Rich, soft, moist cranberry almond semolina cake is a perfect afternoon treat. A coffee cake with a beautiful crumbly texture from the semolina that just melts in your mouth. A very simple, easy and effortless recipe that takes 10 minutes to mix and 50 minutes to bake. Bake it in a bundt pan or ring pan and dust with powdered sugar for the best afternoon tea treat you can have.
Semolina cake is one of my absolute favorite cakes to eat as a kid. Growing up, I didn't care much for cakes made with all-purpose flour. We referred to them as bread cake. Well, cakes made with all-purpose flour usually have no texture, unlike semolina that has a soft flaky texture that is very crumbly with that melt in your mouth effect.
If you have never tried a semolina cake, you absolutely must try, at least once. You will often get it at Middle-Eastern restaurants, Greek restaurants or Indian bakeries. Yes, semolina cakes are very common in India, but as pastry, not dessert. For us, its a tea time treat.
About this cake
Today, I'm sharing with you a delicious almond semolina cake, which has now become our family favorite. My kids love it very much. Personally, I am a huge fan of warm semolina cakes. So, this often never gets the cooling time it needs. The recipe is very standard like all other basic cake recipes. Simple ingredients and simple method make for a simple and delicious coffee cake.
If you don't like or don't have semolina on hand, but still want to make a cranberry and almond cake, on the Cake Decorating Tutorial website, I shared another moist cranberry almond cake.
Both of these recipes, cranberry almond, and cranberry almond semolina cakes have similar ingredients. And yet, their texture and end result is very different. This cranberry almond with semolina has a more crumbly texture. While that craneberry almond cake, using flour and almond meal, is more smooth and cake like. Honestly, if I had to choose I would be able to pick one.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Semolina - A corse purified wheat middlings of durum wheat, used to make pasta and couscous. This can be found in most baking aisle these days. But, can also be found in Asian, Middle-Eastern and Indian shops.
- Butter - I always use unsalted butter so I can control the amount of salt. If salted butter is all you have, use it and omit the salt in the recipe.
- Cranberries - I love the combination of almonds and cranberries, and yet you can use other dried fruits just as well.
- Almond meal - This is ground almonds and you can make this at home. To prevent it from getting too oily in the food processor, add a few tablespoons of flour from the recipe.
- Almond flakes - This is just chopped blanched almonds. You can chop them yourself at home.
Step by step instructions (Save/Pin)
Making the cake
- Preheat the oven to 170 °C / 340 °F.
- Grease and line a 10-inch bundt pan.
- Combine together the semolina, almond meal, flour, salt, baking powder, and spices if using.
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time.
- Followed by the flour mixture and milk in three additions.
- Lastly, fold in the dried cranberries and almond flakes.
- Do not over-mix once you add the fruit and almonds.
- Pour into the prepared baking pan, smooth the batter evenly.
- Bake in a preheated oven for about 45 to 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean.
- Cool on a baking rack for 1o minutes. Invert and cool on a cooling rack further.
- Dust with powdered sugar and Enjoy!
Don't forget to save this recipe on Pinterest for later. You can also find a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest.
Cranberry Almond Semolina Cake Recipe
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Ingredients
- 8 oz (1 cups) Butter (2 sticks) unsalted
- 4 Eggs large
- 1 cup (1 cups) Sugar
- 1 cup (1 cups) Semolina
- ½ cup (56 g) Almond meal ground almonds
- ½ cup (0.50 cups) All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ¼ tsp Almond extract
- 1 cup (240 ml) Milk
- 1 cup (100 g) Cranberries dried
- ¾ cup (175 g) Almond flakes or chopped almonds
- ⅛ tsp Cardamon powder optional
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg freshly grated
- 2 tbsp Powdered sugar For dusting (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170 °C / 440 °F
- Grease and line a 10-inch bundt pan
- Combine together the semolina, almond meal, flour, salt, baking powder, and spices if using
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time.
- Followed by the flour mixture and milk in three additions.
- Lastly, fold in the dried cranberries and almond flakes.
- Do not over mix once you add the fruit and almonds
- Pour into the prepared baking pan, smooth the batter evenly.
- Bake in a preheated oven for about 45 to 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean.
- Cool on a baking rack for 1o minutes. Invert and cool on a cooling rack further.
- Dust with powdered sugar and Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- Substitute other dried fruits in you don't' have cranberries. Try dates, apricots, or dried figs.
- You can also use other nuts instead of almonds. Try pecans, hazelnuts or walnuts instead.Â
Equipment
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
