Elderflower Revani

Earlier this week, I made an elderflower cordial flowers I picked from the trees in the park. As soon as I tasted the elderflower cordial, I thought it would work beautifully in one of the syrup-soaked desserts from my Turkish recipe repertoire.

I went with revani, a soft semolina cake traditionally soaked in lemon syrup, and replaced the syrup with diluted elderflower cordial instead.

The floral notes work surprisingly well with the citrus and semolina.

The cake itself contains very little sugar. Most of the sweetness comes from the syrup poured over while still warm.

Ingredients

For the cake

2 eggs

2 tbsp sugar

80 g Greek yogurt

75 ml olive oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of a lemon

45 g plain flour

85 g semolina

1¼ tsp baking powder

2 tsp unsalted butter, for the dish

For the syrup

500ml elderflower cordial

250 ml water

To decorate

Fresh elderflowers

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan.

   
   

2. Whisk the eggs for 5 minutes. Add the sugar and whisk for another 5 minutes.

   
   

3. Add the yogurt, olive oil, vanilla and lemon zest and whisk again until smooth.

   
   

4. Add the flour, semolina and baking powder and whisk until fully combined.

   
   

5. Butter a baking dish and pour in the batter.

   
   

6. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden.

   
   

7. Meanwhile, make the syrup by mixing the elderflower cordial with water. Bring the syrup to boil, then turn off the heat.

   
   

8. Pour the syrup over the warm cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.

   
   

9. Leave to cool completely before decorating with elderflowers and serving.

And if you decide to do the cordial, it’s just the right time at the moment. Here’s a recipe for it.

Elderflower Cordial

Ingredients

20 elderflower heads

1 litre water

1 kg sugar

50 g citric acid

2 lemons, sliced

Method

1. Heat the water and sugar together until the sugar fully dissolves.

   
   

2. Remove from the heat and stir in the citric acid.

   
   

3. Add the sliced lemons and elderflower heads.

   
   

4. Cover and leave to infuse for 24 hours.

   
   

5. Strain through a muslin cloth or fine sieve.

   
   

6. Bottle and keep refrigerated.

   
   

Notes

I picked the flowers around midday after a light drizzle followed by sunshine. I didn’t wash them, only gently shook them to remove insects.

For the revani syrup, I diluted the cordial with water in roughly a 2:1 ratio.