Pistachio and rosewater semolina cake
Serves 8
Cake
3 cardamom pods
150g pistachios nuts, shelled, plus a little extra to garnish
100g ground almonds
170g semolina
1¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
300g unsalted butter, at room temperature
330g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp rosewater
½ tsp vanilla essence
Syrup
120ml lemon juice
100ml rosewater
120g caster sugar
Cream
200g Greek yoghurt
200g Crème fraiche
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 tbsp rosewater
Optional garnish
40 pesticide-free red rose petals
1 egg white
150g caster sugar
Start with the cake. Grease a 22cm loose-base cake tin and cover the bottom and sides with greaseproof
paper. Heat up the oven to 160C.
Take the cardamom pods, crush lightly and remove the seeds to a food processor bowl. Discard the pods.
Add the pistachios to the seeds and grind to a semi-fine powder. Add the ground almonds, semolina, baking
powder and salt to the ground pistachios and stir to mix.
Put the butter and sugar in a mixer bowl and use a beater to mix until they combine fully. Do not work
much so that you don’t incorporate a lot of air into the mixture. Break the eggs and beat lightly, then add to
the creaming butter and sugar in small additions, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding
more. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally.
Once all the egg is fully incorporated, add the dry ingredients and fold in by hand. Do not over mix. Now
fold in the lemon zest, juice, rosewater and vanilla.
Transfer the cake batter to the lined tin, level with a palette knife and put in the pre-heated oven. Bake for
roughly 1 hour. Check if the cake is ready by inserting a skewer inside. It should come out dry (but oily).
While the cake is in the oven make the syrup. Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan and place on
medium heat. Bring to the boil, making sure the sugar fully dissolves, and remove from the heat.
Once the cake is out of the oven brush it with most of the syrup (both the syrup and the cake need to be
very hot), leaving about 4 tablespoons of syrup for later. Place the cake and reserved syrup on the side until
they come to room temperature.
To serve the cake, cut it into wedges and lay them on serving plates. Whisk together all the cream
ingredients and spoon a generous dollop on top of each slice. Drizzle with some of the remaining syrup,
finely chop the reserved pistachios and sprinkle on top.
If you wish to add sugared rose petals to your garnish, you’d need to prepare these in advance. Turn down
the oven temperature to 70C once the cake is out. Dip the petals gently in egg white, shake off any excess,
and scatter just enough sugar to cover the leaves without creating lumps. Transfer to an oven tray lined with
grease-proof paper and place in the oven. Leave there to dry for 30-45 minutes or until the petals are totally
crisp. Place in a sealed dry container and scatter over the cake just before serving.