These Coconut and Olive Oil Bergamot Revani cakes are moist, light as sponge, fluffy and the bergamot adds such an amazing aroma!

Revani (pr. Reh-vah-KNEE) sometimes also written as ravani, is a light semolina sponge cake made with olive oil and Greek yoghurt, decorated with almonds and bathed in syrup.

A few weeks ago when I made Bergamot fruit preserve, I decided to make more syrup than needed as I love using it in other recipes.

When I started making the Revani I used bergamot zest as well syrup from the fruit preserve.

When I make the fruit preserves, I always store the zest in the deep freezer so that I can use in my recipes.

It’s not the first time I’ve made recipes using leftover syrups from fruit preserves, as I was the first one to start making good use of the leftover syrups.

In many of my recipes I do not describe the taste as many of them are posted even two years later so it’s hard to remember the details.

However, I do know that it is good, otherwise I put the recipes, which I am not satisfied with their outcome, in a different file to be tested again.

I made the first revani two weeks ago with butter, adding coconut as well, as I had some leftover from Christmas.

I made it again two days ago and after taking the pictures, we ate the cake and I still have its wonderful taste in my mouth.

I must say that this is by far the best revani I have ever eaten until now and there is nothing I would like to change.

It is moist, light as sponge, fluffy and the bergamot adds such an amazing aroma!

You may think that it would be overly sweet with the addition of the syrup on top but no, it’s just as sweet as it should be.

Personally, I don’t like my desserts to be very sweet, so this one was just perfect to my taste.

The first one with the coconut was rich and delicious with a little bit of crunch from the coconut, which adds an additional exotic taste.

Coconut Bergamot Revani Cake

Name: Olive Oil Revani
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 14
Cuisine: Greek Cuisine
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar; 2 cups water; 1 small piece cinnamon stick; 5 -6 cloves; Peel of 1 lemon; 2 tbsp lemon juice; 1 cup mild extra virgin olive oil; 1 cup (200 grams) sugar; 4 large eggs; 200 grams Greek yoghurt; 2 tbsp lemon juice; ½ tsp vanilla essence; 130 grams fine semolina; 130 grams coarse semolina; 195 grams all-purpose flour; 1 tbsp baking powder; 1/4 tsp sea salt; 1 tbsp orange, lemon or bergamot zest; 50 grams almonds, blanched; 1 tbsp olive oil, to grease the baking tin; 1 tbsp flour, for the baking tin

Yield: 18

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Revani (pr. Reh-vah-KNEE) sometimes also written as ravani, is a light semolina sponge cake made with olive oil and Greek yoghurt, decorated with almonds and bathed in syrup.

Ingredients

250 grams unsalted butter
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
6 large eggs, separated
200 ml Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
10 drops vanilla essence
80 grams desiccated coconut
150 grams fine semolina
355 grams coarse semolina
1 tbsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp bergamot zest
50 grams almonds, blanched
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter, to grease the baking tin
1 tbsp flour, for the baking tin

Syrup

400 ml Syrup from bergamot fruit preserve

or to make syrup from scratch:

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 small piece cinnamon stick
3 cloves
Peel of 1 lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice (boil the syrup for five minutes and add the lemon juice at the end)

Instructions

Prepare the syrup and set aside or use the leftover bergamot preserve syrup.
Mix the lemon juice to the yoghurt and set aside for 10
minutes.
Beat the butter with sugar until fluffy, for about ten
minutes on high speed.
Add the yolks one at a time until incorporated.
Add the yoghurt.
Combine both semolinas, coconut, bergamot zest, salt and
baking powder.
Whisk egg whites with lemon juice until the meringue is
firm. (It is ready when turning the bowl to the side it should not fall from the bowl).
Lower mixer speed and add the semolina with egg whites,
alternating a little at a time.
Pour in a well buttered and floured 28 cm baking tin and
lightly score the pieces. Add three almonds on each piece.
Preheat oven to 180o C and bake for about 45 - 50
minutes, depending on your oven or until golden and a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean.
As soon as you remove it from the oven, cut the pieces where previously scored and pour the syrup with a spoon on top to wet the cake.
Set aside until it cools and absorb the syrup before
serving.
Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream on top
(optional).

Nutrition Information

Yield 18 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 371Total Fat 17gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 94mgSodium 165mgCarbohydrates 48gFiber 2gSugar 25gProtein 7g

As I said, it was so good that I made it again a couple of days ago. This time I wanted to try it with olive oil and it was equally delicious!

Note:

Although the second recipe is based on the first one, they were made in a different house with different equipment.
My mixer in Athens is not very powerful so I had to whisk the egg whites separately to make them into meringue.

OLIVE OIL BERGAMOT REVANI

Changes I made to Revani:

Instead of butter I used a mild extra virgin olive oil.
I did not have much semolina left from the previous one and as we will soon be going back to Assini, I did not want to buy more and have leftover, so I added flour.
I did not have coconut so I did not add it.
I used four eggs instead of six as those were the only one I had at home. At the time I thought that by adding two eggs less I would need less semolina – flour but since I did not add the coconut it came out just right, without having to adjust the recipe.
Finally, I only had one cup of leftover bergamot syrup, so I made more syrup by using 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, a small stick of cinnamon, 3 cloves and boiled it for five minutes. When it was ready I added 2 tablespoons lemon juice as well as the leftover bergamot syrup.

The olive oil cake was equally delicious as Greek olive oil is light with a fruity taste, which only adds to the flavour.

I urge you to try any one of them and you will be hooked.

I know that it may be difficult to find bergamot in other countries but you can always make it with mandarin or orange zest.

The result will surely be different but equally good as I have made it many times.

Olive Oil Revani

Yield: 14

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

This Olive Oil Revani cake is moist, light as sponge, fluffy and the bergamot adds such an amazing aroma!

Ingredients

1 cup mild extra virgin olive oil
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
4 large eggs
200 grams Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp vanilla essence
130 grams fine semolina
130 grams coarse semolina
195 grams all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp orange, lemon or bergamot zest
50 grams almonds, blanched
1 tbsp olive oil, to grease the baking tin
1 tbsp flour, for the baking tin

For the syrup:

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 small piece cinnamon stick
5 -6 cloves
Peel of 1 lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

Mix the lemon juice to the yoghurt and set aside for 10 minutes.
Prepare the syrup. Put it in a pot with all the other ingredients except the lemon juice. Bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes. Add the lemon juice and set aside.
Beat the olive oil with sugar until fluffy, for about ten minutes on high speed.
Add the eggs one at a time until incorporated.
Add the yoghurt.
Combine both semolinas and flour, citrus zest, salt and baking powder.
Lower mixer speed and add the semolina mixture.
Pour in a well-oiled and floured round 2 - 26 cm baking tin or 32 x 23 x 6 cm / 12½ x 9 x 2 ½ inches and lightly score the pieces into squares or diamonds.
Add 2 – 3 almonds on each piece.
Preheat the oven to 180o C / 160o C (350o F / 320o F) if using a convection oven and bake for about 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the centre, comes out clean.
As soon as you remove it from the oven, cut the pieces where previously scored and pour the syrup with a spoon on top to wet the cake.
Set aside until it cools and absorb the syrup before serving.
Serve as it is or with some ice cream or whipped cream.

Nutrition Information

Yield 14 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 434Total Fat 20gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 16gCholesterol 54mgSodium 200mgCarbohydrates 57gFiber 2gSugar 30gProtein 7g