This is an egg-free, mithai-style semolina cake inspired by the Ottoman delicacy Basbousa. It has a delicate crumb, with a lingering aroma of saffron, and rose water. I am sharing with you an Indian-style semolina cake recipe that fits effortlessly in every festive menu. Be sure to watch the video!
My Mithai Cake
This semolina cake is a confluence between Indian sweets (mithai) and a delicate Persian-style cake called Basbousa.
Basbousa is a widely popular dessert in Turkey, Egypt, and the Middle East. It is a simple semolina cake made with a few basic ingredients. Once baked, the cake is glazed with perfumed sugar syrup. Each region has its own style of making Basbousa.
The taste of Basbousa is very similar to Indian desserts as well. Over the years I have tweaked this semolina cake recipe according to the locally available ingredients and our taste buds.
This is truly Indian-style semolina cake enriched with ghee, coconut, saffron, and rose water. One bite and you will fall in love with this mithai cake taste.
Like other Ottoman Cuisine recipes, this cake also has a delicate texture, aromatics like orange, rose water, saffron, and a lot of nuts.
A few years back I shared another eggless semolina (rava) cake recipe which is a HUGE hit among our website readers.
Ingredients Required
For The Cake Batter:
Semolina: Fine semolina (rava/suji) is perfect for this cake recipe. There is no substitute for semolina in a Basbousa.
Coconut: Use desiccated dry coconut or the packaged desiccated coconut.
Sugar: The sugar is added to this cake in two parts. One, in the cake batter. Second, by glazing it with sugar syrup (chashni).
Curd: Plain, thick curd or yogurt is used to substitute eggs.
Ghee: Usually melted butter is used to make this semolina cake batter. I like the taste better with Indian Ghee. Feel free to pick between melted butter, ghee, or olive oil.
Milk: Room temperature unflavored milk. If you want to build onto the flavor, use coconut or almond milk instead of plain dairy milk.
Aromatics: I use cardamom powder, saffron, rose water. When it comes to this semolina cake the possibilities are endless. You can add orange essence, kewra water, or stick to vanilla flavor.
Other Ingredients: Baking Powder, Salt
Garnish: Almond Slivers, Edible Rose Petals, Edible Silver Leaf
For Sugar Syrup
Granulated White Sugar
Water
Saffron Strands
My Tried & True Tips
The Golden Colour: To get the beautiful golden color of the cake, bake it in the top rack of the oven for the last 10 minutes of the baking time. The saffron and the hot sugar glaze also contribute to getting the perfect color.
Sugar Syrup: The sugar syrup should have a slightly sticky consistency and not runny/watery.
Glazing: Make sure sugar syrup and cake are warm while glazing. Once the cake is glazed, let it sit at room temperature to cool down completely. Do not try to cut and serve the warm cake after glazing as it might crumble apart.
Watch Eggless Semolina Cake Video
Storage Suggestion
Once the semolina cake is cooled down, transfer it to an airtight container. Store the cake in the refrigerator for 1 week. Reheat in microwave for 1 minute before serving.
The semolina cake tastes delicious when served slightly warm with butterscotch or vanilla ice cream. Do not leave semolina cake at room temperature for more than 24 hours as it spoils very fast.
More Eggless Cake Recipes
For more such fun recipes in your life subscribe to our weekly newsletter or follow us on Instagram, Youtube for all the daily updates.
If you try this recipe and love it, please leave a comment and a Star Rating. This helps us grow and reach many other food lovers like you, who are looking for a perfect tried and tested recipe.
Eggless Semolina Cake Recipe
- Baking Dish
Ingredients
My 1 Cup = 250 ml, 1 Teaspoon = 5 ml
- 1 ½ Cup semolina (suji/rava)
- ¾ Cup dessicated coconut
- 1 teaspoon green cardamom powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ Cup granulated white sugar
- ¼ Cup brown sugar or jaggery powder
- 2/4 Cup curd or plain Greek yogurt
- ⅓ Cup ghee, melted
- ½ Cup milk
- ¼ teaspoon saffron
- ¼ teaspoon rose water
- 1 tablespoon sliced almonds
- 1 tablespoon sliced pistachio
Ingredienst for Sugar Syrup:
- 2 Cup water
- 2 Cup granulated white sugar
- ¼ teaspoon saffron
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celcius for 10 minutes. Grease a 10 inch square or rectangular baking dish.
- Combine semolina, coconut, baking powder, salt, sugar, jaggery powder. Mix nicely. Set aside until required.
- Soak ¼ teaspoon saffron in ¼ cup of warm milk. Keep aside to add to the cake batter at a later stage.
- In a mixing bowl combine, curd, ghee, saffron infused milk, and rose water. Whisk using an egg beater or wire whisk for 5 minutes.
- Next, add ⅓ of the semolina mixture. Cut and fold the batter to evenly combine. Add ⅓ more of the semolina mixture, cut, and fold into the batter. Add remaining ¼ cup of milk. Gently fold into the batter. At last, add the remaining semolina mixture, and fold it into the batter. Stop mixing once the cake batter is evenly combined.
- Pour the batter into the greased baking dish. Spread evenly using a spatula. This semolina cake does not rise much after baking. Hence, do not spread the batter into a very thin layer. It should have a half to one inch thickness.
- Sprinkle sliced almonds and pistachio. Using a knife cut the cake into squares before baking.
- Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for 20 minutes in the middle rack of the oven. Transfer to the top rack of the oven for the last 10 minutes of the baking time.
- Meanwhile, simmer water, sugar, and saffron in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the syrup reduces to almost half the original amount or to one cup, turn off the heat.
- Bring the cake out of the oven. Pour the warm sugar syrup. Do not slice the cake. Let the cake sit till it cools down completely.
- Garnish with edible rose petals and silver leaf. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or on its own with a drizzle of sugar syrup.
Recipe Notes:
- Use desiccated coconut and not grated coconut for the cake batter.
- Fine semolina (chiroti rava) is perfect for making this cake.
- Soaking saffron in milk gives a beautiful color to the cake.
- You can substitute rose water with kewra water or orange blossom water as well.
- The sugar syrup should have a slightly sticky consistency.
- It is optional to decorate the cake with edible silver leaf or rose petals.
Leave Your Rating & Comment