“Sugee cake and I have history: We go way back. Every birthday, wedding or celebration culminated in the slicing of one of these gloriously golden cakes,” remembers cookbook writer, Sasha Gill. “No one made this cake quite like my grandpa did – he was something of an expert, despite never following a formal recipe himself.
“This cake is usually laden with egg yolk (at least six) and butter, to be eaten in small slices. As you can imagine, it wasn’t the easiest thing to make vegan, but I kept at it until I cracked it.”
Vegan almond and semolina sugee cake
Equipment
- 18cm round cake tin
Ingredients
- 115 g vegan butter
- 300 g fine semolina
- 250 ml plant milk
- 75 g plain flour
- 130 g icing sugar firmly packed
- 130 g vegan yoghurt or 125ml coconut milk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 tbsp agave syrup
- 1 tbsp brandy
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 40 g almonds finely chopped
- 2 tbsp apricot jam for brushing
- Flaked almonds and whole pistachios to garnish
For the vegan marzipan:
- 150 g ground almonds
- 110 g icing sugar sifted
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp almond extract optional
Method
- Cream the vegan butter in a large bowl to soften it, then mix in the semolina and plant milk. Cover the bowl and chill in the fridge overnight to soften the semolina.
- Next day, preheat the oven to 180°C, and grease and line an 18cm round cake tin. Take the bowl of semolina from the fridge and sift in the flour and icing sugar. Stir well, then add the yoghurt, baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla and almond extracts, agave syrup, brandy and cinnamon.
- Mix until just combined, then fold in the almonds. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Meanwhile, make the marzipan. In a food processor, blitz the ground almonds for 30–60 seconds to make them a little finer – but don’t over-process or you’ll end up with almond butter! Tip out into a large bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Drizzle in the maple syrup, lemon juice, one tablespoon of water, and the almond extract, if using. Knead until it starts to come together. Shape into a ball, then flatten into a disc – this will make it easier to roll it out later. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour before using.
- Let the cake cool completely before turning out of the tin.
- Roll out the marzipan into an 18cm circle. Warm the apricot jam in a small pan (or the microwave) and brush over the top of the cake. Lay the marzipan onto the cake, then garnish with almonds and pistachios.
Nutrition
Jackfruit And Blue Ginger: Asian Favourites Made Vegan by Sasha Gill is published by Murdoch Books, priced £18.99. Available from Amazon.
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Can the recipe be made without alchohol?
Hi Sarah,
Good question, and you sure can! Simply substitute the brandy with the same amount of plant milk (1 tbsp) to keep it moist.
All the best!
Matt
The cake texture was ok. But there was barely ant flavour. Barely any buttery flavour, and the sugar level was so low all i could mostly taste was cooked semoline. Very disappointing since i followed the recipe to a T.