Semolina cake with walnuts, figs, honey and vanilla
Ingredients:
Plain Flour, For dusting
1 1/2 Cups Walnut Halves
1 Cup Semolina Flour
1 1/2 Tsps Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
3/4 Tblsp Unsalted Butter, Softened
1/2 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Sugar
3 Large Eggs
1/2 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1/3 Cup Dried Figs, finely chopped
Method:
Preheat the oven to 175c.
Butter a 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom of the pan with wax paper and butter the paper. Flour the pan, tapping out the excess.
Spread the walnut halves in a pie plate and toast them in the oven for 9 minutes, until fragrant. Let them cool completely.
In a food processor, process the walnuts with the semolina flour until finely ground. Add the baking powder and salt and process until incorporated.
In a large bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer, beat the butter with the honey and sugar at medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between additions then add the vanilla extract.
At low speed, beat in the semolina flour mixture then add the chopped figs and beat at low speed until evenly distributed or fold them in with a spoon.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake the cake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Peel off the wax paper and invert the cake onto a large serving plate.
