Christmas Sugee Cake Recipe

Luxuriously buttery, sugee cake is a Eurasian cake popular in Singapore, and often makes an appearance during Christmas.

'Sugee' means 'semolina', which is the main ingredient of this cake, alongside ground almonds. Sugee cake also features a lot of butter, and often a higher egg-yolk-to-egg-white ratio. Every household has a different way of making it, with results ranging from dense to fluffy.

The end texture of sugee cake is often a result of how the eggs are used: a recipe with only whole eggs will often result in a fluffier cake, while an all-egg-yolk, no-egg-white recipe will be denser. Mine uses both whole eggs and extra egg yolks to result in a rich cake that also has a light texture.

I don't skimp on the butter, though. This semolina and almond cake needs to be deliciously buttery.

This cake is delicious freshly baked and still a little warm, but I think it's even better wrapped up for a day and then served the next day, as the flavours have time to mature. It makes a great alternative Christmas cake if you're not a fan of dense fruit cakes.

You can also watch how I make this on YouTube:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
180g caster sugar
3 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
120g fine semolina
150g ground almonds
25g plain flour
50ml milk
2 tbsp brandy
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt

To Decorate (Optional):

Icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and grease and line an 8" square baking tin with a little vegetable oil and baking parchment.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, and beat in the eggs and egg yolks.

3. Beat in the semolina, ground almonds and flour, followed by the ilk, brandy, vanilla and salt.

4. Scoop into your prepared pan, smoothing out the surface and giving the pan a few taps on the counter to knock out any large air bubbles. Bake for about 45–50 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and bounces back when lightly poked in the middle, or a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.

5. Leave to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar, slicing and serving.

Enjoy, and have fun.