"Ravani" Little Semolina Cakes

I am in love with semolina flour.
It is not that popular here in the U.S.....mostly used in Italian baking; North African couscous & Gateau de Semoule in France.

It is usually used to make pasta, but I tried it in my upside down fig cake this summer, and flipped over the consistency.

Mixed w/ other flours or ground nuts, it yields a nice sponge cake or pudding cake texture. I can't explain, but trust me.
The cake turns out super moist and wonderful, without syrup, and I have even seen semolina cake recipes without using eggs.

This is a traditional Greek cake called "Ravani", if you make the Turkish version, it's called "Revani", not sure of the difference.
Most are soaked in a lemon simple syrup, but I left mine plain.

And because I had them, I added a red seedless grape in each one!

Everyone who tried these little treats LOVED them.

The recipe makes one small 8" cake, or 6 little cakes baked in muffin tins.

Adapted from Mike Isabella of Kapnos Greek restaurant in DC (which is great, btw).

Ravani Semolina Cake: (adapted from James Beard Foundation and Kapnos Restaurant):

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup semolina flour
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
3/4 cup plus 4 teaspoons sugar (I used turbinado raw sugar which made the cakes golden)
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup mild olive oil (I use Colavita)
1 egg
zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 325F.

Grease an 8" cake pan or 6 large muffin tins (8 small size).

Whisk together the all-purpose flour, semolina flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, milk, olive oil, egg, and orange zest.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk just until smooth and combined. Do not overmix.

Pour into prepared cake pan or muffin tins.
I placed a seedless grape in the center of each little cake, because I like grapes. :)

Bake 10 minutes at 325F then raise the temperature to 350F and bake another 20 minutes for the cake, and 15 minutes if you are making muffins.

Let cool 10 minutes in the pan then unmold to a cooling rack.

I sprinkled some powdered sugar on top once the cakes were cooled.

These are simple and lovely little cakes.

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