This Middle Eastern dessert is known as muakacha (moo-ah-ka-cha), an Arabic word meaning "wrinkled." Recently, however, this dessert has gone viral on TikTok as "crinkle cake." The sweetness of this recipe pairs beautifully with a hot cup of Turkish coffee!
I was not familiar with this Middle Eastern dessert until my sister, Beni, shared the recipe with me during a visit to Chicago. She was introduced to muakacha by one of her friends and now I have the pleasure of introducing this crinkle cake recipe to you!
Crinkle cake is prepared with layers of phyllo dough, buttered and drenched in a creamy egg custard. Traditional muakacha is sprinkled with toasted nuts and that's what we're doing in this recipe. The end result is a crinkle cake that's light, sweet, sticky, creamy, and absolutely delicious!
Beni and I spent many hours in her kitchen trying to make this crinkle cake flawless. We each gained a few pounds in the process, we made 5 batches! I regret nothing!
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😍 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Crinkle cake is relatively easy to prepare. I'll show you a few ways to prepare it. One way is to crinkle the sheets and add them to a tray.
- A lot of people are intimidated by working with phyllo dough since it is so fragile, you don't have to worry about that with this recipe. All you have to do is crinkle it, you can totally do that!
- This muakacha recipe is enough to feed a large crowd, so it's great for birthdays, potlucks, and other get togethers!
🛒 What You Need For This Recipe
🔖 Ingredients and Substitutions
- Phyllo/Fillo Dough: One-pound package of Phyllo Dough, defrosted in the fridge overnight.
- Milk: Use whole milk to make a rich custard.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter. Start with ½ cup and use more, if needed, to drizzle all the sheets.
- Flavorings: Rose water is used in many Middle Eastern recipes and can be purchased at most Middle Eastern Markets. Rose water can also be purchased on Amazon. You'll also need some vanilla extract.
- Nuts: Instead of pistachios, you can use walnuts, pecans, or almonds. If you have a nut allergy, you can leave the nuts out of the recipe.
*A full list of ingredients can be found in the recipe card.
🍰 How to Make Crinkle Cake
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F
Step 1: Melt butter in the microwave or in a small saucepan on the stove. Use some of the butter to grease a large cookie sheet.
Step 2: Begin by folding one sheet of dough at a time, back and forth, accordion-style, then add to the pan. Tuck sides in, if needed, to fit the pan. When you're done, fan out the sheets to cover the entire pan.
Step 3: Drizzle butter over the crinkled phyllo sheets or brush on with a pastry brush, then bake for 15 minutes.
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Step 4: Meanwhile, prepare custard by whisking the eggs in a medium bowl. Add milk, sugar, vanilla, and rose water and whisk to combine. Set aside until needed.
Step 5: Remove pan from the oven and pour custard mixture over the phyllo dough. Make sure it is evenly distributed.
Step 6: Place the baking tray back into the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the custard is set and the dough is golden brown.
Step 7: Meanwhile, toast pistachios for five minutes and rind into a fine texture, but not a powder. Mix in cardamom powder. Once the crinkle cake is done baking, remove from oven and sprinkle with ground nuts. Cool completely before slicing into squares.
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
You can find phyllo dough in the freezer aisle in most grocery stores. The same place you'd expect to find frozen pie crusts.
There are some recipes where you can substitute puff pastry for phyllo dough. However, I don't recommend using puff pastry to make crinkle cake since you can't crinkle puff pastry as this recipe requires.
🍰 Other Middle Eastern Desserts
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- If you or a family member is allergic to nuts, you can easily leave them out of the recipe.
- Another way of preparing muakacha is by sprinkling the nuts over each phyllo sheet before crinkling it. This way, the nuts are mixed into the pastry and don't need to be toasted separately.
- Instead of placing the phyllo dough in the pan as mentioned in the recipe step, another option is to coil them as you would with cinnamon rolls. Each roll would be considered one serving.
🍮 More Middle Eastern Desserts
If you enjoy this crinkle cake recipe, check out these other tasty desserts!
📖 Recipe
Middle Eastern Crinkle Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 package fillo dough
- ½ cup unsalted butter (melted)
- 6 large eggs
- 2 cup milk
- 2 ½ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon rose water
- ½ cup pistachios (chopped)
- 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 ° F.
- Melt butter in the microwave or in a small saucepan on the stove. Use some of the butter to grease a large cookie sheet.
- Begin by folding one sheet of dough at a time, back and forth, accordion-style, then add to the pan. Tuck sides in, if needed, to fit the pan. When you're done, fan out the sheets to cover the entire pan.
- Drizzle butter over the crinkled phyllo sheets or brush on with a pastry brush, then bake for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare custard by whisking the eggs in a medium-bowl. Add milk, sugar, vanilla, and rose water and whisk to combine. Set aside until needed.
- Remove pan from the oven and pour custard mixture over the phyllo dough. Make sure it is evenly distributed.
- Place the baking tray back into the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the custard is set and the dough is golden brown.
- Meanwhile, toast pistachios for five minutes and rind into a fine texture, but not a powder. Mix in cardamom powder. Once the crinkle cake is done baking, remove from oven and sprinkle with ground nuts. Cool completely before slicing into squares.
Notes
- If you or a family member is allergic to nuts, you can easily leave them out of the recipe.
- Another way of preparing Muakacha is by sprinkling the nuts over each phyllo sheet before crinkling it. This way, the nuts are mixed into the pastry and don't need to be toasted separately.
- Instead of placing the phyllo dough in the pan as mentioned in the recipe step, another option is to coil them as you would with cinnamon rolls. Each roll would be considered one serving.
Lisa says
I just finished watching Holiday Wars and a guy from one of the teams made this on the finale. So I had to find a recipe lol. He did his a little differently. He baked the fillo before adding the butter. He said it helps keep it crunchier. Have you made it that way? (Also, I believe he is middle eastern and it's something he makes every year)
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Lisa,
My sister showed me how to make this recipe, who learned it from her friend. We tried it a variety of ways and settled on this one. It was a few years back so I can't comment on the way he made it, but I'm sure either way works. Let me know how it goes!