A taste of Cyprus

This is by far the tastiest, most beautiful cake i have ever made,it's known to be a typically sweet cake served in Cyprus. The use of yoghurt,semolina and rose water in this recipe makes for a golden, soft and light textured cake with the sweet scent of rose water coming through nicely. The addition of Rose water syrup poured over the hot cake brings together a fusion of the wonderful Mediterranean flavors. If your not a big fan of rose water, you can use other flavors in your syrup such as orange blossom water or vanilla extract. I like to add around 2 tablespoons of rosewater, a cinnamon stick and some crushed cardamom pods to mine.

                       The original recipe comes from Tessa Kiros' cookbook ' Falling Cloudberries'.Can be find online at Amazon.

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Falling-Cloudberries-World-Family-Recipes/dp/1741964318     /ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310228821&sr=1-3


Yoghurt & Semolina Syrup cake with Rose water syrup

120g slightly salted butter
230g caster sugar
250g plain yoghurt
1 - 2 tablespoons rose water
3 eggs, seperated
125g plain flour
125g semolina
2 teaspoons baking powder
55g ground almonds

Rose water syrup
230g caster or granulated sugar
250 ml water
1-2 tablespoons rose water
1 cinnamon stick
4 cardamom pods crushed
3 cloves

1 . Preheat your oven to 180c (gas mark 4/350 f). Grease a 9inch square cake tin and line with baking parchment.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, whisk in the yoghurt,rose water and egg yolks.
3. Add the flour, semolina and baking powder and mix well to incorporate.
4. Add the ground almonds.
5. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until fluffy and start to form soft peaks.
6. Add the egg whites to the cake batter until they are incorporated well.
7. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 35 - 45 mins.
8. When the cake has turned a deep golden colour and cooked through, leave to cool.

For the syrup put all the ingredients in a small saucepan and boil for 5-8 mins. Pour the hot syrup over the cake and leave it to cool. Serve at room temperature with some good quality vanilla ice-cream or as it is!