Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Semolina cake flavored with toasted coconut, cardamom
I’ve made many cakes in my time. And yet, it’s never enough! I’m always on the hunt for something new, something different, something that makes me stop and say, “Hmm, I’ve never done that!”
So I’d like to give the ol’ tip of the hat to Milk Street for introducing me to this Coconut Cashew Cake. It’s made with semolina, a high-protein flour you’ve probably encountered in pasta or pizza. When used in the wrong type of recipe, high-protein flours can lead to tough, rubbery cakes. In this case, semolina and shredded coconut are toasted in the oven before being whisked together with a can of coconut milk. The shredded coconut acts as a kind of flour substitute that adds flavor but not gluten, or structure. The coconut milk also helps keep things tender and moist, meaning the semolina is allowed to provide the cake with a pleasantly springy — but not chewy — texture.
I can best describe the result as part cake, part pudding and part spoon bread. It also features one of my favorite spices, cardamom, which makes the dessert especially aromatic, along with the coconut and a sprinkling of roasted cashews.
Like many of the recipes shared by Milk Street, the newish cooking empire created by Christopher Kimball after his departure from America’s Test Kitchen, this one boasts an international pedigree. It hails from Myanmar (formerly Burma), where it’s known as sanwin makin.
All you need is a single bowl and less than half an hour of active time to pull together the cake. I hope you find it as easy, novel, intriguing and delicious as I did. Really, can you have too many good cake recipes? I’d say there’s no such thing.