Revani / Basbousa

Revani / Basbousa is a semolina sponge cake sweetened with simple syrup. It is a very popular dessert all year around in Turkey as well as all other eastern mediterranean countries.

For me it is a winter dessert since it is syrupy and gives one a lot of energy. Now that it is that time of the year again, lets get started discovering my semolina cake recipe which is deliciously easy to make, yet uniquely impressive with a lovely texture.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of yoghurt
• 1 cup of sugar
• zest of an orange or lemon
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup of fine semolina
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp of baking powder
• 2 tsp of vanilla powder

For the Syrup:

• 3 cups of sugar
• 3,5 cups of water
• 2 tbs of freshly squeezed lemon juice

How To:

First  start by making the syrup since it needs to cool down. In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and water. Stir. Bring the mixture to a boil uncovered. Once it boils, reduce the heat and add the lemon juice and simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside. Let it cool down.

Grease a 8x8 baking dish generously. In a mixing bowl add the sugar and the eggs. Beat them until fluffy.Then add the  yoghurt, semolina, flour, the baking powder and mix well. 

Stir in the vanilla powder and orange/lemon zest and mix well until you have a smooth batter. Pour the batter into the greased baking dish, heat the oven to 180C/350F and bake for about 35-40 minutes, until the cake is golden brown.

Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake, if it comes out clean, the cake is cooked. If not, bake for another 3-5 minutes.

10 minutes after Revani comes out of the oven, spoon the cooled syrup all over the semolina cake.  Let the cake absorb the syrup and let the revani cool down before cutting it into squares or diamonds.

Serve revani garnished with cream or icecream.

Enjoy!

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