Armenian Revani

Armenia is a fairly small country, about the same size as Belgium, located on the eastern side of Turkey. Armenia is almost right smack between the Middle East and Eastern Europe in the region known as Eurasia. I actually picked Armenia because I was curious whether the cuisine was more Asian inspired, European inspired, or some jumble of both. Sounded like a great transition country from Asia to Europe! Surprisingly, there is a larger Armenian population living outside the country of Armenia than in the country itself and Armenian communities have sprung up all over the globe. Therefore, a lot of Armenian cuisine varies greatly depending on the different Armenian communities spread throughout the globe. Unlike my original hypothesis that the cuisine would only be influenced by Eastern Europe and the Middle East, I discovered it's influenced by not only both of these regions, but several other regions in Europe, including the Mediterranean and Balkan regions.

So it's no surprise that a lot of the dishes have roots in Turkey, Greece, and France. Dishes on heavy on nuts and fruits and key spices vary from region to region. I came across one sweet called Revani which is present in both Greece and Turkey as well and is a cake soaked in a honey syrup. Many recipes I discovered use seminola, although I did find some that took flour instead giving it a more "cake-like" texture. The cake is still on the dense side as the batter contains a high percentage of ground nuts which add both texture and flavor. Like many Armenian dishes, spices are not heavily relied upon for flavor and this dessert only utilizes cinnamon.

For me, baking this cake was better than eating it. The smell that drifted through the house reminded me of freshly baked muffins or bread, instant stress reliever right there. I'm still convinced someone could make a fortune manufacturing the smell of banana bread, I always find that a very relaxing smell and sometimes bake it during finals week. Mmmm. Revani reminded me of that. Once cooked, the honey syrup is poured over the cake while it's still hot and then chilled. Mom and I had a taste about an hour after it had chilled and both of us found the cake had a bit of a strange flavor, this may be on account of the ancient brandy extract I used in the syrup. However, I took it to school and ate it for breakfast the next day having let it chill overnight and I found the flavor less strange and grew quite fond of it.

I've been eating a piece of it every morning since then and I find that the longer the flavor has to mix with the cake, the better it gets and keeps the cake from drying out. Now I've become attached to the flavor and I do enjoy the slight crunch of the nuts in the cake and the light honey flavor, yum. The best part - it's not too sweet and It tastes great with coffee. In the future I wonder if I would have any luck making revani cupcakes/muffins. The cake rose beautifully, even at 7000 feet and I could see hazelnut cupcakes being a huge success. The only downside of this recipe - hazelnuts can be a bit expensive if they aren't local or you don't have a good place to buy them. Although, with this cake I bet you could experiment with other types of nuts and it would be just as good. In other countries the cake is topped with cream and pistachios. I bet it tasted great with a little vanilla ice cream too. Yummy!