Whole Orange Semolina Cake With Rosemary Syrup

There's always space for dessert, especially for this stunning whole orange cake glazed with fragrant rosemary syrup. While fruity flavours may not be your go-to for cakes before, the citrusy tang of this one will be sure to change your mind. It's also perfectly moist, sweet, and full of texture.

Yield: Serves 12
Prep Time: 25 mins
Cook Time: 140 mins
Difficulty Level: 3/5

Ingredients

• 2 oranges
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup fine semolina
• 1¼ cups ground almonds
• 1½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

ROSEMARY SYRUP

• 2 oranges
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 125 ml water
• 1½ tbsps lemon juice
• 2 tbsps orange-flavoured liqueur
• 2 (8 cm) sprigs fresh rosemary

Steps

01. Place unpeeled oranges in a medium saucepan over high heat, cover with cold water; bring to the boil. Boil covered, 1½ hrs or until oranges are tender; drain. Cool.

02. Preheat oven to 180 C (160 C fan-forced). Grease a deep 22 cm (9 inch) round cake pan; line base and side with baking paper.

03. Trim and discard ends from oranges. Halve oranges; discard seeds. Process orange, including rind, with baking powder until mixture is pulpy. Transfer to a large bowl.

Process eggs and sugar for 5 mins or until thick and creamy. Stir egg mixture into orange mixture. Fold in semolina, ground almonds and rosemary. Spread mixture into pan.

05. Bake cake for 1 hr or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand cake in pan for 45 mins before turning, top-side up, onto a cake plate.

ROSEMARY SYRUP

01. Remove rind from one orange with a zester, into thin strips. Using a vegetable peeler, peel a long continuous strip of rind from remaining orange.

02. Place sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan over low heat; stir, without boiling, until sugar dissolves. Add long strip of rind, bring to the boil; boil for 5 mins or until syrup thickens.

Remove from heat; stir in liqueur, rosemary and thin strips of rind.

04. Spoon hot syrup over warm cake. Serve cake warm or at room temperature.

TIP If you don't have a zester, simply peel the rind into wide strips with a vegetable peeler, then cut them into thin strips. You could vary the flavourings in the syrup by adding either a cinnamon stick or a split vanilla bean instead of rosemary.Photo: bauersyndication.com.au