A delicious semolina, coconut and yoghurt cake topped with almonds and drizzled with sugar syrup. Basbousa is popular throughout Middle East and is often found in the pastry and sweet shops.
There are many different versions of this semolina cake. The Turkish name for the cake is Revani, In MiddleEast and Eygpt it is called basbousa and shamali in Armenian.
HOW TO MAKE BASBOUSA
Jump to RecipeThe main ingredients required for this recipe are
Semolina – Ideally coarse semolina is used as it gives the grainy texture, but you can use fine semolina too.
Desiccated coconut – Fine textured desiccated coconut.
Plain flour – All Purpose flour.
Melted butter – Some recipes use desi ghee instead of butter. Its completely up to you if you want to alternate butter for ghee. I believe ghee is more fragrant and have this aroma that makes the cake more tempting. Taste wise it doesn’t make a huge difference.
Yoghurt – plain yoghurt, ideally Greek yoghurt works the best. Since this is eggless recipe, yoghurt helps to keep the cake soft and moist.
Baking Powder – Although this cake is dense and doesn’t rise as usual cakes but a little bit of baking powder helps basbousa to rise.
Mix all ingredients into a bowl and mix. It should form a dough like consistency. Spread it in the baking dish using hands or spatula. You can cut the desired shape at this point. Traditionally its baked cut into a star shaped pattern or diamond pattern. Add a blanched almond into each square.
BAKING BASBOUSA
I used a 12 inch round baking tray. It makes a cake around 1 1/2 inch thick. You can use choice of your baking dish depending on how thick you want the basbousa to be. Bake basbousa in 180 C/ 350F preheated oven, on the middle rack, until the edges start to brown. Move the pan around until it is nicely golden brown. Some people like broiling the top, but be careful it burns very quickly.
HOW TO MAKE SUGAR SYRUP
I used 11/2 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water. The syrup is thin consistency as it helps to absorb into semolina cake. There are different flavours that can be added to the syrup The most common flavors are lemon, orange and rose.
I used lemon juice it gives nice flavour to the sugar syrup. Add warm sugar to basbousa straight out from the oven. Leave it after pouring the syrup to absorb it. If you have time, cover it and let it soak in the syrup overnight. But couple of hours is enough too.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE BASBOUSA
Storing Basbousa
Basbousa can be stored at room temperature in airtight container for up to 3-4 days. During hot weather store it in the fridge and reheat in microwave before serving.
More Cake Recipes to Try:
Pistachio and Lemon Cake
Strawberry Cake
French Orange Yoghurt Cake
Basbousa – Semolina Cake
Ingredients
- 21/2 cup Semolina
- 1 cup (90g) Desiccated Coconut
- 200 g Greek Yoghurt
- 200 g Melted Butter
- ½ cup (75g) Plain Flour
- ½ tsp Baking Powder
- Almonds Blanched
- Pistachios Chopped ( Optional)
Sugar Syrup
- 1½ cup Sugar
- 1 cup Water
- 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180° C/ 350 ° F. In a mixing bowl add semolina, plain flour, desiccated coconut and baking powder. Add yoghurt and melted butter.
- Mix untill dough like mixture is formed. Grease a pan with butter and spread the mixture in the pan.
- Cut the cake into star shape or diamond shape. Add blanched almonds into each square. Bake it for approximately 30-40 minutes untill its nicely golden brown on all sides.
Sugar Syrup
- Add water and sugar in a pan. Heat it on medium heat while stirring untill sugar melts.
- Add lemon juice and remove from the heat. Allow it to cool slightly.
- Add warm syrup to the cake straight out from the oven. Allow it to soak the syrup. Decorate with pistachios and dessicated coconut.
I made this and it turned out perfect. I added bit of rose water in sugar syrup, it adds nice flavour and aroma.