Rhubarb and Cardamom Upside-down Semolina Cake

rhubarb cardamom upside-down semolina cake

Rhubarb is in season and I just couldn’t resist! I wanted to make something easy, simple and fun for you to make at home. Something that would allow the rhubarb to stand out. As I come to the end of ramadan and having eaten a lot of basbousa - a Middle Eastern semolina cake that is dowsed in loads of syrup, I decided that recreating in a lighter, fluffy way would be perfect. So here we have a Rhubarb Upside-down cake spiced with cardamom and topped with some roasted rhubarb & Orange syrup.

Cooking notes:

  • The extra roasted rhubarb with orange syrup is not needed, however when I carefully aligned the rhubarb at the bottom of the pan and cooked them with the batter - they sunk in and the colour disappeared and I didn’t get that beautiful geometric print you see on google, so I needed the extra rhubarb for aesthetics!

  • Ideally use fine semolina and not coarse. But if you can’t source then you can grind down the coarse one.

Cake Ingredients:

  • 220g Caster Sugar

  • 250g Unsalted Butter

  • 150g Fine Semolina

  • 150g Plain Flour

  • 2 TBSP Full Fat Yoghurt

  • 3 Medium Eggs

  • 10 Cardamom Pods (skin removed and crushed)

  • 200g Rhubarb

  • 1 TSP Baking Powder

  • Juice of 1 Orange

Topping Ingredients:

  • 100g Rhubarb

  • 1/2 Cup of Water

  • 1/2 Cup Caster Sugar

  • Juice of 1/2 Orange

Rhubarb and Cardamom Upside-down Semolina Cake

Method

  1. Begin by heating your oven to 190°c.

  2. Line and grease an 8 inch round baking tin.

  3. Cream your butter and sugar together in a stand mixer or with a handheld whisk till pale and smooth.

  4. Add eggs and yoghurt to the butter and whisk to incorporate. Don’t worry if it looks scrambled that will change when dry ingredients are added.

  5. Add in the rest of the cake ingredients, except the rhubarb and beat till smooth.

  6. Cut your rhubarb to the shape or style you want them in and then lay them pink side down in the cake tin.

  7. Sprinkle over some sugar and then pour over the cake batter and place in the oven. Reduce the temperature to 180°C and cook for 30mins then check the cake - place back in the oven at 170°C for a further 30mins, took cook all the way through. Please do check regularly as every oven is different!

Cake, DessertDina MackiComment