Semolina Halva Cake

A semolina orange cake infused with a light, chamomile flavoured syrup. Moist and delicate to the taste buds.

25 minutes

40 minutes

200°C reduced to 160°C

Ingredients

Cake
175g butter

- softened
3/4 cup of caster sugar
1 orange

- zest only and finely grated
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups semolina

- fine
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cups ground almonds
Tea infusion Syrup
4 herb teabags

- chamomile
2 cups boiling water
1 cup sugar
1 lemon

- juice and a few bits of parred rind
Decoration
1 orange

- fine strips of zest

Instructions

Prepare tin:
01 Butter and flour a 24cm square cake tin.
Cake:
02 Cream butter and sugar together, then beat in zest, juice and eggs. Stir in semolina, baking powder and almonds. Pour into prepared tin. Bake for 10 minutes then lower temperature to 160°C for a further 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
03 Pour Tea Infusion Syrup over cooled cake and decorate with orange zest.
Tea Infusion Syrup:
04 Infuse tea in boiling water for 10 minutes, and then strain into a saucepan. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil for 5 minutes to form a syrup.

Notes

Herb teas as we know are a wonderful alternative drink to the regular tea or coffee many of us consume daily, however, rather than a drink try this tea as an additional flavour to a moist cake. The recipe above works well with all herb teas, so if chamomile is not to your taste try rosehip or any other hibiscus tea. Same method and perhaps add a tsp of rosewater as well to the final infusion syrup - very much part of the Middle Eastern taste.