These last three weeks of summer have been a great escape from reality to say the least. I decided to join my mom and visit her side of the family in Cincinnati Ohio, before having to go back to university. To say that I actually enjoyed my time during this trip would be an understatement, spending time with family that I do not get to see very often, hearing stories about my uncles back when they were in school and the trouble they would get themselves into, and the long car rides with my cousins to the mall, as we blasted off different sorts of music, it really was a breather to say the least. This dessert was made by aunt, on the day that we went over and had some lunch, it is basically a Semolina cake with cream in the middle. According to some research I conducted, the word Semolina, is derived from the Italian word semolino which basically means grits or a paste for some kind of soup, and this word was derived from the Latin simala which basically means the finest flour which is similar to the Greek semidalis which also means the finest flour. I find, the different cultures behind the word Semolina very interesting, especially because this cake recipe is actually from an Egyptian origin!
Ingredients for the cake:
- 1 cup of fine semolina
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 cup of fine dry coconut
- 1 cup of plain yogurt
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp spoon of vanilla extract
- 1 tsp spoon of baking powder
- 1/2 tsp spoon of baking soda
- 1/2 cup of vegetable oil or any kind of oil you find
Ingredients for the filling:
- 2 cups of milk
- 4 tbsp of corn starch
- 2 tbsp of sugar
- Rose water/ orange blossom water
Preparations For the cake:
- Mix all of the ingredients well with each other.
Preparations for the Filling:
- Add all of the ingredients together in a pot, and put the stove on medium heat.
- When the mixture begins to boil at the slightest, you add the rose water and turn off the heat.
- Preheat the oven at 355 degrees F
- Grease the baking pan with any kind of shortening.
Cooking:
- Once the oven is preheated, pour half of the cake mixture into the baking pan, and bake it for 10 minutes.
- Pour the filling on top of the bottom half of the cake.
- Pour the other half of the cake mixture on top of the filling.
- Place it back into the oven in the middle rack for another 10 minutes.
This dish can be eaten for breakfast, as a snack, or as a dessert, cold or hot, it is delicious either way. It can be topped with some syrup, and pistachios.
Nadeen's Food Blog 