Greek Yoghurt, Honey and Orange Syrup Cake

It's that time again when after scouring multitudes of cookbooks the choice has been made and I can now offer a dish for this month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge. Alicat and Sara had asked us to offer something in shades of orange.

A simple enough exercise one would think but as always deciding on which dish to make is always a problem. It wasn't until this week that I finally settled on the choice and once again I've picked another local author. Well, local being from this part of the world.

I've chosen a recipe from the book "feast@home" by New Zealand author Julie Le Clerc. I've had this book for a little while but have so far failed to actually cook anything from it. That's why the weekend cookbook challenge is such a useful event - it gives me, at least, the excuse to put all those books to a good use. They have to be there for more than their drool value.

Greek Yoghurt, Honey and Orange Syrup Cake

250g butter, softened
finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup Greek Yoghurt
1/2 cup semolina
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour

Orange Syrup:
stripped zest and juice of 3 oranges
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup honey

To make the Orange syrup:
Place orange zest, water and honey in saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 3-5 minutes until it thickens to form a syrup.

To make the Cake:
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease a 20cm ring tin.

Place butter, orange zest and sugar in bowl and beat until pale and creamy.
Beat in orange juice and eggs.
Stir in Greek yoghurt.
Carefully stir in semolina and sifted flour.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until cake tests cooked when a skewer inserted comes out clean. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Pour hot syrup over cooled cake. You can also pour the cooled syrup over the hot cake. Either well, will give you the same result.

The cake slices quite easily and isn't cloyingly sweet or sticky as some syrup cakes can be. I served this cake with some thick vanilla yoghurt.