All Together Greek Cake

Finally folks I have got around to making this cake!  I took a clipping out of a magazine some years ago, and it has been sitting in one of my cooking folders for ahem ...some time.  Finally I have made it.  Now we will see if it is as fabulous as the cooking editor claimed. 

This cake is very sweet, I warn you now.  There is sugar in it of course, plus a syrup made with sugar AND honey.  Whew!  Oh, and how about the block of butter in the cake?  Perhaps you can dance off the kilojoules Zorba style, if that is a worry to you.:=)   

a nutty, sweet treat  

A slightly adapted recipe from an old Woman's Day mag.

ingredients:


For cake:

3 cups semolina

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

3 eggs

250g. butter, melted

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped - or use pine nuts, almonds etc.


For syrup:

3 cups water

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup honey

1/2 tsp orange blossom water (optional)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

a large handful of walnuts for the top


Method:


Lightly grease and line the base of a 23cm cake tin

Put all the cake ingredients except the nuts in a large mixing bowl

Whizz away for a couple of minutes with electric beaters or a big wooden spoon

Toss in the nuts and stir them into the batter

Pour the batter into the lined tin

Bake at 180C for 35-40 minutes till golden on top and a skewer in the middle comes out clean

About 10-15 minutes before the cake is cooked, make the syrup by putting everything bar the nuts into a heavy based saucepan

Bring it to the boil while stirring, till the sugar dissolves

Then let it rip for 15 minutes at a mad boil till it just starts to thicken - watch it very carefully in the last 5 minutes as it can erupt like Vesuvius over your saucepan

Pour the syrup over the slightly cooled cake and let it absorb for an hour or so

Throw your nuts over the top to decorate


Confession time:  I waited too long to make the syrup so the cake was cold when I poured it over.  So I hurriedly poked the cake with my skewer to make lots of holes for it to soak in.  And I had to stand over it and keep pouring the syrup on bit by bit.  Okay well, I still have about a cupful that just would not go into the cake.  I suggest you do what I am going to do if you have this problem - serve slices of cake with a jug of the delicious, gooey liquid.


Tips:


Mr P. suggested it could be made in an even bigger cake tin so it is less dense and the syrup would go in more easily.  Obviously you have to adjust the cooking time if so; a shallower tin would take less time to bake.  I suggest using a rectangular tin like a lamington tray which is usually 30 cm x 20 cm x 3.5 cm.  Mr P. did some weird mathematical equation using Pi (not the edible kind), which somehow told him you need a tray at least this big to hold all the batter!

you guessed it - ingredients      

ready to beat  

pour in the melted butter     

the nuts go into the batter    

spoon your batter into the lined tin  (Mr P.'s wonky shot)   

honey into the syrup mix      

starting to boil like a mad thing    

Mt. Vesuvius here we come - watch it carefully    

pour on the hot syrup   

shiny, walnut-y cake  

Okay, so I liked this cake.  It has crunch with the walnuts, and nice flavours with the cinnamon and orange blossom water. But I have to tell you, I don't love this cake.  I am a "give me a bit of cake with my inch-thick icing" kind of gal.  So blame me not the cake. Mr P. thinks it's great, and I think a lot of you will too.

my honey pot doodle