Alison Roman's semolina cake with lemon and fennel

Name: Alison Roman's semolina cake with lemon and fennel recipe
Yield: 1 23cm cake
Ingredients: Cooking spray, softened/melted butter or neutral oil, for greasing; 250g caster sugar; 30.00 ml finely grated lemon zest; 1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed or finely chopped; 230g plain full-cream yoghurt (not Greek-style); 2 large eggs; 145g plain flour; 85g fine semolina pasta flour; 3 tsp baking powder; 80ml olive, grapeseed or canola oil

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1 23cm cake

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by Alison Roman

WRITER

May 16, 2023

“My friend Tom, who tested some of the recipes in this book, texted me after baking this cake: ‘Alison, this cake! The lemon! The fennel! It’s just so elegant.’ I originally thought of this cake as a sort of humble snacking cake, something to nibble alongside a 2pm coffee or tea without much thought. But he’s right. It is elegant.”

Cooking spray, softened/melted butter or neutral oil, for greasing
250g caster sugar
1 1/2 tbs finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed or finely chopped
230g plain full-cream yoghurt (not Greek-style)
2 large eggs
145g plain flour
85g fine semolina pasta flour
3 tsp baking powder
80ml olive, grapeseed or canola oil

Method

1.

Preheat oven to 190°C/170°C fan-forced. Lightly grease a 23cm cake tin with cooking spray, butter or oil, and line base with baking paper.
2.

In a medium bowl, and using your hands, mix the sugar, lemon zest and fennel seeds together until the texture resembles wet sand. Whisk in the yoghurt and eggs.
3.

In a large bowl, whisk together the plain flour, semolina flour, baking powder and 1 tsp fine salt. Whisk in the yoghurt mixture and oil until blended. Pour the batter into the cake tin.
4.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the cake is golden brown on top and along the edges (it might look freckled/slightly spotted, which is good!), and is pulling away from the side of the pan. Let cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.