Spice Kitchen - Middle Eastern
Palestinian Semolina & Fenugreek Cake with Orange Blossom
Perfect for a celebration or as a weekend treat. Forget your traditional lemon drizzle cake and give this citrusy Middle Eastern beauty a try.
INGREDIENTS
- 40g fenugreek seeds, soaked in water overnight
- 500ml water
- 360g coarse semolina
- 100ml olive oil
- 1 tsp quick yeast
- Pinch salt
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
Syrup
- 400g sugar
- 300ml water
- Juice of half a lemon
- 2 tsp orange blossom water
METHOD
- To make the sugar syrup, heat the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Once cooled, add the lemon juice and orange blossom water and set aside.
- Wash and rinse your soaked fenugreek seeds, then boil them in 500ml of water for half an hour. Drain, reserving 1 cup/200ml of water.
- In a large bowl, mix the semolina and olive oil.
- Add cooked fenugreek seeds, quick yeast, salt, fennel, and sesame seeds.
- Add the fenugreek water and whisk to a smooth batter.
- Grease a 10-inch cake tin and pour in the batter. Leave the mix for a couple of hours to allow the yeast to activate and prove.
- Preheat the oven to 180°c. After 2 hours of proofing, the batter should have risen to almost double the original size. Place the tin in the oven and cook for 30 minutes.
- Pierce the centre of the cake with a skewer and if it comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven and let it cool. If it needs more cooking, allow another 10 minutes before checking again.
- Once it’s out of the oven, pour the syrup over the cake and leave aside to cool.
- Once cooled, cut the cake into squares or diamond shapes before serving.