How to Make Semolina Cake

A soft fluffy cake made with a mix of semolina flour and all-purpose flour, sweetened with a simple sugar syrup for a perfectly moist cake slice to serve with fresh fruit. This luscious semolina cake is inspired by the famous Middle Eastern Basbousa or Harissa Cake.

Semolina Cake

Semolina cake is an easy dessert that is ready in an hour or less. If you know or have tried the Middle Eastern Basbousa or Harissa desserts, this tastes very similar but it has a lighter and fluffier texture.

This is a luscious sweet cake that I think contrasts well with and complements a cup of black coffee beautifully. It also goes great with fresh summer fruits. I like to serve it with fresh strawberries. It’s just so good!

A simple syrup made from sugar, lemon juice and water is used to drench Semolina Cake, making it very moist and sweet. The flavors of the semolina flour, lemon and vanilla combined together in sugary goodness is just utterly irresistible.

This is definitely one of my favorite desserts!

What You Need to Make Semolina Cake

The cake and syrup ingredients are simple, and are generally basic baking ingredients. You probably only need to get some semolina flour.

For the cake you need:

• Semolina flour: it is a coarse flour made from durum wheat. There are many types of Semolinas including fine and coarse. Fine semolinas will give you a softer cake, while coarse semolinas will give you a bit of a bite that will go away as the cake soaks up the syrup more. Semolina is what gives this recipe its unique color, sweet nutty flavor, and distinctive texture.

• all-purpose flour
• granulated sugar
• vegetable oil
• plain whole milk yogurt: you can experiment with flavored yogurt too, or make your own yogurt.
• eggs
• baking powder
• vanilla extract
• salt

For the simple syrup:

• Sugar
• Lemon juice: this gives the cake a yummy citrus flavor.
• Water

Directions:

Baking the Cake

Prepare a 9 inch round spring form pan by lining it with parchment paper and lightly greasing it. Preheat the oven to 350 F or 175 C.

The cake is so easy to make, you can literally just add all the ingredients for the cake and mix them together until homogeneous and you’re good to go. Or you can start by whisking the eggs, then add the sugar, vanilla and oil, and mix them together. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix.

Pour the mixture into your prepared pan, and bake it in the oven at 350 F or 175 C for 35-40 minutes, or until it’s golden on top, and golden brown on the edges. Baking time will vary if you use a different size pan.

Preparing the Syrup:

While the cake is baking, make the syrup. In a small saucepan, add the sugar, lemon juice and water. Give it a god stir, and bring to a boil on medium high heat. Boil it for about 5 minutes then allow to cool.

Assembling the Cake:

You want to pour the syrup on top of the cake to absorb it. Ideally, you want one of them to be hot, and one cool. So when the cake comes out of the oven, allow it to cool just for a few minutes. It will still be relatively hot at this point. Pour the cooled syrup on top of it.

You can serve this cake with nuts, fruits, or simply as it is.

Feel free to use as much or as little syrup as you like to soak and sweeten the cake. I like to pour about half of the syrup on the cake, and serve the rest on the side.

More Recipes for you to Try:

• Pineapple Upside Down Bundt Cake
• Chicken and Rice Kabsa Recipe
• Spinach Puffs Recipe

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