Ingredients :

​

For the cake :
1 cup raw sugar
3 tbl brown sugar
250 gm soft butter
an orange and a lemon, zest of
4 lrg eggs, separated
1 cup semolina
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
4 tsp baking powder
150 ml milk
500 gm walnuts, coursely chopped
3 tbl ground almonds
120 gm halva, (available from Middle Eastern stores)

For The syrup :
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tbl orange flower water

​

Method :

​

* Weigh the halva and remove 20g. Crush this finely and coursely chop the remainder.
* Preheat the oven to 190c. and butter a non-stick fluted "kugelhopf" cake tin, sprinkling the finely ground halva over the greased cake tin. Tip the tin to coat evenly.
* In a mixer, beat the raw sugar, brown sugar, butter and zests of lemon and orange together until thick and pale. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
* In a separate bowl, mix together the semolina, wholemeal flour, cinnamon, ground cloves and baking powder. Add this flour mix to the butter batter, alternating with the milk. Add the chopped walnuts, ground almonds and chopped halva and mix well. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form then fold into the cake batter gently. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 40-50 minutes until firm.
* Meanwhile, boil the sugar and water for 5 minutes then add the orange flower water and set aside.
* When the cake is removed from the oven, pour over the flower water syrup and allow to cool. Remove the cake from the tin carefully and serve, generously sprinkled with icing sugar.