Italy: Ciambellone

Ciambellone is an Italian version of the many Easter breads that occur across the continent, celebrating the cook's ability to have in the house (and eat!) the eggs, butter, sugar and other rich ingredients that are finally permitted again after the long Lenten fasting period. The bread is a sweet one, and heavy enough to be considered a cake.

The name ciambellone has over recent years come to mean almost any kind of ring cake, and appears in countless other forms containing chocolate and numerous other flavorings. But this is the most basic recipe.

When asked to select two of the most famous cakes in the country to send to the European Union's 50th birthday celebrations as the "national birthday cake", Italy chose the ciambellone as one of them.

Click "Read more" for the recipe...

The recipe:

• 4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, creamed
• Zest of one lemon
• 1 tsp poppy seeds (if liked)
• For egg wash: 1 egg

Preheat oven to 350F / 175C. Put the flour on the work surface, making a well in the center. Add dry and wet ingredients alternately: mix well with a fork or by hand after each ingredient goes in. Add flour if necessary to make a manageable dough.

Knead until smooth: then shape into a ring. Beat the egg with water, then brush the ring with the egg wash.

Preheat oven. Shape the dough into a ring. Beat the egg with water and brush the top of the ring with the egg wash. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the bread is golden. (Note: perfectionists can bake the dough mixture in a springform pan, Bundt pan or gugelhupf tin.)

Turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool. Dust with confectioner's sugar.

A wonderful minor variation on this theme: substitute the zest of a bitter Seville orange for the lemon zest.