Revani

(Ρεβανί, Ραβανί, Σάμαλι , Revanì, Ravanì, Gabelouze, Basbousa, Shamali, Nammoura, Hareseh)

Revani is a classic Greek and Turkish dessert made from semolina, sugar, and flour, with the additions of flavorings such as vanilla, lemon zest, or rose water, depending on the recipe variations. The cake is characterized by its overpowering sweetness, a result of soaking the cake in sugar syrup after it has been baked.

It is usually prepared for celebrations and festivities when it gets decorated with desiccated coconut, ground pistachios, almonds, fresh fruit, or whipped cream. Although the dish is mostly associated with Greece and Türkiye, similar dishes are found in numerous other cuisines of the Middle East, the Balkans, and Northern Africa, and it is named differently in each region.

Revani is very popular in Türkiye ever since the Ottoman period, and it is believed that the name of the dish originated from the time when the Ottomans conquered the city of Yerevan.

Turkiye

and 2 more regions

Recipe variations

4.3
Classic Veroian Revani
READY IN 55min
Accessed from emvolos.gr, this is an adaptation of an authentic revani recipe by the confectioners of the Caranos Veroia Association.
3.8
Veroian Revani With Lemon-Flavored Syrup
READY IN 45min
This recipe was adapted from glance.matia.gr, and shows another method of making revani as it is done in Veroia. In this version, the golden sponge cake is prepared with milk instead of yogurt and drizzled with a lemon-flavored sugar syrup.
3.8
Coconut Revani
READY IN 1h
In this revani recipe, adapted from mygreekdish.com, semolina is replaced with flaked coconut and the egg whites are beaten into a meringue to make the cake more fluffy.
3.7
Revani with Mastika-Flavored Syrup
READY IN 50min
In this version of revani, adapted from steliosparlarios.gr, the popular Greek liqueur mastika is used to give a special twist to the syrup, and the cake is decorated with crushed pistachios.