Bergamot Semolina Cake

Well, this is interesting. Today is Friday. I thought yesterday was Friday. So you got Food Waste Friday yesterday, and today you get the recipe I wanted to post on Thursday. I'm not entirely sure why I thought yesterday was Friday, given that I fully knew I had a class to go to (and I did go). I guess I've been confused a lot lately.

What I'm not confused about, however, is this cake. It's really amazing. I think it's the best cake I've ever made. When I first started out, I thought I was going to make a Williamsburg Orange Cake we used to make a lot when I was a kid. Except, y'know, with bergamot. But then I was, once again, laying in bed and I thought about how I'd like semolina in there, and olive oil. So I started thinking about the recipe and changing it all around. I suppose it vaguely resembles the old one, in that it's a citrus cake, but that's where the similarities end. I will probably make this next time with lemon, since I'm nearly out of the bergamots (I know... it's sad. I almost didn't think it'd happen, but it's happening). Hope you enjoy!

Cake:

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/4 cup good quality olive oil
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar (you can drop this down to 1 cup if you prefer)
grated zest of one bergamot orange*

2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup semolina
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup bergamot juice
1 cup milk

Heat oven to 350F. Cream together first group of ingredients. Whisk in orange juice. Add in semolina, baking powder and salt, whisking that in. Add in milk, then once it's fully incorporated, add in the cake flour. Put in a greased 13x9" pan and bake 35 minutes. While it's cooling, make syrup. Pour the syrup on while it's still hot, and let finish cooling before cutting. Serves many.

Syrup:

juice of 1 bergamot orange
1 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bergamot Curd

Image
As promised, here is the curd recipe. This is perfect for scones, toast, just to eat, or for an unusual twist on the filling typically used in those little fruit tarts. If bergamots are not available to you, you could always use lemon, Seville orange, sweet types of orange (cut the sugar a bit though), lime, pomello, grapefruit or any other citrus. Enjoy! 9 ounces freshly squeezed bergamot juice 2 tablespoons finely grated zest 1 1/2 cups sugar 6 eggs 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 12 tablespoons butter, cut into 1 tablespoon bits Whisk all but butter into a saucepan. Begin to heat over medium low heat and add all the butter. Whisking periodically, cook until the whisk marks stay in the curd. Pack into sterilised jars (or you can just put this in a jar and put it in the fridge, if you don't want to can it) and process 15 minutes. Makes about 3 cups.
Read more

Gems, Lovely Gems

Image
I actually have a bit more homework than I anticipated, so today I just want to tell you guys about gems. It appears that no one really knows what gems are anymore, but back in the 1800s they were a popular, if heavy, treat. So much so, that many pioneers even found room in their wagons to bring a gem pan. By the early 1900s, gems had fallen out of favour and most people just went with muffins. It's a sad, sad thing, really. Traditionally, gem pans were made from cast iron. You can still find beautiful, old cast iron pans on eBay. In fact, aside from scouring antique shops hopefully (and often fruitlessly), eBay is the only place I know that routinely "carries" them. You can find a proper gem pan for as little as US$5, and I've seen them as much as US$300. You just never really know. My advice, however, is to find one that's shallow, made in the mid-1800s (this is when the pans were really in their prime, quality-wise), and in extremely poor condition. I say to fi
Read more

Lentil, Chick Pea and Eggplant Boil

Image
Sorry for the delay. I actually made this days ago, but due to my busy school schedule (yay! The semester is finally almost over!), I didn't have time until now to post it. I always forget about lentils. I always have them in the house, and like them quite a bit, but most of the time, they don't even exist as an option in my head. I don't know why that is. I've been telling P for a while now I wanted to eat more lentils, so finally I just made some. I also decided to take this as an opportunity to use up some spare veggies laying about. Hope you enjoy! 1/2 anise bulb, sliced 1 small onion, cut into rings 1/2 jalepeno, minced 1 tablespoon olive oil salt to taste 1 cup yellow potato, cubed 2 cups cubed and peeled eggplant 1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives, cut into quarters 1 cup lentils 3 - 4 1/2 cups water 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/4 teaspoon each: clove, cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed 1/2 preserved lemon, diced 1 roma tomato, chopped 1 cup mixe
Read more