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    Home » Recipes

    Albanian Revani Cake

    Published: Oct 19, 2022 by Sonila · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

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    Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

    This recipe for Albanian Revani is an old fashioned cake recipe that is passed on generation to generation in my home country. Recipe is very simple and it is supposed to be made with everyday ingredients. Revani is a spongy cake that has soaked some delicious syrup for hours before being served.

    Albanian revani cake on a baking dish. Revani is cut in diamond shape and garnished with lemon slices.
    Albanian Revani

    Albanian Revani vs Greek or Turkish Revani

    I grew up in Albania at a time where the country was closed off to neighboring countries. Only later on I did realize how many similarities there are in Mediterranean cuisines. Each country has their own spin but some base recipes are very similar.

    Revani is supposed to be a simple cake, soaked in syrup and served in a diamond shape (usually). In Albania we did make the cake with flour and cornstarch or flour and cornmeal and the syrup is flavored with lemon juice, zest and vanilla.

    Some people call it ravani but that’s a dialect I suppose, since the written and main form of pronouncing it’s Revani.

    Greek and Turkish versions of revani have flour and semolina, they too are soaked in syrup. Some variations have coconut, some variations use orange in the syrup and even in the cake itself. I have seen plenty of garnishes from orange peels to pistachios, to coconut or simple powdered sugar.

    A slice of revani cake on a square, white plate garnished with a lemon peel. There's a rose in the background over a kitchen towel and the revani baking dish in the background.
    Slice of Revani Cake

    Does Revani Have to Be Cut in Diamond Shape Only?

    I am not sure why, but we love cutting our desserts in diamond shape. We do the same with baklava / bakllava. However, you can cut the cake any shape you want. You can cut it in cubes, slices etc.

    I’ll say this. It’s a lot easier to cut proper diamond shapes if you’re using a round baking tray but on a rectangular dish it might take some practice to get the slices right, even and not too big. I didn’t do a great job this time around cutting revani, but it still tasted amazing so I felt I had to share anyway so you can have the recipe ready for the upcoming holidays.

    A Simple Process & Ingredients

    Start by getting all the ingredients together. It’ll make your job easier while you’re whisking and mixing. Plus having everything pre-measured, makes the recipe so much easier to follow.

    • Separate the egg yolks from whites? – This is somewhat a personal preference. However, I believe that if you’re using a hand held mixer or a food processor, than you don’t need to separate the eggs. In the past, we used to whisk the eggs with a fork in a bowl, so it was a lot easier to whisk the whites separate from the yolks.
    • Vegetable oil – traditionally we used vegetable oil. Feel free to use your favorite vegetable oil, if it’s odorless even better. I like to use avocado oil.
    • Yogurt – most yogurts in the Balkan region are homemade and have a thinner consistency than the Greek yogurt, but a very similar taste. So since I live in US, I use Greek yogurt in my desserts but since it is thicker, I have to adjust appropriately to get the desired batter consistency.
    • Baking time varies a bit on the type of dish you’re using and how much revani you’re making. It takes me about 37-40 minutes to bake mine. I can tell the revani is done using the toothpick trick (insert it in cake and make sure it comes out clean) but also looking at the color. You need the cake to have a beautiful color on top before it browns.
    • Syrup – I keep both cake warm and syrup warm when adding the syrup over the cake. Apply the syrup slowly to allow for cake to absorb.
    Ingredients for Revani
    Ingredients
    Revani batter in the baking dish before baking.
    Ready to Bake
    Baked revani, not yet cut
    Baked Revani

    Serve a slice of revani for family celebrations. I enjoy a slice with coffee anytime I make the cake. While it is not so nutritious to have cake for breakfast, old habits die hard…I am guilty of having a small slice of revani for breakfast too:).

    Usually the cake and syrup would keep at room temperature for a day or two, fully covered. Then I refrigerate but a tray this size doesn’t go past 2 days in my house so I rarely have to refrigerate. I never freeze revani so I can’t say how it will hold if frozen.

    Flavoring the Syrup

    It is customary to add lemon juice, lemon zest, a cinnamon stick and vanilla to syrup. So the cake for revani is very simple and flavor is added in via the syrup.

    The recipe card written below, also reflects that just to keep with the history of the recipe.

    The reasons this was done this way historically is that we used to use vanilla powder and limontoz (a powder substitute for lemon flavor and acidity). Since both were powders that dissolved in water, they were added in via the syrup.

    To modernize revani, I feel that both vanilla extract and lemon zest plus lemon juice can very easily be added to cake batter instead. Please let me know if you decide to try adding them to batter:).

    A slice of diamond shaped revani cake on a square plate, next to the tray where cake was baked. There's a rose in the background too.

