Semolina Yogurt Cake | Basbousa | Guest post by Sangee Vijay of Spicy Treats

Dear Friends, Please welcome Sangee Vijay of Spicy Treats here. Sangee needs no introduction at all. We all know she is a dedicated blogger and a wonderful photographer (Food stylist).Personally, she is a very good friend of mine with whom I have spent hours chatting and whenever we talk the conversation will never be less than one hour. She always has the ability to bring smile in my face. In the blogging side,  I love the way she clicks pictures- the props she uses, the composition, lighting. everything. Also the combination of ingredients she comes up with each time for the recipes is unique. There will be always something interesting and unique in her recipes and also she concentrates on healthy recipes. The other thing I wanted to mention is her love for Broccoli. She has tried  many recipes with it, from pasta to pulao to rasam to kootu there are so many recipes using broccoli. Check out her Broccoli recipes. Also I must mention here her passion for baking. You can find n number of baking recipes in her blog. Today She is sharing with us a special baking recipe - Semolina Yogurt Cake.

Semolina Yogurt Cake

Now off to Sangee for the guest post..

Blogging has earned me lots of friends and Divya of Divya's Culinary Journey is one such friend whom I found on this vast blogosphere. Divya, an ever smiling, jovial and down to earth person. We extended our friendship via Facebook and she is one person who never fails to Like any of post, pictures on both my personal profile and Blog Facebookpage.Luckily I got chance to talk to her over phone, she is such a sweet person very friendly and always the phone conversation or FB chat will be so much fun and laughter. Divya is not only a good friend but also an active blogger who never fails to feed us with her yummy recipes. I love the simplicity in her pictures, very neat and elegant presentation. I too have a list of my favorite bakes here in Divya's Culinary Journey. Especially I like all her Muffins Recipes, as most of them are egg-less, low calorie muffins. Her Honey Cardamom Cake is my recent favorite and I wanted to try it sometime soon.

Today for her guest post i baked a simple yet delicious Semolina Yogurt Cake or Basbousa. I became a fan of semolina cakes both savoury and sweet version. So this Semolina yogurt cake was in my to-do list since long and when for Divya's guest post i decided to bake it for her readers. Hope Divya and you all like this delicious cake. This is a very simple and easy to make cake, very soft, fluffy and so addictive cake. The taste of this spongy cake drenched with sugar syrup reminds of our traditional milk sweet/paalkova. Me and my family liked this cake a lot. If you are bored with regular flour cakes, just give it a try definitely you will love it.Now off to the recipe...

Recipe Source : Easily Good Eat

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cooking Time : 20-25 minutes

Serves 6 -8

Ingredients

Semolina Flour  1 cup

Sugar  1/2 cup

Yogurt   1 and 1/2 cup 

Oil   1/2 cup (I used extra light olive oil)

Eggs  3 nos

All Purpose Flour   3 tbsp

Vanilla   1 tsp

Baking Soda    1/2 tsp

Baking powder  1 tsp

Salt   1/2 tsp

For syrup

Sugar   1 cup

Water   1 cup

Lemon Juice from 1/2 lemon

Method

• First make the sugar syrup: Boil water and sugar for 3 minutes. Add lemon juice and boil for further 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

• Then grease 8X8 square pan with butter and also Line with baking paper. 
• In a mixing bowl add all semolina flour, AP flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and mix well and keep aside. 
• In another mixing bowl, Beat eggs and sugar until sugar has dissolved.
• And then add yogurt and oil and mix well.

• Then add the dry ingredients to this and mix without lumps, no need to beat it. Just stir well and pour batter in it.

• Bake at 175°C/350°F until golden brown on top and set well, about 25-30 minutes.
• Then remove the pan from the oven and immediately pour the cold syrup over the warm cake. Let it cool completely, or chill, before serving.

Notes:

• If you don't have semolina flour just use the regular rava/sooji. Pulse the rava in blender for few seconds and use it.
• You can also garnish the cake with blanched almonds or sliced almonds.
• For more flavor, you can also add 1/4-1/2 tsp of cardamom powder to the sugar syrup.
• To the same recipe you can also add 1/2 cup shredded coconut(fresh).
• You can also 1/2 tsp add orange or lemon zest for more flavor and taste.