How to make crunchy Ugandan Half Cakes

Do you love eating half-cakes as I do?  Half cakes are baked and deep-fried cakes that resemble the East African Mandazi. The half cake can be round, rectangular, or take on a square shape.  So today we are learning how to make crunchy Ugandan Half Cakes.

Half Cakes are a form of Ugandan Mandazi sold on the street as a snack. They are mostly eaten at breakfast but are bought and eaten throughout the day. It is a small cake made of sweetened dough fried in oil, usually rectangular in shape.

Are you craving that sweet and delicious half-cake that you had last time? Maybe it is time to take the power into your hands and make it yourself.

How to make crunchy Ugandan half cakes

 Before we start to make the delicious half-cakes, first learn about the ingredients that you need for this process.  Get your ingredients ready and all the necessary tools that you need for this recipe.

Ingredients for making crunchy Ugandan Half Cakes

3 cups of Wheat flour

½ a cup of Sugar

2 tsp Baking powder

 1 tbsp Margarine

1 Egg

1 clove of ginger

6 tbsp of cooking oil for kneading

1 cup Milk

1 tbsp Lemon peels/ Zest

A ¼ tbsp salt

Step-by-step process of making perfectly crunchy Ugandan half cakes

The method for mixing ingredients that we are about to use is the rubbing-in method, while we are not using the baking cooking method for this recipe, we shall use the deep frying method.

Step 1:

Measure 3 cups of wheat flour and sieve them into a bowl.  Sieve in 3 tsp of baking Powder.

Step 2:

 Add margarine to the flour, sugar, lemon zest, and ginger, and then rub them together using your fingertips. Raise the flour as you mix to let air enter into the mixture.

Step 3:

Beat the egg and add it to your dough mixture and then start kneading as you add milk little by little to bind the ingredients together.

Step 4:

  Place the dough on a plain surface, and knead it until it is smooth and elastic. You may use some oil to stop the dough from sticking onto the surface.  

Step 5:

 Put the dough in a bowl and cover it, then let it rest for about 15 minutes. This will enable the temperature of the dough to return to room temperature.

Step 6:

 Spread out the dough and cut out a square or rectangular shape.

Step 7:

Deep fry the half cakes in medium hot cooking oil. Avoid very hot cooking oil while deep frying to enable the half-cakes to cook thoroughly and evenly.

serve your half cakes hot or cold with a hot cup of tea or eat it as a snack at any time of the day