Gate to Greece > Greek Food > Sweets and Desserts > Ravaní
Ravaní
Butter and almond cake soaked in Syrup
Greeks love the baked sweets soaked in syrup, and this is one of them. You can find variations in Turkey and in Near-Eastern countries.
Usually it is eaten in room temperature, but in summer, it can be chilled in fridge and eaten with ice-cream (Ravaní me pagotó:).
Here is the photo of Ravaní that we ate at a cafeteria-restaurant in Sounio. It contained orange zest.
Ingredients
- Eggs 6
- Butter (unsalted) 175g (soften in room temperature)
- All-purpose flour 250cc
- Fine semolina flour 200cc
- Almond powder 50cc
- Sugar 500cc
- Baking powder 1 tsp
- Lemon zest 1/2 lemon (grated)
- Lemon juice 1/2 lemon
- Milk little
- Water 400 cc
- Cinnamon bark 5 cm or 2 inches
- Cloves 2
Optionally
or
Methods
- Mix well and shift the flour, semolina and baking powder
- Heat the oven to 200 c°
- Put in a bowl butter and 200cc of suger. Beat it with mixer until white and fluffy
- Beat in egg yolks one by one so that the consistency remains uniform and fluffy, and add grated lemon zest at last. If the mixture seems hard, add small quantity of milk and beat it again
- Mix in the flour prepared as above
- Beat the egg whites. When it is hard, mix it in to the flour mixture by one third.
- When mixted completely, put it in the oiled mould and bake it in oven for 35 to 40 min. Meanwhile, if the surface start to burn, cover the surface loosely with alminium foil, and lower the temperature by 20c°
- While the cake is baking, prepare the syrup. Put 300cc of sugar and 400cc of water in a sauce pan and boil. You may add cinnamon bark or clove if you like. Add also lemon juice 3 min before the cake is done
- When the cake is baked, cut into pieces in the mould, and pour in the boilding syrup
- Ready when it is cool and the syrup is soaked
Tips
- Original recipe requires 600cc of sugar and 400cc of water. I make with less sugar, but if you want it more authentic, use the original recipe
- The ratio and quantity of powders are different from one recipe to other: try to find the one you like
- Some recipes add flower water or orange flower water in the syrup, or use orange zest instead of lemon zest. I have eaten ravaní made with coconuts instead of almond. Be flexible.
