Lent is still going, so I'll keep the Lenten recipe series going too!)) Today I'm sharing a Lenten semolina cake based on the classic proportions everyone knows for this type of cake (by the way, here's the recipe for a regular Semolina Cake) — equal parts semolina, flour, and sugar, except here some of the flour is replaced with cocoa. To give it a rich, sophisticated flavor, I also added coffee — I love what it does to chocolate bakes like this. For the mix-ins, I went with frozen cherries, but I'd also recommend black currants or other similarly juicy, bold-flavored berries. If you don't have any berries on hand, even a diced apple cut into small cubes will work great. For the dried fruit, I used good-quality sweet prunes mixed with dark raisins (dark raisins are honestly my favorite variety — they're incredible in baked goods), plus walnuts and cashews. Of course, feel free to use whatever dried fruit and nuts you like. This cake turned out so delicious it exceeded all my expectations — it's just incredible! I'd wholeheartedly recommend baking it outside of Lent too! So good! I describe the flavor at the end of the recipe ;)
Ingredients:
- 180 g semolina
- 100 g flour
- 200 g sugar
- 100 g vegetable oil
- 25 g cocoa powder
- 250 ml water
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coffee
- 0.5 tsp salt
- Mix-ins:
- 200 g berries (I used frozen cherries)
- 60 g dried fruit (I used raisins and prunes)
- 60 g nuts (I used walnuts and cashews)
- glaze, optional
How to cook lenten chocolate semolina cake
Place the semolina and sugar in the bowl you'll use to mix the batter. Pour in 250 ml of hot water (not boiling!), and let it sit for 15–30 minutes to allow the semolina to swell — the sugar will dissolve at the same time. Alternatively, you can use cold water and let it soak for a couple of hours, but the semolina absorbs faster in hot water.
Dissolve the instant coffee in 2 tsp of hot water in a small cup. Coffee is optional — feel free to skip it if you prefer. Add the dissolved coffee to the bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa (good quality!), and baking powder. Add the dry mixture to the bowl and stir with the whisk until combined.
Thaw the cherries ahead of time and squeeze out the excess liquid well. Chop the dried fruit to roughly raisin size if needed, and coarsely chop the nuts. Add the berries, dried fruit, and nuts to the batter. Stir to combine.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 30–50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely(!) before serving — it tastes completely different warm.
Transfer to a serving plate and drizzle with glaze if desired. I used a Lenten glaze from my own recipe — Lenten Cake with Jam and Glaze — and it worked perfectly here too. To make it, combine 3 tbsp cocoa, 3 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, and 3–4 tbsp water in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring, until thickened. Sprinkle with nuts if you like — I used cashews. And there you have it — a Lenten semolina cake!
I highly recommend letting the cake sit before cutting into it — right out of the oven it tends to crumble when sliced. I liked it best the next day (the cake spent the night on the kitchen counter in a closed container). Once it's had time to rest, it's incredibly good — moist, tender, and wonderfully "juicy" in texture. The flavor is rich, deeply chocolatey, and sophisticated, and the juicy cherries, tangy prunes, fragrant raisins, and crunchy nuts complement it beautifully. A cup of tea or coffee alongside a slice of this Lenten chocolate semolina cake is simply a wonderful combination! So delicious — I'm thrilled with how it turned out!
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