Semolina Cake à la fleur d'oranger
By esther on Wednesday, June 6 2007, 20:54 - Something sweet - Permalink
Very rarely do I read a recipe and say to myself, "Wow, that looks really complicated for no apparent reason ; I think I'll give it a try." But this is exactly what happens when you are faced with yet another rainy Sunday in May, a freshly purchased bag of semolina flour and a Monthly Mingle birthday to celebrate.
The previous week, I had found a great Oriental grocer near the marché d'Aligre on my way to a friend's house. Paris is chock full of Middle Eastern/North African mom and pop shops but this one was particularly impressive. Shelves stacked from floor to ceiling with spices, conserves, and sauces covered the walls and the center of the shop was dedicated to everything in bulk. Dozens of fat, perfectly aligned bags full of flours and dried legumes were meticulously arranged. I quickly spotted the almost 10 different grades of semolina and immediately thought of a cake - an orange water semolina cake. I chose the second finest mill of flour and I was stunned when the owner weighed out EXACTLY 500 grams of flour with one scoop and a tiny flick of the wrist. I was so happy walking away with my 50 cent bag of flour. I was going to make a cake, a semolina orange water cake just for Meeta.
I decided to use a slightly snooty Food and Wine recipe as my launch pad. I've never used so many dishes to make a cake before. I did ended up changing the recipe quite a bit but I stayed true to the structure. Even though I ended up using milk and light cream and less butter than called for, I still thought the cake was a little oily. The original recipe was for one large cake and it was completed with a center layer of raspberry preserves and then sprinkled with powdered sugar. Since I made individual cakes, I tried the jam but found that it detracted more than anything from the cake. It was kind of like eating a high end jelly donut. The cakes were so much better plain and fresh from the oven. The semolina flour added a nice crunch to the outside and the inside was dense, steamy and perfumed by the orange flower water.
Happy Birthday Monthly Mingle!!
For the pastry cream:
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup light cream
2 Tbsp. orange flower water
2 egg yolks
1 ½ Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp flour
4 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp softened salted butter
1/2 vanilla bean
For the cake transformation:
5 Tbsp. salted butter
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. orange flower water
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup finely ground semolina flour
4 egg whites
Bring the milk, cream, and orange flower water to simmer with the vanilla bean in a saucepan. In a separate bowl whisk together the yolks, sugar,flour and cornstarch. Remove the vanill bean and whisk in the milk mixture. Return to heat. Continue whisking until thickened. Add the butter, pour into a dissh and let cool to room temperature.
Begin by folding the softened butter into the prepared pastry cream. Add the lemon zest, juice and orange flower water. Continue by whisking in about half the sugar, the flour, semolina, and baking powder until the batter is smooth.
In a separate bowl beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until soft peaks form. Whisk 1/4 of the whites into the batter and then fold in the rest. The batter should be smooth but not over worked.
Pour into individual cake molds and bake at 175°C for about 25 minutes.
Makes about 12 mini cakes
Comments
Esther, I think this cake sounds fabulous. Certainly perfect for a rainy May day and perfect for the party!!
Wow, the combination of flavours sounds lovely! So, though you found lots of faults with the original recipe, would you make it again, knowing what you know now?
The flavors ARE great and yes I would make it again. I think I would play around a little bit more by cutting the butter and maybe adding more baking powder. It is definitely a keeper though.
This cake looks so delicious.
This sounds like a fabulous cake to play around with! Great entry!
What's more, you little devil, is that you are egging us all on with these incredible images of your heavenly cakeses....
where can i find semonila...... is there anyother substitute or where i can buy the exact product? please help
I don't think there is a substitute. I bought my semolina at a Middle Eastern store, but you should be able to find it at an Italian specialty shop since it is often used to make gnocchi and other types of pasta.