Basbousa(بسبوسة)

Submitted by najwa

"This is a traditional middle eastern dessert. Semolina is the main ingredient."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 12

ingredients

• 3⁄4 cup butter
• 3⁄4 cup sugar
• 1 1⁄4 cups buttermilk
• 2 cups semolina
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking soda

• sugar syrup

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• lemon, juice of

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2. Melt butter, allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Combine sugar and buttermilk in a large bowl.
4. Combine the semolina, vanilla, baking powder and baking soda in a separate bowl.
5. Add semolina mixture to buttermilk mixture, mix well, then add melted butter, and mix well.
6. Spray an 11x7 inch pan with cooking spray, pour in the mixture; You may also use a 13x9 inch pan, and bake for 25 minutes instead of 30.
7. Let sit for 20 minutes.
8. Bake for 30 minutes, pour sugar syrup over it while still warm.
9. This is usually served with tea or coffee.
10. ------ Sugar Syrup ----------.
11. Combine sugar, water and juice of half a lemon in a saucepan.
12. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer for 20-25 minutes, mixture should thicken when it cools.

Reviews

[Mirj2338]

This is an excellent version of one of my favorite local desserts. I made this with orange juice instead of lemon, and it was delicious! This is not a cake typical to American palates, but I highly suggest everyone try this at least once!

 

[Daydream]

Thank you Najwa for a delicious and unusual cake recipe. I enjoyed the slightly chewy texture imparted by the semolina, and the sticky, moistness, provided by the syrup. My only complaint is that my family finished it off before I had a chance to have a second slice! Next time I will do as Mirj did, and make the syrup with orange juice.

 

[Alena12345]

I am doing a report on Egypt in school for sixth grade. We have a presentation, which involves bringing food in for the school to taste. When I found this desert, I was extremely excited! For my "test batch", I only had to bake the cake for about thirty minutes, and it came out perfectly. I then made the syrup. I waited for it to cool before I put it in my bottle for drizzling, and it became hard in the pan. I was dissapointed that I could not use the syrup. The cake was delicious, however tasted a bit plain without the syrup, so instead I put jam on top. It was exquisite! For my real batch, I baked the cake in 160 mini cupcake liners, cut a slit diagnolly in the top, and filled the slit with jam. They looked amazing, and they were delicious! I still have lots of left over ingredients, so I plan on making this dessert again for my family. Thank you for this amazing recipe!

 

[TommyGato]

I bought some semolina to try this and am glad I did. It is really much better the day after it's baked since the lemon flavored syrup will be completely absorbed. Eating a few hours after it was baked was like having overly sweet cornbread. But on the following day it was great! The texture was more like a very moist cake and the flavor developed nicely.

 

[radhua]

Thank you Najwa for a delicious and unusual cake recipe. I enjoyed the slightly chewy texture imparted by the semolina, and the sticky, moistness, provided by the syrup. My only complaint is that my family finished it off before I had a chance to have a second slice! Next time I will do as Mirj did, and make the syrup with orange juice.I made this as the dessert for a dinner party, and it was very well received, sweet but not too sweet with a great texture. For the dinner I served it with icecream, but DH asked me to make custard when he had some the next day, (we'd eaten a LOT that night which is the only reason it hadn't been finished off!) and he liked it better that way. it was very easy to make and I ws very pleased with the result. Thanks for a great recipe :D