Namoura
Lebanese Semolina Cake
Servings 12 people
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 100 ml Greek yoghurt
- 250 ml whole milk
- 50 g ground almonds
- 350 g fine semolina
- 75 g caster sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 50 g blanched almonds
- whole almonds
Glaze
- 175 ml elderflower cordial
- 2 lemons zested and juiced
Instructions
- Put the elderflower cordial in a small pan, put it on a medium heat just to warm through, then take off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and leave to cool. Meanwhile, grease a shallow (2½cm) 20cm x 20cm cake tin with the tahini paste.
- Put the semolina, ground almonds, sugar, salt and lemon zest in a large bowl and mix to combine. Mix the yoghurt and milk together until combined and then add to the dry ingredients and stir until everything is well incorporated, then pour into the prepared tin and use a spatula to spread out the batter evenly.
- With a small sharp knife (a non-serrated one is best here), score the top of the batter into 4cm squares, then put a whole almond in the centre of each one. Put in the fridge for at least three hours, and ideally overnight.
- Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4, then bake the cake for 30-40 minutes, until the top is nicely golden brown. Remove from the oven, pour over the cooled elderflower lemon syrup, so it covers the whole top of the cake, then leave it to soak in and the cake to cool completely. Cut into squares and serve with yoghurt or ice-cream; it will keep in a cake tin for up to a week.