Revani (Greek Cake using Semolina)
photo by Dimpi
- Ready In:
- 1hr 5mins
- Ingredients:
- 16
- Serves:
-
15
ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 6 eggs, separated
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1⁄2 cups butter
- 1 orange zest, of
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1 cup semolina or 1 cup cream of wheat
- 1⁄2 cup blanched and slivered almonds (good) (optional)
-
For the Syrup
- 3 cups sugar
- 2 cups water
- 1⁄2 cinnamon stick (optional)
- 2 tablespoons brandy
- whipped cream, to serve on the side
directions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Butter and flour a 13 X 9 inch pyrex baking pan.
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt.
- In large electric mixer bowl, beat egg whites until frothy.
- Gradually beat in 1/2 cup of the sugar.
- Continue beating until very stiff and glossy.
- Set meringue aside.
- Beat egg yolks, remaining sugar, and butter until very light and fluffy.
- Add orange rind and vanilla.
- Beat in dry ingredients alternately (slowly, on a low speed) with orange juice and semolina until incorporated.
- Fold in meringue.
- Turn into prepared pan and sprinkle with almonds.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until it tests done.
- Cool.
- For syrup: Boil sugar, water and cinnamon stick for 8 minutes.
- Add brandy and remove cinnamon stick.
- Pour hot syrup over cooled cake.
- Cool and cut into squares.
- Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.
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Reviews
-
Just excellent. I've made it twice now, one time following the recipe more or less to the letter and it was great (even without the syrup). This time I varied it a bit, I left out the orange zest and vanilla out of necessity and added a bit of sugar (I used 1.5 times the amount in the recipe), almond syrup and a little honey, and it still came out great. It uses amazingly little egg compared to some other cake recipes, but it comes out fine and even a little less heavy (but still flavorful).
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I seem to be especially partial to Greek desserts, and this is no exception. I halved the recipe, and baked in a glass 8x8 pan for 30 min. The cake turned out very light, spongy and moist. I didn't want it to become soggy or overly sweet so I only added half the syrup called for (1/4 of the recipe). It was perfect! As always I added some lemon zest, lemon juice and cinnamon stick to the syrup. Next time, I might try adding a touch of cinnamon powder to the cake batter and use half honey in the syrup (instead of sugar). To serve, I inverted a slice on the plate and topped with orange whipped cream (whip heavy cream with a touch of orange zest, orange juice and sugar) and some raw pistachios. Oh, and I'm at almost 5000ft but didn't have to make any changes to the amounts. Thanks for a wonderful recipe, Evelyn!
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OK, here goes. I live in Athens, Greece. I moved out here many, many years ago from Ottawa, Canada - so I am blessed in having two wonderful heritages!
I suffer from compulsive obsessive behaviour with regard to food and my psychiatrist thought it would be a good idea to find a 'society' where many have the same problem and try to find a cure.
So far, I've copied a couple of thousand recipes from this site and my psychiatrist has thrown the towel in and refuses to answer the phone when I call.
What did I do wrong?
Got 3 kids that keep me on the go - 10 and under at this point (2008) - I may not get round to updating this for a few years, so you'll have to do your own maths.
I teach English full-time and Greek Cookery part-time. I would like to make the cooking part of it full-time and the English Grammar part of it part-time.
That's all for now.