You may have noticed that I occasionally describe myself as somebody who can’t leave well enough alone. It’s certainly not that I think I know better than the author of the original recipe – on the contrary, I have so very much to learn and am constantly grateful to all the wonderful food writers out there who share their recipes, tips and tricks with us mere mortals. It’s just that I get little flashes of inspiration to try something different.

Take this cake, for instance. I saw this recipe and knew I had to make it immediately. But then I thought, “Oooh, honey would go well in that!” so I added “honey” to my search string and found this recipe. But it didn’t have syrup. So I added “syrup” to my search string and found this recipe. And then I took my preferred elements from all three recipes and this is the result.

And it’s delicious,. even if I do say so myself! :p

By the way, that line around the cake is from my stupid cake tin. Time to go shopping, methinks!

Ingredients

For the cake

250g all-purpose (plain) flour
80g semolina flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
250g Greek yogurt
4 tbsp honey
5 eggs, separated
150g butter, room temperature
250g white (granulated) sugar
zest from a lemon

For the syrup

250g white (granulated) sugar
250ml water
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease and flour a 23cm x 23cm square springform cake tin.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

Stir together the yogurt and honey in a small bowl.

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks in a separate bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Add the lemon zest and the yoghurt and honey and mix well.

Add the flour mixture and mix just until there are no traces visible. Add half the egg whites, folding gently with a rubber spatula until they are well mixed. Fold in the remaining egg whites gently, then pour the fluffy batter into the cake tin.

Bake for about 50 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool to room temperature. When cooled, transfer to a plate.

Put all the syrup ingredients together in a medium saucepan, bring to a simmer and stir until the sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes, then allow to cool slightly.

Prick the top of the cake all over with a toothpick and spoon the warm syrup very slowly over the cake, then allow to cool completely. You may need to baste it repeatedly, but it will soak up any syrup that pools around the base in the plate.