    Albanian Revani Cake

    Sonila
    Albanian revani cake is a spongy cake, made with few ingredients and soaked in syrup. The traditional version of this recipe doesn't have semolina like some of the other Mediterranean counterparts.
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 15 mins
    Cook Time 40 mins
    Cooling time 9 mins
    Total Time 55 mins
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine Albanian, Mediterranean
    Servings 16 servings
    Calories 388 kcal

    Equipment

    • 1 hand held electric mixer
    • 1 glass mixing bowl
    • 1 spatula
    • 1 11×8 rectangular baking dish

    Ingredients
      

    Cake Batter

    • 2 cups flour
    • 6 eggs
    • 1.5 cups sugar
    • 3 tbsps corn starch
    • 1 cup avocado oil any vegetable oil works as long as it is odorless
    • 1 cup yogurt I used Greek yogurt
    • 2 tsps baking powder
    • 1 tsp baking soda

    Syrup

    • 5 cups water
    • 2 cups sugar
    • 1 lemon, zested and juiced
    • 1 cinnamon stick
    • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

    Instructions
     

    Cake Batter

    • Mix the dry ingredients, flour, corn starch, baking powder and baking soda with a pinch of salt. Set aside.
    • Add eggs to mixing bowl one by one. Use the handheld mixer to whisk the eggs until they become creamy and volume increases. Only then add sugar and continue mixing.
    • Slowly add yogurt and mix then add avocado oil (or your favorite vegetable oil) and mix. Once they're all incorporated, start spooning over the dry mix little by little with one hand as you mix with the other. Once you have added all the dry mix, the batter should be ready. You can use a spatula to do the last mix and scrape the sides.
    • Butter and flour the baking dish to prepare it for baking. Pre-heat the oven to 320 degrees Fahrenheit (160 degrees Celsius).
    • Pour batter over baking dish, flatten with the spatula to ensure even spreading then bake for about 40 minutes. Remove baking dish from oven, turn it off and let the revani cool down.

    Syrup

    • Add sugar to a medium sauce pot. Heat water separately on an electric kettle. Add hot water over sugar and whisk to dissolve sugar.
    • Add lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon stick and vanilla extract to syrup. Let cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Then turn heat off and let syrup cool off.
    • Once both revani cake and syrup are warm, then pour syrup with a ladle over cake (revani is still in the same dish where it baked). I usually cut the cake after the first application of syrup. Then add the rest of the syrup slowly. See video for more detail on this point.
    • Let the revani absorb the syrup for about 6 hours or overnight before serving it. Enjoy it on your favorite holidays!! Best Wishes:). Enjoy!! Gezuar!

    Video

    Notes

    • Baking tray – use a round or rectangular baking tray. Keep in mind volume of dish, if it’s too big, you need to make more cake batter otherwise the cake will be too thin.
    • Baking dish I used has dimensions 11×8 inches. 
    • There are many personal preferences on the syrup, some people like it a lot sweeter than my syrup. So feel free to add more sugar when making syrup. 
    • Also, soaking the cake with syrup can be a science. I personally love the cake to be soaked and have absorbed a lot of syrup but I don’t want the cake to swim on syrup. However, some people like extra syrup with their cake so feel free to double the syrup recipe so you can have extra too.
    • Lastly, in some European countries there are mixes of baking powder and baking soda sold in one small pouch. So if you have access to that, use 1 pouch for this cake instead of measuring separately baking powder and baking soda.

    Nutrition Label

    Nutrition Facts
    Albanian Revani Cake
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 388 Calories from Fat 144
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 16g25%
    Saturated Fat 2g13%
    Trans Fat 0.01g
    Monounsaturated Fat 10g
    Cholesterol 63mg21%
    Sodium 157mg7%
    Potassium 68mg2%
    Carbohydrates 58g19%
    Fiber 1g4%
    Sugar 45g50%
    Protein 4g8%
    Vitamin A 105IU2%
    Vitamin C 1mg1%
    Calcium 65mg7%
    Iron 1mg6%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 388kcalCarbohydrates: 58gProtein: 4gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 63mgSodium: 157mgPotassium: 68mgFiber: 1gSugar: 45gVitamin A: 105IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 65mgIron: 1mg
    Keyword Albanian revani cake
    Tried this recipe?Mention @mediterranean_latin_love or tag #mediterraneanlatinloveaffair!
    Is Revani a semolina cake?

    Revani is a cake that is common in countries like Albania, Greece and Turkey. There are variations with semolina and without. I for once grew up with this cake not having semolina.

    Does traditional revani have coconut?

    Traditional revani might vary from region to region. Revani is a cake that is very simple, usually it has lemon or orange and very simple ingredients found in every kitchen. More modern versions have coconut and pistachios but old fashioned recipes tend to be simpler.

    If you would like to save this recipe for later, please save the below image to your boards in Pinterest. Please feel free to tag me with your variation of revani recipe in social media. Thank you for reading my blog and feel free to ask any questions below in comments:).

    Instagram: mediterranean_latin_love or Twitter: MediterrLatin or Facebook: Mediterranean Latin Love Affair.

    An image prepared for Pinterest. It shows a baked cake on a rectangular baking dish. Cake is cut in diamond shapes, garnished with lemon peels and soaked in syrup. There's a title bar that reads Albanian Revani and a bottom bar with the website link.
    Albanian Revani Cake

    Other Albanian Recipes

    Please see some of my other Albanian inspired recipes:).

    • Baklava
    • Hashure (farro pudding with dried figs)
    • Kifle (biskota me reçel)
    • Vanilla cookies with oranges
    • Quince Jam (reçel ftoi)

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    • 1

    Filed Under: Albanian, Desserts, Mediterranean Food, Recipes

    About Sonila

    Mom of 2, wife, engineer, food blogger & recipe creator! Sonila was born in Albania, her heritage inspires her Mediterranean recipes while that of her husband the Latin ones. Sonila has 2 degrees in Engineering from University of Miami.

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    Sonila Zarate
    Sonila Zarate

    Mom of 2, wife, engineer, food blogger & recipe creator! Sonila was born in Albania, her heritage inspires her Mediterranean recipes while that of her husband the Latin ones. Sonila has 2 degrees in Engineering from University of Miami.

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