Kalon Prama is a Cypriot semolina cake which literally translated into English means 'good thing', this cake with its lovely dense grainy texture and lemony syrup, I would say it is aptly named!! I made this cake for the first time last week and now I will be making it quite often, not just because it is absolutely delicious but also because of how simple and quick this recipe is!! After the ingredients, scales and mixer were set up on my work top, it took me just under 10 minutes before the cake was ready to pop in the oven, and ready by the afternoon to share with friends and family with a nice cup of tea or coffee!!
In the original recipe, finer semolina was used, but I prefer that grainy texture, so I used the courser one. I also made this cake a little dryer by using half the quantity of the ingredients for the syrup, so if you would like your cake to be sweeter and have a moister consistency, just double the syrup ingredients
Ingredients
200g Course Semolina
100g Sugar
100g Self-raising flour
100g Unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Small pinch of mastic
½ Sachet Vanilla sugar
¼ tsp Baking powder
3 Eggs
Almonds, blanched
Syrup
200g Sugar
100ml Water
½ Sachet vanilla sugar
Juice of half a small lemon
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 10 cm x 23 cm loaf tin.
To make the cake, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat all ingredients, except the eggs and almonds, for 2 minutes. Add eggs, increase speed to high and beat for 5 minutes. Spoon batter into prepared tin. Use a knife to lightly mark small serving portions on top of batter, then top each portion with an almond, if you like.
Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.
When cake is nearly cooked, make the syrup. Place all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and remove from the heat. When cake is cooked, pour a little hot syrup over hot cake, allowing it to absorb. Continue with all of syrup, allowing it to absorb after each addition. Serve and enjoy!!!
Androulla xx
