Almond and Semolina Cake

-
This is another bake which came about because I wanted to use up something lurking in the back of the cupboard. This time it's a packet of semolina, getting very close to it's 'use by' date.
This recipe is a variation on Nigella's semolina cake which I've made a few times.

You need to make a syrup first - 250g granulated sugar. 150ml water and juice of a lemon. put sugar and water in a pan on low heat till sugar's dissolved then add the lemon juice and bring to boil and boil for 5 mins. Cool, then chill in fridge.

The cake - preheat oven 180C/gas 4 and grease a 24cm square tin.

It's an easy to cake to make as you use the all in one method, except for the whole almonds.
So, put 300g semolina, 150g caster sugar, 125g butter, 1 tspn baking powder, 2 eggs, 2 heaped tbspn natural yoghurt, 1/2 tspn cinnamon, 1/2 tspn almond extract in a bowl and beat together. Spoon into the cake tin and level the top.
Put 25 whole blanched almonds in 5 rows of 5 on the top of the batter and bake for 30 mins till golden.
Pour over the cold syrup whilst the cake is hot and cool in the tin.
Cut into 25 squares, with an almond on each piece.




A nice crunchy texture from the almonds and the syrup and a slightly dense sponge. The syrup also makes it moist and you get both the lemon and almond flavours mingling together.
This works well both as a cake and as a dessert with a dollop of crème fraiche or ice cream.


Comments

Suelle said…
Cinnamon again, I see! ;)

I'd be tempted to use the lemon zest in the cake, as I needed the juice for the syrup, or perhaps add rosewater instead of the cinnamon. It sounds as if it makes a lovely moist dessert!
29/5/15 8:16 am
Snowy said…
That's a good idea for next time, Suelle. Like the thought of rosewater - would give it a middle eastern twist.
30/5/15 3:47 am
Phil in the Kitchen said…
I've been meaning to make this cake - or something like it - for ages but I've never got around to it. It does look very good. I must check the cupboard for semolina.
30/5/15 3:19 pm
Kelly-Jane said…
I've never made this one, but it looks great, so will need to go onto the bake list. :)
12/6/15 9:51 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aberffraw cakes

-
Image
These were mentioned recently on the GBBO, so I thought I'd find out more about them. They're made on the Isle of Anglesey and are a traditional biscuit really, not a cake. They're served sprinkled with sugar and even with cream and jam, like a scone. The bit I liked was that a scallop shell is pressed into the top to give it a shell-like pattern. Nowadays, a lot of the Aberffraw cakes have the pattern put on with a knife. I have a bag of scallop shells, brought back from France so I used a genuine one to make my pattern. The recipe is a 3.2.1  - quite common for biscuits. This means 3 parts flour to 2 parts fat to 1 part sugar. 175g flour 110g butter 55g caster sugar a little milk more caster sugar for sprinkling over Preheat oven 190C/gas5. Grease a baking sheet. I used a processor to make my dough. Put flour and sugar in a bowl and rub in the butter. Bind together with a litle milk to make a soft dough. Roll out and cut out circles. I used a 7cm cutter an...
Read more

Carrot Cake Muffins

-
Image
 I’m a great muffin fan and have adapted my basic recipe, given to me by an American friend, many times. This is my latest idea. I made the muffins and was asked by a friend if I could make some for a party with the icing you usually get on a carrot cake.  280g plain flour, 1 tbsps baking powder, 1 tspn mixed spice, pinch salt, 115g soft dark brown sugar, 200g grated carrot, 50g chopped pecans or walnuts, 50g sultanas, 2 eggs, 175ml milk, 6 tbsps sunflower oil Optional: icing - 75g soft cream cheese, 49g butter and 35g icing sugar, sprigs of orange zest Preheat oven 200C/gas6. Grease a muffin tin or use muffin cases. Sift together the flour, baking powder and spice. Add carrots, sugar walnuts and sultanas and stir together. In a jug add the milk, oil and beaten eggs. Mix well. Make a well in flour mix and add milk mixture. Stir gently till just mixed. Don’t over mix or muffins will be heavy. Soon into the muffin tin - I use an ice cream scoop. Bake for 20 mins till risen. Cool...
Read more

Bakewell Pudding (or maybe not!)

-
Image
  I recently picked up a book in a local charity shop about 'Food of the British Isles'.It's a compilation of recipes from restaurants and cooks. I was especially interested in the Cake Section, as I've been wanting to try some of the more unusual British cake and pudding recipes for some time. This one isn't very unusual, but thought I'd try it as it's called a Bakewell Pudding and not a Tart. In the book, the writer says says that a Pudding is made with puff pastry and the Tart with shortcrust. Is it that simple? I bet a lot of local people would disagree with this definition! The writer made her puff pastry from scratch, but I bought mine, butter of course! For the Pudding you need : 500g butter puff pastry, 3 tbspn raspberry jam, 150g butter, 150g caster sugar, 3 eggs plus a yolk, beaten, 150g ground almonds, zest of a lemon,2 tspn almond extract, 1 tbspn flaked almonds and some icing sugar to dust the top. Preheat oven 190C/gas5        ...
Read more