Pineapple Sheero Cake
This cake is inspired from Indian dessert Sooji ka Halwa or Gujarati’s call it ‘Sheero’. In India, every part makes a different variation of Sheero. Gujarati’s make it lighter in color and use milk. While in Northern parts of India, they make it darker or brownish caramel color sheero and its called Suji ka halwa. And the same dish in Southern parts is prepared by adding pineapple pieces into the dish and also it has saffron in it. So, it looks yellow in color.
Sheero is the quickest dessert or sweet you can make, and it also has fewer ingredients. If you follow my stories, I made sheero in my campervan recently. It only needs ghee, Sooji/semolina, sugar, milk or water, cardamom and nuts. That’s it. The semolina is known as Sooji or Rava in India. Semolina is roasted in ghee until it turns fragrant and then we add warmed up milk or water to it. It cooks for a little bit in milk and once it evaporated, we add sugar and let the sugar melt. Once the sugar melts, we add in cardamom and ghee roasted nuts.
So, somehow, I wanted to adapt this into little cakes, and I got this inspiration from Turkish Revani.
Bake them in a bigger pan or I used mini tart tins, these are sure crowd pleaser. It’s a one bowl cake and it is also eggless. I have yogurt and milk to replace the eggs and it works. Pineapple adds such a nice bright flavor.
Cardamom and saffron are perfect two spices to add in any Indian mithai or dessert. Try this cake and let me know how it turns out.
What Ingredients are used in this cake
Flour: we will need all-purpose flour.
Semolina: I have used sooji. Any type of sooji works. Sooji is also called rava or semolina in English.
I have used yogurt and milk in this cake.
Sugar: Sugar has been used in syrup too, so I have reduced mine to ¾ cup.
Baking powder as the leavening agent.
Salt – Salt brings out flavors.
Other flavorings – Vanilla extract, orange or lemon zest also works fine. I also wanted them to have light yellow color, so I have used saffron. But if you can skip it.
Butter or ghee both work well. Make sure to melt it and cool it before adding. I like half butter and half ghee. Ghee gives perfect Sheero flavor.
Simple Syrup is made with sugar, water and because I was making pineapple kesari or pineapple sheero flavor, I added pineapple juice to enhance the flavors. Cardamom and cinnamon stick also give it lovely flavors.
Tips
- It can be served room temperature or even cold. I prefer to cover and leave it for a at least couple of hours before serving that way the syrup has flavored the cake.
- You can bake this in mini tart pans or muffin pans too. Baking time will differ. Easiest way to bake them for a crowd is baking pan.
- Do not simmer the syrup too long as we do not want it to thicken.
Pineapple Sheero Cake
Ingredients
Cake batter
- 1 cup semolina
- 1 cup flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- Tiny pinch of salt
- 1 cup yogurt
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup butter /ghee
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp Orange/ lemon zest
- 2-4 strands of saffron
Cardamom Simple Syrup
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 2 tbsp Pineapple juice
- Pinch of Saffron strands
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- Edible silver nuts, rose petals etc. for decoration
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Grease the bottom and sides an 8 x 8 pan and set aside. I used parchment paper. If you are using small tart pans like I did, then no need for parchment paper. Just grease them lightly.
- Whisk the semolina, all-purpose flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Add sugar too. Gradually add whisked yogurt and melted butter or ghee. Roughly crush saffron strands in between you palm, and add it to the milk, add vanilla extract, orange zest too.
- Stir milk mixture and mix until the batter looks perfect. If you added saffron strands and make sure it is distributed throughout.
- Pour the batter into the greased pan or mini tart pans, spread the batter and smooth it out with spatula and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the cake is a nice and golden. Note – if you use smaller tart pan or smaller pan, it will be done in 15- 20 mins. Time varies pan to pan.
Cardamom Simple Syrup
- While the cake is baking make syrup – add the water, sugar, and pineapple juice, cinnamon stick, cardamom powder and saffron to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Do not thicken it too much. Set aside to cool.
- As soon as the cake come out of the oven, take a ladle full of syrup gently pour over the cakes or cake evenly. You can pierce the cake too with a toothpick or a fork to allow the cake to absorb the syrup fully.
- Sprinkle with your favorite nuts and lightly roasted pineapple pieces, you can also add edible gold or silver and allow to cool.
- Once cool cut into diamond or square pieces.
Notes
- It can be served room temperature or even cold. I prefer to cover and leave it for a at least couple of hours before serving that way the syrup has flavored the cake.
- You can bake this in mini tart pans or muffin pans too. Baking time will differ.
- Easiest way to bake them for a crowd is baking pan.
Do not simmer the syrup too long as we do not want it to thicken.