Ciambellone
An Italian ring cake baked at home for breakfast and with coffee — every nonna has her version. It is a fluffy cake made with oil and lemon, baked in a tube tin and dusted with icing sugar. It has no butter, so it is light and stays moist for a long time. In Italy it is dunked in milk or cappuccino. The secret is whisking the eggs and sugar for a long time: baking powder helps, but a tall, tender cake only comes from a mixture that has tripled in volume.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Batter 15 min
- Baking 45 min
- Cooling 40 min
Step by step
0 / 8 donePrepare the tin and oven
Heat the oven to 175°C. Butter a 24 cm tube tin thoroughly and dust it with flour, tapping out the excess — an oil-based batter sticks easily.
Ingredients: 10 g butter for the tin · 1 tbsp icing sugar
Whisk eggs and sugar for a long time
Whisk the eggs with the sugar and lemon zest at high speed for 8–10 minutes, until tripled in volume, pale and falling from the beaters in a thick ribbon. Shorter whisking gives a lower, denser cake.
Ingredients: 3 pcs eggs, at room temperature · 200 g sugar · 1 pcs lemon, grated zest · 120 ml milk · 100 ml sunflower oil · 300 g plain flour · 16 g baking powder · 1 pinch salt
Until tripled — this is where the fluffiness comes from.Stream in milk and oil
Lower the speed and pour in first the milk, then the oil, in a thin stream, mixing just until combined.
Ingredients: 3 pcs eggs, at room temperature · 200 g sugar · 1 pcs lemon, grated zest · 120 ml milk · 100 ml sunflower oil · 300 g plain flour · 16 g baking powder · 1 pinch salt
Fold in flour and baking powder
Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt and fold it in three parts with a spatula or on the lowest speed, just until the lumps disappear. Mix briefly so as not to lose the air.
Ingredients: 3 pcs eggs, at room temperature · 200 g sugar · 1 pcs lemon, grated zest · 120 ml milk · 100 ml sunflower oil · 300 g plain flour · 16 g baking powder · 1 pinch salt
Pour into the tin
Pour the batter into the tin and level it. Tap the tin on the worktop to release large air bubbles.
Ingredients: 3 pcs eggs, at room temperature · 200 g sugar · 1 pcs lemon, grated zest · 120 ml milk · 100 ml sunflower oil · 300 g plain flour · 16 g baking powder · 1 pinch salt
Level, tapped on the worktop — no large bubbles.Bake until a skewer comes out dry
Bake 40–45 minutes, until the cake has risen, cracked on top and turned golden, and a skewer in the thickest part comes out dry. Do not open the oven for the first 30 minutes.
Ingredients: 3 pcs eggs, at room temperature · 200 g sugar · 1 pcs lemon, grated zest · 120 ml milk · 100 ml sunflower oil · 300 g plain flour · 16 g baking powder · 1 pinch salt
Turn out after 10 minutes
Leave the cake in the tin 10 minutes, then invert onto a rack and lift off the tin. Cool completely — about another half hour.
Ingredients: 3 pcs eggs, at room temperature · 200 g sugar · 1 pcs lemon, grated zest · 120 ml milk · 100 ml sunflower oil · 300 g plain flour · 16 g baking powder · 1 pinch salt
Ten minutes in the tin, then onto the rack.Dust with icing sugar
Before serving, dust the cake with icing sugar through a sieve. In Italy it is served for breakfast, for dunking in milk or cappuccino.
Ingredients: 10 g butter for the tin · 1 tbsp icing sugar
Before you start
Marbled version
Take out a third of the batter, stir in 2 tablespoons of cocoa and a spoon of milk, then spoon light and dark batter into the tin alternately. Drag a fork through to marble it.
With yoghurt
Replace the milk with plain yoghurt — the cake turns even moister and slightly tangy. It is a popular home variant, ciambellone allo yogurt.
Storage
Under a glass dome or in an airtight container the cake keeps 4 days and does not dry out thanks to the oil.
