French Friday with Dorie: Caramel-Topped Semolina Cake

Caramel -Topped Semolina Cake Reminds me of my Mother's Baked Rice Pudding

One of my favorite comfort foods, and actually one of my favorite desserts, is pudding.   I always have both homemade chocolate and vanilla, and sometimes other varieties in my fridge...makes great quick cream pies or kid snacks, or me snacks.   I have fond memories of my mother using left over rice to make a creamy baked rice pudding.  She always added raisins and I thought it was much better than the rice that was originally used as part of the meal.

Making the Cream of Wheat into a porridge

Dorie’s Caramel-topped Semolina Cake reminds me of my mother’s delicious rice pudding: creamy, sweet, grain based, and with raisins.  The recipe was simple, quick, and had an elegant  quality...I could have eaten the entire cake all by myself and would have loved every bite.  (And by the end of the day, I did finish all but the piece hubby enjoyed....making this a very dangerous food!)

The porridge is changing into a pudding with the addition of eggs, vanilla, sugar, and raisins

The sugar mixture boiling...for only a couple of minutes

After reading the posts written by fellow FfwD friends, I was careful not to let the caramel get too amber, I used the correct 8" size pan, and I tried to learn from their other mishaps...thanks very much!!! because mine is delicious and, yes, I will definitely make this cake, which to me is really a pudding, very similar to my mother’s rice pudding, often.

The sugar changes into a caramel very quickly and easily coats that heated cake pan

The caramel was quick.  Dorie suggests 5 minutes, but at less than 3 minutes it was finished!  And when it is finished there is no time to take a photo or to blink...it needs to get off the heat!  Other FfwD cooks wrote that there was a little bitterness to the caramel, which I do not detect (maybe they were taking a photo instead of removing the caramel from the stove).  And Dorie's tip to heat the cake pan in the oven before adding the caramel made this part of the recipe a breeze.  The caramel swirled and coated the pan bottom with ease and was quickly ready for the batter.  After baking, and with no greasing the baking pan, the cake plopped out perfectly onto my serving platter and looked beautiful, with just a little caramel dripping down the sides of the cake.  And, unlike some other FfwD cake bakers, the caramel did not all absorb into the cake...it was a bit like flan: looks beautiful and tastes delicious.

With the addition of the "batter", this cake is ready for the oven.

This semolina cake would be a great brunch dish, a wonderful bedtime snack, or a fun treat for my grandkids.  And, of course, being cereal based, it would also be great for breakfast  (my mom also made some type of  "mush" several times each week...another reason this cake reminds me of my mother).  Even though it is sweet, it also has a very healthy quality. 

Just out of the oven, this cake easily falls out of the pan onto the serving platter.

Oozing with caramel and with a creamy, light texture, this was a lovely recipe to bake during this busy Thanksgiving week when so many other delicious foods are being cooked.  Total cooking/photo time was about 10 minutes plus the oven time.  Thanks, Dorie, for a quick yet delicious recipe that fit easily into my very busy holiday week...the biggest food week of the year.

My  first slice  (This cake is small, about 6 servings)

This cake could enjoy a dollop of whipped cream, a variety of fruits, berries, a little cinnamon, or other personal favorites.  I thought the golden raisins were a perfect fit.  My hubby also thought it was yummy and would enjoy having it again  (if I don't eat it all myself).

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving...one more blessing for me to be thankful for are all my wonderful new cyber friends...you...and this fun FfwD experience I am enjoying each week.  I'm not a sleeper, so I have a new in-the-night activity...reading all of your posts...and it is both fun and informative...thanks to you all!