I like extra fragrant and sweet Meyer lemons if they’re available.
- Greek yogurt: Moistens the cake with a tangy flavor to balance the sweetness.
- Sweetener: Granulated sugar sweetens the batter, and honey soaks into the cooked cake, flavoring and sweetening it. A high-quality, pleasantly flavored honey is essential–I like our Greek Alfa honey.
- Flour: Semolina flour is used in Mediterranean baking to give a satisfying toothsome texture, from Basbousa (Egyptian Semolina Cake) to Maamoul (Date Filled Cookies). All-purpose gives this cake a nicely fluffy crumb.
- Baking powder: Gives the cake a nice rise.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Lends a lot of flavor to the cake. Use a high-quality extra virgin variety that’s not too bitter–I like our Private Reserve Greek for this recipe.
- Nuts: Ground almonds flavor the dough and add crunch to the topping. Use unroasted, unsalted almonds (sometimes labeled “raw”). Pistachios add crunch, creaminess and a pop of color to the top.
How to Make Greek Honey Cake
Though this cake is delicious right away, it’s even better if you let it soak in all the flavor. Ideally, make this cake the night before you plan to serve. Here’s how it’s done:
Make the Cake
- Get ready. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan with oil and dust with all purpose flour (shake the pan a little to get an even coating of flour).
- Make the cake batter. Place 5 large eggs, 1 cup of Greek yogurt, 2 cups of sugar, 5 tablespoons of ground almonds, the zest of one orange and one lemon, 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour, and 1 cup semolina flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 3/4 cup olive oil in a large mixing bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon or a whisk to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread evenly with a spatula.
- Bake and cool. Bake on the center rack until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cake completely cool in the pan.
Flavor the Cake
- Make the honey syrup. Once the cake has cooled, toast the pistachios in a large dry non-stick pan over medium-low heat. Once they become fragrant, stir in the honey, orange juice, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and reduce until nice and syrupy, 1 to 2 minutes. (Do NOT taste the hot syrup as it will burn your mouth).
- Soak the cake. Stab the cake all over with a small knife or a skewer to create holes. Pour the honey pistachio syrup all over the cake as evenly as possible. If you need to, use a spoon to distribute the pistachios across the top of the cake. Sprinkle on the shaved almonds, if using. For best results, allow the cake to soak with the syrup for a few hours.
- Serve. Cut the cake into 12 to 15 squares and serve.
What to Serve with Greek Honey Cake
Greek honey cake, like banana bread or Italian carrot cake, perfectly balances sweet and savory to make it welcome at any time of day. Serve for brunch or an afternoon snack with a cup of lemon ginger tea, Greek mountain tea, or coffee.
For dessert, serve this honey cake after a Greek-style feast. Start with ice-cold glasses of ouzo and mezze like Tirokafteri and Tzatziki with pita. Move on to traditional Greek salad and something simple like Greek sheet pan chicken. Finish with a sticky square of honey cake, perhaps with Carajillos (Spiked Coffee) on the side.
If you liked this sweet cake, try Zalabia, sweet little vegan donut holes in cinnamon-infused honey syrup!
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Our Signature Private Reserve and Early Harvest Extra Virgin Olive Oils, Sourced Directly from Family Farms in Greece.
Greek Honey Cake with Orange and Pistachios
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup low-fat Greek yogurt (I used fat-free plain Greek yogurt)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons ground almonds
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 cup coarse semolina (or farina or Cream of Wheat)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan
- Handful of shaved almonds, for topping (optional)
For the Honey Pistachio Syrup
- 1 1 /4 cup shelled salted pistachios
- 1 1/4 cup quality runny honey
- Juice of 2 oranges
- Juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Get ready. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with oil and dust with all purpose flour (shake the pan a little to get an even coating of flour).
- Make the cake batter. Place the eggs, yogurt, sugar, ground almonds, orange and lemon zest, all purpose flour, semolina flour, baking powder, and olive oil in a large mixing bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon or a whisk to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread evenly with a spatula.
- Bake and cool. Bake on the center rack until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cake completely cool in the pan.
- Make the honey syrup. Once the cake has cooled, toast the pistachios in a large dry non-stick pan over medium-low heat. Once they become fragrant, stir in the honey, orange juice, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and reduce until nice and syrupy, 1 to 2 minutes. (Do NOT taste the hot syrup as it will burn your mouth).
