Semolina coconut cake

Those who are familiar with my blog and posts would surely be knowing my love for semolina. I love the nutty flavour of semolina and use it in most of my breads. But somehow I have never made any cakes with semolina. So, this cake was surely due for long in my blog. When I finally decided to bake a cake with semolina, I read lot of blogs and saw many recipes on YouTube.

I saw many beautiful cakes with semolina combined with

coconut, pineapple, tootifrooti, chocolate, cocoa powder, chocolate chips etc. One such cake was the traditional Middle Eastern cake called Basbousa. It’s a semolina coconut cake baked and then subsequently soaked in sugar syrup and often garnished with almonds. I was pretty sure that no one at my place would eat such a sweet cake. So, soaking in sugar syrup was out of question.

I didn’t have dessicated coconut with me. So I have used fresh coconut in this recipe. However, I have roasted it for few minutes so that it’s not very moist. You can use dessicated coconut too. One can add cardamom powder for a more Indian flavour. However, I have used some pineapple extract as coconut and pineapple is a heavenly combination. And trust me, it goes very well. I have a feeling that adding small chunks of pineapple into this cake batter is surely going to taste super yummy.

Giving a resting time of around half an hour is extremely necessary for the semolina to nicely absorb the liquid ingredients. So please do not bake as soon as you mix the cake batter like all normal cakes. After 25-30 minutes, the batter would have become very thick and therefore you can add some more milk and adjust the consistency. Since my family likes very mild sweetness in cakes, I have taken only around 125 grams of sugar. So you can adjust the amount of sugar according to your preferences.

I have used fine unroasted semolina also called as chirotti rava. If your semolina is granular, pulse it in a mixer till it’s fine. 1 cup is 240 ml.

Ingredients:

• Semolina 1 cup (175 gm)
• Salt a pinch
• Baking powder 1/2 tsp
• Baking soda 1/4 tsp
• Grated coconut 1/2 cup (50 gm)
• Sugar 3/4cup (150gm)
• Milk 3/4 cup
• Curd 1/4 cup
• Ghee 1/4 cup
• Almond flakes 1-2 tbsp
• Pineapple extract 1 tsp

Method:

• Lightly roast the grated coconut on low flame for 7-8 minutes. Cool well. I have taken tightly packed half cup of coconut.
• Mix the semolina, salt and rising agents with a whisk till its well combined.
• Powder the sugar in a dry mixer.
• In a big mixing bowl add half cup of milk, curd, ghee and powdered sugar.
• Whisk it till you get a smooth mixture. Add pine apple extract to this.

• Add the semolina mixture into this and mix gently.

• Fold the grated coconut in to this mixture.

• Allow the batter to rest for around 20-25 minutes.
• Preheat the oven at 150-160 degree Celsius for atleast 10 minutes.
• Grease a six inch cake tin with butter and dust it with flour.
• The mixture would look very thick now as the semolina would have absorbed most of the liquid.

• Add the remaining one fourth cup of milk and mix gently.
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and tap it on the counter 3-4 times to remove the air bubbles if any.

• Sprinkle some almond flakes on top of the cake batter.

• Bake the cake for 45-55 minutes or till the sides and top look golden in colour.
• You may check by inserting a toothpick into the centre of the cake. If the cake is fully baked, then the toothpick will come out clean.
• Take the tin out of the oven and allow the cake to remain in the tin for 7-8 minutes

• Slowly transfer the cake onto a wire rack and cool for atleast half an hour.
• Slice and serve it warm with a cup of tea or coffee. Enjoy.