RAVANI CAKE: ORANGE & ALMOND SEMOLINA CAKE WITH A HONEY SYRUP
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 cups fine semolina flour
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- zest of one orange
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- For the syrup:
- juice of 1 orange
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 and 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- A light and syrupy semolina sponge cake served throughout Greece. It's so simple to make, yet very elegant and delicious.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Brush a 9 inch round baking pan with olive oil and line with parchment paper. Spread the almonds on the bottom of pan.
- Whip the eggs and sugar in a tabletop mixer with the whisk attachment for 3-4 minutes or until thick and pale. Add olive oil and vanilla extract.
- Sift the flours, salt and baking powder. Add to the wet ingredients and mix just until incorporated.
- Add orange zest and mix slightly.
- Pour over the almonds in the pan.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the cake begins to detach from the sides if the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, prepare the syrup.
- Combine all of the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes until the sugar and honey dissolves and the syrup thickens slightly. Keep warm.
- Allow the cake to cool completely. Poke it all over with a toothpick and remove from the pan. Place the cake in a dish and ladle the syrup all over it, concentrating on the edges. Ladle it a little bit at a time adding more syrup once the first has absorbed. The syrup should be very hot.
- Once the cake cools completely, serve it with some homemade whipped cream or with your favorite ice cream.
- Enjoy!
Hi Dimitra, is semolina the same as semolina flour?
Yes.
Hi Dimitra I have tried many of your recipes and they have come out very well except for the pelmieres they turned a bit hard, could you tell me what went wrong?
Hi Dimitra! This looks amazing 😍 I have 2 questions… Can I make it the day before? And what if I only have 9×13 pan–can I increase the recipe by 1/3 or should I run out and buy a 8″ pan?
Thank you, you’re the best ❤️
FYI for anyone here that doesn’t have a 9″ cake pan: A 9″ round cake pan holds the same amount of batter as a 8″ square pan (8 cups). The alternative is to reduce the recipe by 1/4 to get the 6 cups necessary for a 8″ round.
To Holly with only a 9×13 – double the recipe and it should work (9×13 pans hold 14-16 cups of batter).
Absolutely delicious love the almonds on bottom. I mix my orange zest with the flour gives it a nice taste. I also like the round cake size fir a smaller gathering
I have made this cake many times with great success. I was under the impression that this cake was named Revani
I wonder if you can help me. There is a greek cake/dessert which has the same name, Ravani but is denser and harder, usually cut in small diamond shapes with a clove in the top. Do you know this cake/dessert and do you have a recipe for it please?
yes!! That cake is known as Samali. Here’s the recipe:https://www.dimitrasdishes.com/samali-traditional-greek-semolina-cake-in-syrup/
Can you make this in a 9×13 pan
Do I need to change recipe
It’s best to make it in 9 or 10-inch round pan. It would be too thin in a 9 by 13-inch pan, but I will create a version soon 🙂