Revani (sweet turkish semolina cake) lemon version

Ingredients

For Syrup:

• 3 cups water
• 3 cups sugar
• juice of half a lemon (you can also use lemon rind)

Make the syrup first as this will give it time to cool ready for when the cake is ready. Though the Greeks have this recipe too but they believe the syrup should be red hot and poured straight over the cake as soon as it’s taken out of the oven, in order to be thoroughly and evenly absorbed. (It’s your choice. Try both ways and see which you prefer)

So here goes……

In a saucepan mix the sugar and water, bring to a boil and cook for about 3- 5 minutes. Squeeze in the lemon juice or rind if you prefer to use this. Allow to cool to room temperature or cook sauce later and use straight away if pouring over your red hot cake.

For Cake:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 cup light tasting olive oil
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup semolina
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tsp  baking powder
• 1 packet vanilla sugar or use vanilla Essence
• zest of a whole lemon

Beat eggs and sugar till light and creamy, add in the lemon zest and vanilla sugar. Add in the yogurt, olive oil and beat together. Sift together the flour, and baking soda ( I just whisk it together in the measuring cup), add to the egg mixture along with the semolina. Combine.  Pour cake batter in a greased 9×13 inch pan. (Or if you prefer you can double up the recipe for larger tins ect) Bake in the oven at 180 / gas mark 4 for around 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cut into shape you desire .

Pour over the syrup with a ladle, the cake is very dry and will soak up all the syrup very nicely to make a moist and spongy cake. Allow the cake to rest and absorb the syrup I would say about 1/2 hour before serving.

You can add coconut to this Beautifully light cake too and it’s soo yummy!

You can also add olive and feta to it for a more savoury option. Keep an eye on my blog for these recipes.

Enjoy 😉