Burmese Semolina Cake (Shwegyi Sanwei Makin)

Here’s a Burmese dessert recipe with a crispy crust and soft fudgy centre. Burmese Semolina Cake (Shwegyi Sanwei Makin) is filled with toasty coconut flavour, perfect as a quick snack or dessert.

Why We Love This

You can enjoy this traditional Burmese dessert hot from the oven, or cooled down to room temperature. Once cooled, it has a nice firm texture making it easy to slice into neat squares. It also reheats well! 

With a simple ingredient list it’s easy to make at home! 

We love the contrast of subtle coconut and toasty semolina flavour. It’s not overly sweet, so it’s perfect to enjoy as a tasty snack with a hot cup of tea. The texture is totally different to cakes made with regular flour, more similar to a dense bread pudding or Chester’s Squares / Irish Gur Cake. 

The best part is the deliciously crispy crust from the rising butter as it bakes, amped up with a sprinkling of traditional white poppy seeds or sesame seeds for a yummy nutty taste.

What is Burmese Semolina Cake? 

This is a traditional dessert from Burma/Myanmar. It’s often served at weddings, birthdays and feasts, or enjoyed during Eid celebrations at the end of Ramadan. But you can also find it dished up at street food festivals which is how we first came across it. 

It goes by many names in Burma – shwe gyi mont, sanwei makhin or sanwin makhin. In other parts of the world you’ll find similar semolina cakes known as suji cake, sooji cake or rava cake.

Toasting the semolina fist helps to deepen the flavour. Then the batter is twice cooked – first on the stove to incorporate all the wet ingredients, then finished off in the oven.

Related: Greek Walnut Cake (Karidopita) / Italian Lemon Ricotta Cake

Where We Learned This

This delicious Burmese Semolina Cake came into our lives in the middle of a music festival in Bagan. Despite the soggy, flooded streets from the afternoon downpour, everyone was in high spirits as the music blared from the speakers and vendors busily dished up their wares.

One stall immediately caught our eye. It was full of sweet desserts of all kinds of colours, freshly cooked and waiting to be sold. Of course, we had to try one of each!  They probably cost us about 60 cents all up, but we felt far richer for the experience.

It was only later we realised we’d stumbled across a slice of traditional Burmese semolina cake. 

Just like Laotian Vun (agar agar jelly), this sweet Asian dessert is made with coconut cream, which sets it apart from similar styles of semolina cakes found throughout India and Greece. 

That night it was freshly cooked and still warm from the oven, the poppy seed strewn top barely covering a soft, pudding-like middle. We took a bite and savoured the sweet, coconutty flavour, hoping we’d find her stall again one last time before we left Bagan.

What You’ll Need

• Semolina – This recipe calls for coarse ground semolina which has less chance of becoming too sticky or clumpy as you prepare the batter. Semolina is a type of flour made from durum wheat. You can usually find it right next to regular all purpose flour at the supermarket. 
• Brown Sugar – You can substitute for regular sugar or palm sugar if you prefer. 
• Coconut Cream – If possible, look for coconut cream that is a high percentage of coconut extract (at least 60%) and water, without the gums and fillers that can often be found in canned coconut cream.
• Poppy / Sesame Seeds – In Burma/Myanmar the traditional garnish is white poppy seeds which add a subtle nutty crunch. We usually use white sesame seeds as they’re more readily accessible, but you can also use chia seeds or desiccated coconut if you prefer.

Wandercook’s Tips

• Make It Easier – The batter will thicken as it heats up – use a whisk to make it easier. 
• Deep Baking Dish – Use a dish at least two inches deep, and make sure it’s greased with butter, coconut oil or ghee so it comes out easily. Use a square or rectangle dish (or even a loaf pan) so it’s easy to slice into even portions. 
• Recruit a Friend – This cake is easy to make but will see you stirring the mixture for 10 minutes or so as it thickens. We recommend recruiting a friend to help you stir. You can bribe them with the promise of fresh cake at the end! 
• Bubbles While Baking – You might see a few bubbles rising to the surface while it’s baking in the oven – that’s the butter rising to the top, which is what gives the cake crust that extra delicious crunch.

FAQs

Variations

• Serve with Ice Cream – Top with ice cream or whipped cream and toasted coconut shavings. The cake will soak it all up as it melts, becoming even more soft and custardy, a bit like tres leches milk cake. 
• Tweak the Flavour – Add vanilla essence, mixed spice or liqueurs to create your own flavour combination. For an Indian kesari influence, flavour with cardamom, saffron and a sprinkling of salt. 
• Bake in Individual Portions – Divide the batter evenly into ramekins and bake for 20-30 mins, checking frequently to avoid burning. 
• Make it Sweeter – You can double the sugar if you’re a real sweet tooth. 
• Add Fruit – Mix through banana, chopped pineapple, dried raisins or mixed fruit into the batter before baking. 
• Add Texture – Sprinkle the top with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, almond slices or crushed walnuts. 
• Greasing the Baking Dish – We usually use butter, but you can use coconut oil, melted butter or ghee.

More sweet desserts and treats to try next:

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