Orange Semolina Cake

My favorite Middle Eastern café, Tamam, used to serve up incredible homemade desserts, one of which was orange semolina cake. That was the last slice of cake I had at that café before it closed down, and it was also the first time I ever tried semolina cake. It was fluffy, orangey, lightly spiced, and baked with so much love. I was hooked and made it my mission to try and recreate the beautiful slice of cake I had. After tweaking a Greek semolina cake recipe, it came quite close to the original. If you love oranges, you’ll love this cake!

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Orange Semolina Cake

Course Dessert

Cuisine Middle Eastern

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Author Eat the Wind

Ingredients

Ingredients:

• 125 g ½ cup room temperature butter
• ½ cup raw caster sugar baking sugar
• 2 Tablespoons grated orange zest
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 cup semolina
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 2 teaspoons cardamom powder*
• 6 slices of thinly sliced oranges for decorating
• *You may find cardamom powder in your local Asian grocery store or buy it online.

Syrup

• 2 Tablespoons raw caster sugar
• ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Instructions

• Grease an 8-inch cake pan with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper.
• Preheat the oven at 400℉ (200℃). If you’re using a fan-forced oven, lower the temperature by 20 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, whip the butter, sugar and orange zest until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time and whip to incorporate. Add the orange juice and vanilla essence, and mix well.
• In another bowl, add the semolina, baking powder, ground almonds and cardamom powder. Mix well with a fork. Then slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mix, and gently fold them in.
• Pour the batter into the tin and even the top out with a small offset spatula. Place the thin slices of orange onto the top of the batter. Place it in the oven and lower the temperature to 355℉ (180℃).
• While the cake is baking, bring ½ cup of orange juice and two tablespoons of sugar to a boil to make the syrup. Set aside.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until your skewer comes out clean.
• Remove the cake from the oven and pour syrup over it while it’s hot. Set it aside to cool down in the pan. After it’s cooled, loosen the sides with an offset spatula for easier removal. Serve immediately.

Notes

*You may find cardamom powder in your local Asian grocery store or buy it online.

Makes one 8-inch cake.