This is my go-to cake for when I don’t want to fuss with scales or careful measuring. Everything gets measured with the same regular cup, four times over, and it comes together in minutes. It’s made with semolina soaked in buttermilk, which gives it this wonderfully tender, airy, slightly nubby texture, kind of like a cross between a sponge cake and a soft cornbread. And there’s no butter in the batter at all. If you’ve never baked with semolina before, you can find it in the pasta or baking aisle labeled semolina flour or farina.
Everything is measured with a standard 8 oz cup.
- 1 cup semolina (farina)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ¾ to 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder (or ¾ teaspoon baking soda)
- oil or butter for greasing the pan
- powdered sugar for dusting, optional
Pour the semolina into a bowl and cover it with the room-temperature buttermilk. Stir it together and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes so the semolina swells and softens. This step is what gives the cake its tender texture, so don’t skip it.
Crack the eggs into a separate bowl, add a pinch of salt, the sugar, and the vanilla, and beat with a whisk or hand mixer until pale and fluffy. Pour this into the swollen semolina and gently fold it together.
Combine the flour with the baking powder and sift it into the batter. If you’re using baking soda instead, you don’t need to do anything special to activate it, the acidity in the buttermilk takes care of that. Stir until smooth, then cover the bowl and let the batter rest for another 15 minutes.
Grease an 8×8 inch pan with butter or oil. Pour in the batter and smooth out the top.
Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 30 minutes. Check it with a toothpick, it should come out clean and dry.
Once the cake has cooled, dust it with powdered sugar if you like. What you get is a budget-friendly, tender, airy cake made from the simplest ingredients, no scale and no butter required.
