Coconut semolina cake turned into mini muffins from the cookbook, A Mid-East Feast.

I was so ready for frankenstorm Sandy.

We had the generator up on the front steps ready to go, installed a new sump pump outside the basement door (after finding out the old one was burned out) so this didn’t happen again, extended the downspouts from the house out away from the foundation and even baked these expecting spend some serious time indoors over the next few days.

So of course we never even lost power and the extent of damage on our property was my pretty purple potted mum being blown out of it’s pot across the lawn. Figures.

I know others weren’t so lucky and this is not meant to downplay their damage and devastation, just a statement about my own, on the 2 acre piece of property I inhabit and the laws of irony.

*Disclaimer for my mother in particular who thought I was being harsh, isolated and insensitive by saying something to that affect on facebook yesterday. Oy, vey.

I’ll be honest, I was probably least excited about this cake out of the 3 recipes picked from the cookbook, An Edible Mosaic.

Not because it didn’t look and sound delicious, but more so because I didn’t want a cake that served 10-12 in my house, tempting me at every pass through the kitchen 5 days before leaving for Florida and potential bathing suit time.

So I made some minute changes.

Firstly, it’s not a cake as you can blatantly see.

They’re perfect little bite-sized mini muffins cakes instead. I halved the recipe and since I didn’t have any cake pan small enough for the batter without spreading it about 1/8 of an inch thin, I used a mini-muffin pan.

Personally, I think it’s genius and I love their size and portability.

As in porting them out.of.my.house so I don’t eat them all.

Secondly, I cut back on the sugar (see notes in recipe for specifics).

After reading Rachel’s post and remembering the PW Wednesday Billie’s Italian cream cake experience I had a feeling this was a must.

I personally have a very low tolerance for sugar. I just don’t like excessively sweet things anymore. The childhood Gina is like “lady, wtf happened?!” And the adult Gina is like “girl, I don’t know but this sugar stuff is whack”.

I’m not saying the original recipe was excessively sweet (since I didn’t even try it as written), I’m just saying that I’ve never met a cake recipe that couldn’t stand some reduction in sugar and still come out to my liking.

So I made this for me and my taste.

All that being said, they came out stellar. I’m seriously in love with this recipe.

The semolina flour is just perfect for this kind of dessert.

If you’ve never had it, it’s hard to explain but it’s kind of dry and chewy in a good way so that when you pour a syrup over it, it absorbs the liquid beautifully and keeps the cake moist while still maintaining a fun, chewy texture.

It’s definitely different than any all-purpose or pastry flour out there and I would not recommend a substitution of the sort.

Because of the reduction in sugar, these are pretty much the best accompaniment to afternoon tea (the hint of orange in them is tea-pairing perfection) or even a breakfast treat if you’re feeling sassy at 7am.

The other best part about this recipe? It didn’t use any eggs.

I have a hard time letting go of my organic, cage free, pasture raised, <insert every other hippie farm saying here>, exorbitant eggs for anything other than savoring sunny side up in the morning so this was a serious bonus to me.

I’m betting you all aren’t as psycho weird as me on that, but just throwing it out there.

Other Mid-East Feast posts:

Spicy chicken shawarma wraps | Zucchini fritters