Semolina-Almond Cake

I remember that many mornings at my badi mummy's (grand mother's ) house opened with a warm bowl of sooji halua, a ghee laden dessert made with toasted semolina and milk, speckled with grains of woody black cardamom. In fact,it would not be exaggerating to say that the strong,nutty aroma of toasting sooji filling the air of the house sometimes managed to pull me out of the bed early,especially on the lazy weekend mornings. With half closed eyes, I headed straight to the verandah where we usually ate breakfast . Sometimes, there were cups of chai and warm bowls of halua already waiting to be eaten, many times, the eating had to wait a bit longer, for it took a extra while to roll and deep fry pooris to go along. Yes halua - poori is exactly what I am talking about here, an immensely carbohydrate loaded meal but at the same time so comforting. Those the days when you could eat as much as you wished to.The variety of foods at our mealtimes were many.An amazingly beautiful thing in the house that I grew up in, a tradition that instilled in us the virtue of sharing and caring.In those times, childhood could absorb so much sugar, oil and calories. Much unlike now when a bowl of halua will push me a step closer to long naps during mid day, I remember playing around the aangan (back yard) for hours. Semolina is quite a popular flour of choice when baking cakes in indian homes.There were a couple of sweet as well as savory cakes that my mother baked for us using it.Most of the cakes were steamed inside the pressure cooker(for she did not own an oven then) and they came out pretty awesome.In contrast to the sugar syrup drizzle that I used in my recipe, inspired by arabic desserts, the pressure cooker cakes from my childhood were really moist and soft.They didn't need any glaze, drizzle or makeup, as mum says. This cake is full of flavors from those days of sooji halua eating mornings.The ingredients are very few and the condensed milk and nutty almond meal makes it a lot, lot better than the actual dessert. It is quite a dense cake and a small portions will instantly make you feel full. I would really recommend not skipping that sugar syrup to cut down the sweet else it may taste dry.I do not soak the cake in entire quantity of the syrup and save some to drizzle just when serving. It keeps the cake moist just when you are about to enjoy it. You can substitute any nut powder of choice here and make it. Also, I found that this cake travels and packs really well,once it cools down completely and you cut the slices, they can be packaged for lunch boxes, care packages and on the go snacks.Serve with black or green tea. Printable Recipe

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Semolina Almond Cake

A dense and delicious cake that tastes like indian sooji halwa. Made with semolina, almonds and condensed milk.Eggless recipe!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time35 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Indian

Servings: 9 inch round

Author: Tanvi Srivastava

Ingredients

• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 10 tablespoon unsalted butter melted + more for the cake pan
• 9 tablespoon whole milk room temperature
• 1+⅓ cup coarse semolina
• 1+⅓ cup almond meal
• ½ teaspoon green cardamom powder
• ⅓ cup raw almonds for top, optional

For Sugar Syrup

• ½ cup sugar
• ⅓ cup water
• ¼ teaspoon green cardamom powder

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour a 9 "X 2" round cake pan. I use parchment paper lining for easy handling.
• In a large bowl, mix whisk together condenser milk, melted butter, milk and baking powder to smooth slurry. Add semolina and almond meal to it along with cardamom powder. Mix together to combine to a smooth batter. Do not over mix.
• Transfer the batter to the cake pan. Scatter the raw almonds on top. Bake for 35 minutes or so or until a skewer comes out clean and the edges are nice and golden brown.
• Once the cake is baked, take it out and drizzle liberally with the sugar syrup (recipe below) while still warm.
• I sometimes, reserve ¼ cup or so of the syrup to be used for instant moistening when serving the cake (optional)
• Let cool completely. Slice and serve.

For the Sugar Syrup 

• While the cake is baking, in a small sauce pan, combine the sugar and water. Cook for 10-12 minutes on low medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the syrup has thickened a bit. Put the stove off and add cardamom powder to the syrup.Keep the syrup warm. Drizzle the warm syrup on the cake as soon it comes out of the oven.