revani
Inspired by Driving Sideways and Dorie Greenspan, I’ve decided to publish a recipe here and there for you folks.
If any of you are familiar with Greek desserts, you know how rich and sweet they tend to be. Sugar is usually found in copious amounts as a heavy syrup or nestled in a creamy layer. Often you find cinnamon or clove paired in some way with lemons, oranges, or nuts.
The Greek sweet tooth cannot be denied, and it’s the super intense sweetness of our desserts that makes them perfectly acceptable to eat in small quantities. You don’t need two huge pieces of baklava to satisfy your craving. One will do. Same with Revani.
But this recipe, my favorite of the sweet Greek panoply, and one I’ve only recently mastered, combines a light sponge cake containing farina and orange peel with a heavy sugar syrup laced with fresh lemon juice. A bit of cinnamon dusted pecans on top and it’s a piece of heaven in every bite.
As with all baking, be sure your oven reads true. Buy a small oven thermometer and leave it in your oven at all times. Use fresh eggs to get the best stiff peaks, use fresh baking powder, and buy the best butter you can afford. If your folding technique isn’t great, go VERY SLOW when you have to fold the whites into the thick batter. Take your time with this one, and you’ll be rewarded with a divinely sweet and satisfying cake. Your friends and family will ask for more after the first piece. I promise.
Revani
Use a well greased 13 x 9 or 14 x 10 pan with a layer of parchment in the bottom. Grease the pan first, lay the parchment in, and grease it as well. Preheat the oven to 350F.
For the cake batter:
7 eggs separated
1 cup sugar, divided
2 sticks of butter softened to room temperature
1/4 cup uncooked farina or cream of wheat
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of an orange, grated and minced (use a microplane if you have one)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Then beat in 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and remaining 1/2 cup sugar together well, at least three minutes until light and fluffy. Beat the egg yolks in a small bowl and slowly add them into the creamed butter/sugar, along with the vanilla and orange rind.
3. Whisk together flour, farina, baking powder, and salt. With a spatula, gently fold the flour mixture a bit at a time into the butter mixture. Do this S L O W L Y. You don’t want to make dough. You want a very thick batter.
4. Now for the trickiest part. You have to fold the beaten egg whites into the very thick batter. Patience here is a must. Take a lot of deep breaths as you are folding. Start with a good dollop of egg whites on your spatula and fold them into the thick batter to lighten it up. Cut into the center of the batter, then slide your spatula along the bottom of the bowl and up the side. Bit by bit, slowly fold the remaining egg whites in. It will SLOWLY lighten, but take your time. You want to preserve all that air in the egg whites and the butter/sugar/yolks. If you rush this part the cake will be too dense.
5. Scrape the batter into your prepared pan. Lay a kitchen towel on the counter and bang the pan on it several times to dislodge any large bubbles. With your spatula, smooth the top of the batter down (pop any big bubbles) and press some of it up along the sides of the pan by about 1/2 inch. The center usually rises higher, and this helps counteract that. Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes until a clean knife slipped into the center has just a few crumbs attached. A little dry is OK, because the syrup will moisten the whole cake.
6. Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes on a rack, then cut into diamond shapes. Starting parallel to the long side, cut every inch to inch and a half. Then at one corner, begin cutting on a diagonal. Leave the cake in the pan and prepare syrup.
For the syrup, topping, and finishing:
3 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups water
juice of one small lemon, or 1/2 large lemon, about 3 tablespoons
1/2 cup chopped or ground pecans
2 tablespoons cinnamon
foil cups
1. Boil the sugar, water, and lemon juice together for 5 minutes and gently ladle over hot cake. Be sure to cover all areas of the cake, allowing the syrup to slowly soak in as you go along.
2. After syrup has completely soaked into cake, mix pecans and cinnamon together. Evenly sprinkle over cake.
3. When the cake has completely cooled, place each diamond slice in a foil cup. The foil is best because it holds in all the syrup.
4. This cake changes character over the next couple days. The first day, it’s a moist sponge with syrup. After two days, it begins to get almost a little gelatinous as the syrup soaks all the way in. After five days, the top dries out a bit, but the syrupy bottom is still richly soft. I’ve never had a pan last more than five days…