Pumpkin Semolina Cake with Lemon Syrup
Popular pumpkin pastry! Treat your family! Pumpkin semolina cake with lemon syrup is interesting because it absorbs the syrup, becoming pleasantly moist and resembling a tender sponge cake. Use a baking pan no larger than 20 cm in diameter, since the batter hardly rises, and in a larger pan the cake won’t be tall.
Updated : 22 September, 2025
Easy
About 45 min.
Ingredients
Batter
300 grams
Pumpkin
200 grams
Semolina
2
Eggs
200 grams
Sugar
200 grams
Kefir
200 grams
Wheat flour
100 grams
Butter
5 grams
Vanilla sugar
10 grams
Baking powder
Syrup
60 grams
Sugar
120 grams
Lemon
Decorating
20 grams
Powdered sugar
For baking dish
20 milliliters
Vegetable oil
Table
Table of volume measurements:
- teaspoon - 5 ml
- dessert spoon - 10 ml
- tablespoon - 20 ml
- glass - 200 ml
Preparation
Step 1
Pour semolina into a bowl, add kefir (room temperature), and let sit for 30 minutes to swell.
Step 2
Peel the pumpkin, remove seeds, and grate the flesh on a medium grater.
Step 3
Wash lemon in hot water, grate the zest, then cut the lemon in half and squeeze out the juice.
Step 4
In a separate bowl, place room-temperature butter, sugar, vanilla sugar, and eggs. Mix with a spoon or whisk until combined.
Step 5
Add the soaked semolina with kefir, stir, then add pumpkin and lemon zest. Mix again.
Step 6
Add flour mixed with baking powder and knead into a dough. It should be thick but not stiff.
Step 7
Grease a baking pan (max. 8 in / 20 cm diameter), pour in the batter, and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (180°C) for 45-55 minutes. Check readiness with a wooden toothpick.
Step 8
While the cake bakes, prepare the syrup: strain lemon juice, add water so the total liquid is no more than 3.5 fl oz (100 ml). Pour into a saucepan, add sugar, bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Step 9
Take the cake out of the oven and, without removing it from the pan, immediately soak it with the lemon syrup.
Step 10
Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.