Egyptian Basbousa Coconut Delight (Printable)

Moist semolina cake with coconut and almonds soaked in fragrant syrup. A perfect sweet treat.

# What You’ll Need:

→ Basbousa

01 - 1 ½ cups fine semolina
02 - 1 cup granulated sugar
03 - 1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut
04 - 1 cup plain yogurt
05 - ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
06 - 1 teaspoon baking powder
07 - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
08 - ¼ teaspoon salt
09 - 12 whole blanched almonds for garnish

→ Syrup

10 - 1 cup granulated sugar
11 - ¾ cup water
12 - 1 teaspoon lemon juice
13 - 1 teaspoon rose water or orange blossom water (optional)

# Directions:

01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan with butter or tahini.
02 - Combine semolina, sugar, desiccated coconut, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir to blend evenly.
03 - Add yogurt, melted butter, and vanilla extract to dry mix and stir until thick batter forms.
04 - Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Score surface into 12 pieces and place an almond atop each piece.
05 - Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden and a toothpick inserted in center is clean.
06 - Simmer sugar, water, and lemon juice in a saucepan until slightly thickened, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in rose or orange blossom water if using, then cool.
07 - Immediately pour cooled syrup uniformly over hot cake upon removal from oven.
08 - Let cake cool completely, then re-cut along score lines and serve.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • It's moist and stays soft for days, rewarding you every time you reach for another piece.
  • The syrup-to-cake ratio creates this magical balance between sticky and tender that's hard to stop eating.
  • You can make it in under an hour with mostly pantry staples, no fancy equipment needed.
02 -
  • The syrup must be completely cool before hitting the hot cake, or it'll burn off instead of soaking in and the texture gets dry.
  • Don't skip the scoring step before baking—it's what lets the syrup penetrate all the way through and keeps each piece tender.
  • If your batter seems too wet, you've probably added too much yogurt; trust the recipe measurements because different yogurts vary in thickness.
03 -
  • Make the syrup first and let it cool while the cake bakes—this simple timing trick removes all stress from the final step.
  • If you can't find desiccated coconut, you can use freshly shredded coconut, but reduce it to three-quarters cup because it holds more moisture.
  • A little extra rose water or orange blossom water on the almonds before baking adds an elegant finishing note that guests will notice.
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