What Greek dessert is a semolina cake soaked in syrup?

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What Greek dessert is a semolina cake soaked in syrup? Ravani is the Greek name for this syrup-soaked semolina cake.

Ravani is made by baking a batter based on semolina, often with eggs, sugar, butter or oil, and citrus flavoring such as lemon or orange. After baking, the warm cake is drenched in sugar syrup, giving it a moist, tender texture and a distinctly sweet finish. Some Greek versions are flavored with vanilla, mastic, or coconut.

The dessert belongs to a wider family of semolina syrup cakes found across the eastern Mediterranean and Balkans. It is closely related to Turkish revani, and the names are often treated as regional variations of the same tradition. In Greece, ravani may be served in squares or diamond-shaped pieces, sometimes topped with almonds or coconut.

Ravani is easy to confuse with galaktoboureko, but galaktoboureko is a custard-filled pastry wrapped in phyllo. Baklava uses layered phyllo and nuts, while kataifi is made with shredded pastry rather than a baked semolina batter.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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