BASBOUSA CAKE

It has been a while since I baked something, and I didn’t want to bake the traditional cakes, breads or biscuits and that’s when I decided to bake basbousa cake. I had eaten this yummy cake when my friend from Egypt brought it over. She said it was one of her aunt’s special dessert. Well, I fell absolutely in love with the cake and decided that this would be next in my to-do lists. 😊…..and of course in my blog.

Basbousa cake is an Egyptian semolina cake drenched in cinnamon-sugar syrup. Some people use lemon juice along with the cinnamon-sugar syrup. Well, I like it with lemon. Also, allow cinnamon-sugar syrup to cool completely before pouring it onto the hot basbousa, For best results, let basbousa cake to sit for 1 hour before serving. This allows for the syrup to be absorbed into the cake.

This is my kind of fuss-free dessert that yields impressive results. I hope you will try it soon!

 

Ingredients

• ½ cup plus 2 tbsps. Unsalted Butter
• 1 cup Sugar
• One cup plain Yogurt
• 1 cup fine Semolina + 1 cup coarse Semolina
• 1/3 cup Milk
• 1 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 cup desiccated Coconut
• Almonds, for garnish

For, cinnamon sugar syrup:

• 1 ½ cup Sugar
• One short Cinnamon stick
• 1 ¾ cup Water
• ¼ tsp. Lemon juice

 

Method

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
• Place the butter in a small bowl and melt in the microwave. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine together the sugar and yogurt. Now add in the semolina, baking powder and milk. Finally stir in the melted butter, and let the mixture sit briefly so that the butter is absorbed.
• Transfer the semolina mixture into a lightly greased 9-inch round cake pan or baking dish.
• Using a knife, score the top of the cake creating diamond shaped pieces.
• Push a piece of slivered almond into each diamond shaped piece of cake batter.
• Bake in the 350 °F heated oven for about 40-45 minutes. Keep an eye on the basbousa cake in the oven so that it doesn’t get burnt. When ready, remove from oven.
• While the cake is baking, prepare the cinnamon sugar syrup. In a small saucepan or pot, combine the sugar, water and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil on high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Turn heat to low and let cook for a few minutes until the syrup thickens.
• Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Let cool completely, then remove the cinnamon stick.
• As soon as the basbousa is removed from the oven, pour the cool syrup on the hot basbousa. Let cool completely; syrup must be absorbed into the cake. For best results, let it sit for 1 hour before serving.
• Slice and enjoy yummy basbousa cake!