Sugee Cake .. with a twist

Growing up in the Eurasian community in Penang, Malaysia meant loving the amazingly rich and delicious semolina cake called Sugee Cake. It's a cake that has many versions, every family has it's own secret recipe that they swore was of course the best in the world. One would get the chance to sample other people's sugee cake only at festive gatherings because that was a cake that was offered with pride from each family ... with the baker of the cake defiantly waiting for anyone to dare say they had tried a better version somewhere else.

Watching my Mum make the cake every year for Xmas was always so much fun. As a kid all the cake making process was to me was batter, bowls and beaters that needed a good licking. As I got older and learnt more about the sugee cake my Mum's version just seemed like such a chore as the semolina needed soaking for ages, the almonds were blanched and then skinned and then sliced and then roasted and so many other things seemed to need more than just beating and baking.

I found a recipe that looked simple and straight forward so I decided to try it. I called this cake a Sugee Cake "with a twist" because I had most of the ingredients needed, just not all of some so the twist is me improvising and hoping it works and then trying to make it sound non traditional on purpose because that's what I do .... the truth is it's a non traditional Sugee Cake because I did not have enough almonds and was too lazy to go to the shop and instead substituted with pecans. Lovely substitute but the darkness of the pecan made the cake that should have been very light and golden actually quite brown. My Mum also used a sweetened dry melon called "kundur" which I had none. Also I had no brandy which was such a shame as a  little brandy takes this cake to a different level.

Don't compare this to a traditional Sugee Cake, rather think of it as a Semolina Spiced Nut Cake. It can not compare to my Mum's Sugee Cake but it's still lovely so here's my non traditional Sugee cake With a Twist .. wink wink!!

250g butter
250g semolina
300g sugar
250g almonds and pecan roasted and ground very coarsely (or all almond, I did not have enough so I used pecan to make up the measure)
8 eggs
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon rosewater
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartare
1 teaspoon mixed spice
2 tablespoons brandy

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Separate the eggs.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy and pale in colour. Then beat in yolks one at a time.
4. Mix everything else in except egg whites and cream tartare.
5. Beat egg whites and cream of tartare into stiff peaks and fold into cake batter.
6. Put in oven and then drop temperature to 170 degrees and bake for 60 -75 minutes.

The crust on the cake should be dark and well caramelised and in my opinion the BEST part of the cake!!