- Soak the cake. Use a small knife or skewer to poke holes all over the cake. Pour the honey pistachio syrup all over the cake as evenly as possible. If you need to, use a spoon to distribute the pistachios across the top of the cake. Sprinkle on the shaved almonds, if using. For best results, allow the cake to soak with the syrup for a few hours.
- Serve. Cut the cake into 12 to 15 squares and serve.
Video
Notes
- You can by the almonds ground or grind whole almonds in a small food processor.
- The syrup needs to be hot when you pour it on the cooled cake so the cake will better absorb it.
- This cake is even better the next day when the flavors and the moisture have settled in.
- Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including olive oils, honey, jams, and spices.
Nutrition
*This post has recently been updated with new information for readers’ benefit.
Any idea if I can leave out the sugar completely? Will it affect anything other than the sweetness of the cake?
Likely just the flavor will be affected
Made this for my Easter lunch yummo 🙂 Thank you
Found the nut topping was more than required for the tray size I used.
Thanks, Maria! Glad you enjoyed it!!
Hi there, My husband is Greek and I am Portuguese so I love to try new recipes. I have a quick question – I have semolina at home but only fine semolina – can I use the fine instead of the coarse? Love your recipes and videos by the way!
Hi Susana, that will likely work here. It will just give you a finer textured cake, but it should still taste delicous
I wasnt going to put the 2 cups of sugar, used one cup honey instead ..and way better. That’s way to much sugar ..
Great! Sometimes you need to tweak a recipe to suit your taste, for sure!
Made this cake for Christmas and it was a huge hit with my family! It even stayed for a few days time. I halved the recipe and then also halved the honey in the syrup because I thought it would be too sweet. It ended up being perfect for our taste with half the honey. I would definitely make this again and would add a touch of salt to the cake to really bring out the flavors.
Yay! Happy to hear everyone enjoyed it!
Can I omit the nuts? I’d like those with but allergies to have a piece.
But, not but. Lol
Nut not nut. Lol.
Hi! I am in the states and have googled Runny Honey. I dont see it available at all in the states and was wondering if there is a brand or any recommendations for me to use? Hope that isn’t a stupid question? I am new to this way of eating.
Hey Kristen, “runny honey” simply means not too thick…if you need to, just give it a quick few seconds in the microwave so it runs nicely.
How do you store the cake over night? For consumption the next day? Must it be refrigerated? It does not say?
Linda, if you just leave it out at room temperature for one or two nights, it should be fine covered. When I want to keep it for a few days, I place it in the fridge and take it out well enough before serving.
Does it have to be coarsed semolina?
If you can, use coarse semolina, it’s a different texture and turns out quite moist with the use of syrup.
This cake is truly wonderful! I must follow a strict gluten free diet so I made a couple of changes to the base recipe by replacing the flours with my gluten free flour blend but the three times I have made it so far came out terrific! Thank you for sharing a cake recipe that is appealing to so many in my family!
So glad to hear it, Liz! And glad it worked out with your GF substitution
what is the best way to store the cake (after soaking with syrup) overnight?
Can I use fine semolina instead of coarse?
That will work, but you’ll get a slightly different texture.
Took longer to cook 40-45 mins. Great recipe. Crowd pleaser.
Thank you, Jennifer! Yes, baking time may vary. But I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Wow…we loved this cake, made it today and it was awesome ….so we can not wait to see how it tastes tomorrow …thanks for the easy to follow recipe….spent a little time converting to metric and degrees Celsius…and it worked a treat…..thanks again for the wonderful recipes….
Mel, so glad to hear it! Thanks so much for stopping by.
Ooh, if you did the ingredients by weight, would you mind sharing, so that I don’t have to do it all over, pretty please??? 🙂
Laura, thank you! will try to work through next time and add weights for ya!
Hi and thank you for sharing so many wonderful dishes! I have a question for you, what dishes are part of a typical Mediterranean diet? I’m trying to eat most of my meals Mediterranean style but having difficulty finding recipes for breakfast/ brunch. Need help ?
Hi Retha, if you look under our “recipes” tab, you’ll be able to see our breakfast options, which are all pretty much Mediterranean-diet driven. And here is an article on the Mediterranean Diet that might help you think through your meals: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/7-ways-follow-mediterranean-diet/
We loved it disappeared pretty quick
Awesome, Bill! We love this cake! Glad to hear you enjoyed it!