Italian Ring Cake aka Ciambellone

Weirdly, I have come across several versions of this recipe in various cookbooks over the last couple of months.  I guess the universe was telling me to make this cake!  So I decided to go with this one from Pomegranates and Artichokes by Saghar Setareh.  I decided to jazz up the recipe with some frozen fruit added to the batter and on top of the cake before baking.  This is a very plain cake to be honest, so I was glad I added lemon juice and vanilla extract also.  This is good for dunking into coffee, says the author, and I'd have to say that's probably the best way to eat it.    

We featured this cookbook in both my cookbook clubs - Lambs' Ears which is a Facebook club, and the IRL one held at our local bookshop - The Quick Brown Fox.  What is it about foxes in this neighbourhood?:=)  I went along with our Persian friend Ms. A. and our Italian friend Ms. P. so we covered both parts of the book.  Ms. A. was of course keen on the Persian part of the book, and made a beautiful eggplant/aubergine dip called Mirza Ghasemi.  So delicious!

Did someone say cake?

Serves 8-10 (more or less):

ingredients:

4 large eggs

200g./7 oz caster sugar

zest of one lemon

220 mL/7.5 oz milk   -  see Notes

80 mL/2.7 oz vegetable oil or neutral oil - I used sunflower

2 tsp vanilla extract   (optional)

400g./14 oz plain flour or cake flour     see Notes

1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

1.5 tsp baking powder

120g./4.2 oz fresh or frozen fruit of your choice - I used frozen strawberries 'cos I had some in the freezer  - (optional)

icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 180C/350F

Grab a 24cm/9.5 inch ring tin or bundt tin, and butter it very very liberally (Mr P. always does this for me), chuck in heaps of plain flour and give it all a good tossing around, then discard the excess flour

Whisk the eggs with the sugar and lemon zest  - use a hand whisk or electric hand beaters - till pale and fluffy and the sugar is dissolved

Now pour in the milk, oil and vanilla (get someone else to do it if possible) as you keep whisking away

Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together, and add to the eggy mixture very gently till just combined

Pour into the cake tin - or if adding fruit, pour half the batter into the tin, then place about 2/3 of the fruit on top, then add the rest of the batter and smooth it out

On goes the rest of the fruit, and into your oven for 50 minutes till golden, with a crack on top, and a skewer in the middle comes out clean

Let it cool in the tin (but out of the oven) for ten minutes then transfer to a cake rack (out of the tin)

Once completely cooled, throw on some icing sugar

Will last in an airtight container on the bench for a few days, but may be best to put into the fridge if you live in the sub-tropics like we do.

Notes:

I decided this batter needed more flavour so I used 160 mL of milk and 60 mL of lemon juice, but do as you wish, my friends

I made up cake flour by using 360g./12.7 oz of plain flour and 40g./1.4 oz cornflour/cornstarch

ingredients gathered

whisk the eggs and sugar together

mixing everything together - looks like porridge :=)

throw on the fruit and into the oven

such a lovely cover on the book

cooling casually on top of the hob

a closer view

and liberally dusted with icing sugar

Here are some photos from Cookbook Club at The Quick Brown Fox.  We cook, we eat and we discuss the book of the month.  And tell tales of our lives, and discuss life, the universe and everything.

My friend Atee's eggplant dip

moi with the cookbook and the cake

Ms. Atee, moi and Theresa (bookshop owner)

Ms. Atee perusing the cookbook

c. Sherry M.

and a bonus photo of Ms. P. studiously looking into the book