Greek Ravani Cake (syrup semolina cake)

A cloudlike Greek Ravani Cake, ultra-soft and fluffy, soaked in a bright lemon-cinnamon syrup with a buttery finish. Light, airy, and absolutely irresistible!

Ravani, or Revani as it's also called, is a feathery soft cake, very similar to Samali or Basbousa. Instead of being dense, though, Ravani is fluff and airy. Made with a mixture of fine semolina and flour instead of coarse semolina.

Table Of Contents

• Texture
• How To Make
• Pan Size
• Toppings
• Storing
• Serve With
• Recipe

Greek Ravani is one of those home desserts that every Greek yiayia keeps in her repertoire. A simple cake made with the sort of ingredients you always have in your kitchen!

There are many versions of this cake all over Greece. This one yields the airiest cake, and it's a traditional recipe from the Greek island of Naxos.

Texture

This traditional syrup cake is famous for its light, delicate texture. The secret lies in the technique used to build the cake batter. Instead of using heavy fats, the batter is built almost entirely on the volume of its eggs.

In fact, its texture is so light and fluffy that the syrup gets absorbed so well that it's difficult to distinguish, leaving behind a subtle moistness and fragrant sweetness.

How To Make

To make the best Ravani cake, begin by making the syrup. As is often done with Greek desserts, especially syrup cakes, the syrup needs to be cooled to room temperature before adding it to the hot cake.

To make the syrup, add sugar, water, cinnamon stick, lemon peel, and lemon juice to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil the syrup for 6 minutes. It doesn't need to get thick; it's a light sugar syrup. Let the syrup sit for a couple of minutes and then stir in the butter. Allow to cool completely.

Continue by beating the eggs with sugar. The mixture should become very airy, frothy, and thickened. You might need to beat the eggs with the sugar on high speed for 8-10 minutes (always depending on the strength of your electric mixer), until they turn a pale, whitish-yellow colour. This is the most important step of the recipe and determines if your cake will be nice and airy. Not saying this to stress you out, just to point out that you need to be a bit patient here and don't rush into the next step.

Next, incorporate the dry ingredients (flour, semolina, baking powder, salt) and milk alternately, in batches. Transfer the cake to a buttered pan (rub some room-temperature butter on it) and bake.

Finally, once the Ravani cake is baked, ladle the cooled syrup all over. Let the cake cool to room temperature before serving or refrigerating.

Pan Size

I'm using a round 12-inch (31 cm) baking pan to make this cake. However, you can use any pan or baking dish with a capacity of 3.5 litres (3.7 quarts) and a height of 6 cm (2.4 inches).

Toppings

This Greek semolina syrup cake is basic and simple; you can garnish it with any ground nut you prefer. For Greeks, it's usually walnuts, almonds, or coconut, like in this Coconut Revani Recipe (which tastes heavenly as well).

Storing

This delicious Greek cake keeps well in the fridge for up to a week without spoiling. The syrup helps to preserve it.

Do you need to refrigerate? Not really, as long as the room temperature isn't too high, you can keep it at room temperature for up to 3-4 days. It will stay nice and fresh without needing to be stored in an airtight food container. Just don't let it be completely exposed to the air.

Serve With

Greek Revani is a simple cake that's ideally served with a cup of coffee. If you want to serve it more like a dessert and dress it up a bit, top it with either a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream, and serve it with sour cherry preserves (for a Greek-style topping).

Recipe