Ciambellone (Ring Cake)

[whisks]

Ciambellone (Ring Cake) is an Italian favourite of mine and I would like to recreate it at home. Can anyone help? Thanks

[azureus]

Could you describe the textures and flavors of the ciambellones that you have eaten? I'm asking because after looking in four different Italian recipe books, I have four different recipes, each of which is different. Apparently, each region in Italy has its own variation. My favorite is the ciambella from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. It produces a dense, crumbly and lightly sweet cake.

Hopefully, some of the more knowledgeable members from the Italian forum can provide more answers.

April

[whisks]

it is quite a plain cake, but very delicious, if you know what i mean. the texture is not very moist, but not dry, and the crumb is slightly coarser than pound cake. the best way i can describe it is that it is frangrant plain cake which is very comforting to eat. very italian - a cake version of pandoro? if there is such a thing. a good cake to have with coffee. i know the one i like isn't yeasted (unlike the pandoro) and has ricotta cheese in it. chocolate chips or golden raisins are optional. thanks for responding.

[torakris]

I often make the the one azureus mentioned from Marcella Hazan's book, actually I just made it last week. Her recipe is very simple and has a very subtle lemon tase (from lemon zest). It does not include ricotta cheese, though it is very sumilar to the texture that you described. I would suggest that you don't eat it the day it is made though as it can be hard and the flavor hasn't really developed, it is much better a couple days later.

I could PM you the recipe if you are interested.

[azureus]

None of the recipes that I have call for ricotta. A google search on "ricotta" and "Ciambellone/Ciambella" turns up mostly recipes in Italian which are leavened with yeast. Here are links to two recipes in English that might be closer to what you are looking for: Saffron Ring Cake and Ciambellone

If you make one, let us know how they turn out!

April

[whisks]

yes please - i'd love to try your recipe.

thanks

[whisks]

i've now tried a ciambella alla ricotta recipe. it looks essentially quite similar to the 2 recipes you have provided links to, except it uses 2 instead of 3 cups of flour. i can't imagine what the cake would be like with 3 cups of flour as it is actually quite dry already with 2 cups! the batter, already very stiff would be a dough with the extra flour, and the baked product....a biscotti? like i said, i wouldn't even be able imagine it.

anyway, the one i have just made does taste very italian, and the texture is like how i described earlier - dry. that said, i still would like to try out any other versions of the cake out there so i can decide on the one i like best.

thanks

[Franci]

My recipe is

300 g flour 00 type

150 g sugar

3 egg

125 g oil

125 g milk

lemon zest

1 bag of pane angeli (or 1 tablespoon baking powder)

a pinch of salt

Whip the eggs with the sugar, add the oil in a stream, incorporate the flour with the a pinch a salt and the sifted baking powder and the milk. Bake at 170-180, test with the toothpick or a knife.

P.S.: in my area very often we use extra vergin and the flour is important. The 00 type is very soft flour, if you cannot find it where you live, I suggest you to cut you flour with some starch.

Edited February 10, 2006 by Franci (log)

[whisks]

thanks for postng the recipe - i'll try it within the week, i think. i'll let you know how it goes.