Revani — semolina sponge soaked in lemon syrup

i. Origin & history

Revani is an Ottoman dessert, and like many syrup-soaked sweets of the region it belongs as much to Greece, the Balkans and the Levant as to Turkey. The name is usually connected to Revani, an Ottoman poet of the early sixteenth century who served at the court; the story goes that the cake was named in his honour, or that he was particularly fond of it. Another explanation links the word to the city of Yerevan (Revan in Ottoman Turkish). Neither is firmly documented, and both are best taken as traditions.

In Turkey, revani is an everyday home and pastry-shop sweet, often finished with desiccated coconut or crushed pistachios, and it is a common choice for guests, holidays and the sweet tray during Ramadan and the Bayram that follows. In Greece, ravani is especially associated with the town of Veria in Macedonia, whose ravani Verias is famous enough to be sold under the town's name; Greek versions often lean on orange as well as lemon and sometimes use no butter at all, relying on whisked eggs for lightness.

The confusion with basbousa is worth settling. Both are semolina cakes soaked in syrup, and in casual use the names overlap. But Egyptian basbousa is a dense, sandy, butter-rich cake made from a thick batter of semolina, yoghurt and fat, with little or no egg; revani is a true sponge, leavened by eggs whisked with sugar and with some flour for structure. Basbousa is closer to a fudgy slab; revani is closer to a syrup-soaked Victoria sponge. In Lebanon and Syria the dense version is also called namoura or hareeseh.

Revani sits in the wider family of Ottoman syrup desserts alongside galaktoboureko, kataifi and baklava, all of which share the rule of pairing hot pastry with cool syrup, or the reverse.

ii. Why semolina drinks the syrup without collapsing

The heart of revani is semolina, the coarse, golden flour milled from durum wheat. Its grains are larger and harder than flour and absorb liquid slowly. In the batter they barely swell; in the oven they set into a crumb full of small, firm granules surrounded by egg foam. When syrup goes on, those granules soak it up and swell, so the cake becomes saturated yet keeps its shape. A cake made only with flour would turn to paste under the same amount of syrup.

The lightness comes from the eggs. Whisking whole eggs with sugar for several minutes until thick and pale traps air, and folding in the semolina and flour gently keeps it. Baking powder adds insurance. Yoghurt brings acidity and tenderness, and a modest amount of oil or melted butter keeps the crumb moist.

The syrup rule is temperature contrast: cold syrup on hot cake, or hot syrup on cold cake, never hot on hot. When both are hot the cake's crumb is soft and the syrup thin, and the top layer collapses into a soggy, sticky mass while the bottom stays dry. With contrast, the syrup is drawn evenly through the crumb. Most Turkish cooks pour cooled syrup over the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Finally, the syrup is lighter than the one used for baklava. Revani's open sponge needs a thinner syrup — roughly equal weights of sugar and water — to soak through evenly; a thick, heavy syrup sits on top and turns the surface gummy.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 20 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 500 g sugar (syrup)
• 550 ml water (syrup)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 strips lemon peel
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 180 g caster sugar
• 200 g plain yoghurt
• 100 ml sunflower oil or melted butter
• 1 lemon, zest only
• 200 g fine semolina
• 120 g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 30 g desiccated coconut or chopped pistachios, to finish

Use fine semolina (Turkish irmik), not coarse or semolina flour for pasta; coarse semolina gives a gritty cake. Full-fat yoghurt gives the best texture; Greek yoghurt loosened with a little milk works. Oil keeps the cake softer for longer; butter gives more flavour. Swap the lemon zest for orange zest for the Greek style, and add a strip of orange peel to the syrup. Coconut is the classic Turkish finish, pistachio the more festive one.

iv. Method

1. Make the syrup first: bring the sugar, water and lemon peel to the boil, stirring until dissolved, then simmer for 8–10 minutes. Add the lemon juice, simmer 1 minute more and leave to cool completely.
2. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, 350°F). Grease a 23 × 33 cm baking tin.
3. Whisk the eggs and caster sugar with an electric mixer for 5–6 minutes until thick, pale and roughly tripled in volume; the mixture should fall in a ribbon that holds its shape for a few seconds.
4. Whisk in the yoghurt, oil and lemon zest on low speed until just combined.
5. Mix the semolina, flour and baking powder and fold them into the egg mixture with a large spatula in two or three additions, stopping as soon as no dry pockets remain.
6. Pour into the tin and bake for 30–35 minutes, until deep golden, springy in the centre and a skewer comes out clean.
7. As soon as the cake comes out, cut it into diamonds or squares in the tin, then ladle the cold syrup slowly and evenly over the hot cake, letting each ladleful soak in before adding the next.
8. Scatter with coconut or pistachios and leave for at least 2 hours, until the syrup has been fully absorbed and the cake is cool.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Make the syrup first. It needs to be fully cold when the cake comes out. Warm syrup on a hot cake gives a soggy top and dry bottom.
• Whisk the eggs properly. Five minutes or more, until ribbons form. Under-whisked eggs give a flat, dense revani that is closer to basbousa.
• Fold, do not beat, the semolina in. Vigorous mixing knocks out the air you whisked in. Use a spatula and a light hand.
• Cut before syruping. Cuts let the syrup reach the centre of every piece, and cutting a soaked cake tears it.
• Pour slowly. Add the syrup a ladle at a time, all over the surface and into the cuts, so it absorbs evenly instead of pooling at the edges.
• Be patient. Revani tastes far better after a few hours, when the syrup has spread through the crumb; serving it warm and fresh gives wet patches and dry ones.

vi. Variations

Hindistan cevizli revani adds coconut to the batter as well as the top. Ravani Verias, the Greek Veria style, is very light and egg-rich, often with orange and sometimes with no fat. Portakallı revani uses orange juice in the syrup and orange zest in the batter. Pastry shops sometimes bake revani in individual moulds or finish it with kaymak (clotted cream). Greek cooks may add a splash of brandy to the syrup.

Related syrup cakes include Egyptian basbousa, the Persian-leaning rosewater semolina cake and the Greek honey almond cake; for a custard-filled semolina sweet, see galaktoboureko.

vii. Serving & storage

Serve revani at room temperature, a diamond or square per person, with Turkish tea or coffee. A spoon of thick cream, kaymak or plain yoghurt balances the sweetness well, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream is a common modern pairing.

Keep it covered at room temperature for up to 4 days; it stays moist because of the syrup. In hot weather keep it in the fridge but bring it back to room temperature before serving, as the cold firms the crumb. Revani can be frozen, syruped and well wrapped, for up to two months; thaw in the fridge overnight.

ix. More from Middle Eastern

• Basbousa — Egyptian semolina cake
• Galaktoboureko — custard in filo
• Kazandibi — Turkish caramelised milk pudding
• Kataifi — shredded-pastry nests
• Rosewater Semolina Cake — perfumed syrup cake
• Luqaimat — honey-soaked fritters