Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Gers Ogaily
A fragrant saffron and cardamom sponge cake topped with sesame and nigella seeds, a Kuwaiti celebration classic.
Kuwaiti · easy · serves 10
prep 15 min · cook 40 min
~354 cal · 7g protein · 52g carbs · 14g fat · 1g fiber · 32g sugars · 7g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Gers ogaily is one of Kuwait's most cherished traditional cakes, a light, fragrant sponge said to date back generations and named, by one account, after a family who popularised it. It is a fixture of celebrations, gatherings, and the welcoming of guests.
The batter is perfumed generously with and , sometimes rose or water, which give the cake its distinctive golden colour and heady aroma. Baked in a round tin and scattered with sesame and nigella seeds on top, it is soft, aromatic, and only moderately sweet, the perfect partner to a cup of Arabic coffee or tea.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 10
2 cups flour
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tbsp and ground
1 tsp
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, to top
Instructions
1
Crush the saffron, steep it in a couple of spoonfuls of the warm milk for 10 minutes, then whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale, thick and tripled in volume.
2
Stir the rest of the milk together with the melted butter, cardamom, rosewater, and the steeped saffron, then fold this and the flour, baking powder, and salt into the whipped eggs in alternating additions.
✎ Chef’s note
Fold gently and finish with the flour. The lift in this cake comes from the whipped eggs, so knocking the air out of them makes it heavy.
3
Pour into a greased tin and scatter generously with the toasted sesame seeds.
4
Bake at 350F (180C) until golden and springy, about 35 minutes.
Kuwaiti celebration tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Kuwait City. Harees is the Ramadan fixture, wheat and meat cooked down for hours and beaten until they become one smooth thing, and it turns up across the Gulf under the same name. The saffron and rosewater in the rice and the sweets are the visible half of centuries of Persian and Indian trade through this port.
🗺️
Kuwait. The Kuwaiti signature within the machboos family is the prawn version, machboos rubyan, because Gulf shrimp were landed here in quantity long before oil. The dried black lime is pricked with a fork before it goes into the pot so its sourness can leach out, and bzar, the local spice blend, does the rest.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Kuwait
MurabyanSpiced Gulf shrimp folded through rice cooked in their fragrant broth, layered with dill and dried lime.
KhameerSoft, lightly sweet date-and-cardamom yeast breads, griddled and eaten with cream or cheese.
Mutabbaq SamakSpiced fish served over caramelized-onion rice with dried lime, a classic Kuwaiti and Gulf seafood dish.
Browse all Kuwait recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Mould or tin, Whisk.
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
Make it a Kuwait meal
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Gers Ogaily?
A fragrant saffron and cardamom sponge cake topped with sesame and nigella seeds, a Kuwaiti celebration classic.
Where does Gers Ogaily come from?
Gers Ogaily is a Kuwaiti dish from Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Can Gers Ogaily be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Gers Ogaily recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Gers Ogaily safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Gers Ogaily take to make?
About 55 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 10.
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