This is another great recipe from Tess Mallos’ North African Cooking. We served it after the mouthwatering broiled corvina in charmoula marinade, based on a recipe from the same book, the day our super good friend, Kristen, came into town. A meal with guests wouldn’t be complete without dessert, so this adaptation of basbousa, a semolina almond cake, was perfect.

basbousa: semolina almond cake

The original calls for caster sugar and fine semolina; neither of which we had. So as usual, we improvised. I think that the fine sugar and semolina would’ve made the cake taste smoother. Though I actually enjoyed the rougher texture, as this way it reminded me of Brazilian corn cake, a perennial favorite.

basbousa: semolina almond cake

for the batter:

¼ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups semolina
1tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¾ cup plain whole milk yogurt
½ cup slivered blanched almonds

for the syrup:

2 cups sugar
1½ cups water
Juice of a large lemon

for the whipping cream:

1 cup heavy cream
Confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.

Beat together butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Add eggs. Keep beating until fully incorporated. Meanwhile sift remaining dry batter ingredients together. Fold it into butter mix alternating it with yogurt. Fold in almonds. Transfer batter to a buttered 9 by 12 baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Begin making the syrup by dissolving sugar in water under moderate heat. Bring to a boil, add lemon juice and let liquid reduce by a third. Remove from heat and let cool down to room temperature. Pour syrup over hot cake right out of the oven.

pouring sweet lemon syrup over hot basbousa

Whip cream together with a tiny amount of Confectioner’s sugar until light and fluffy.

Plate cake slices on individual dessert dishes with a dollop of whipped cream.