Ciambella cake is a light and moist Italian ring-shaped that can be eaten any time of day and made with simple ingredients. It goes so well with your morning coffee and it can be made ahead of time so it is ready when you wake up. This ciambella cake is made with honey, yogurt, and a little olive oil for a rich and moist cake that is perfect for breakfast or dessert. Serve this with some fresh seasonal berries, and a drizzle of honey or powdered sugar for a beautiful presentation.
Ciambella cake (sometimes called ciambellone) is as classic to Italian baking and cooking as Italian meat sauce or tiramisu. The term ciambella refers to the shape of the cake, not the ingredients.
The shape is a ring or donut shape (Ciambella in Italian) and is how Italians bake these cakes that are served for breakfast in Italy. Yes, cake for breakfast!
This Ciambella cake has yogurt and honey in the cake making it moist and lightly sweetened and olive oil for classic Italian flavor. These classic Italian flavors and perfect for my morning coffee which is how I love to enjoy this cake.
You can use a regular bundt pan for this as well. I love making these cakes because they are really simple and rustic and they make a lightly sweet breakfast that my kids can grab and go on their way to school.
I later can enjoy a slice with some honey and my coffee.
Ciambella Cake Pan
For this ciambella cake, I use a French-style cake pan called a Savarin mold which is a tube cake pan with the inner circle being very large. The center opening is wider than a traditional ring cake pan or bundt pan.
I prefer this because it is more authentic to the traditional Ciambella shape (think donut shape) plus it looks more rustic and cooks faster because there is more heat that enters the center of the pan when cooking. A bonus is with the Savarin cake pan, you can use it for all sorts of recipes, not just baking recipes.
For this recipe, you can use any ring pan you have on hand.
If you are looking for more Italian cake inspiration then you would love my ricotta lemon cake. This is also a traditional Italian cake baked as a ciambella cake and it is amazing.
Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour
- Greek yogurt you can also use regular yogurt. I like using vanilla yogurt to increase the vanilla flavor in this recipe. I also almost always have some in my fridge 🙂
- Eggs
- Honey
- Extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
- Vanilla extract
- Baking powder
- Kosher salt
These are all very basic baking ingredients. This cake is very simple, just the way Italians like to bake!
Making the ciambella yogurt and olive oil cake
Here are the steps to make this Italian cake with honey, yogurt and olive oil. Full directions below.
- Pre-heat oven
- Grease a cake pan with butter
- Whisk wet ingredients in a large bowl.
- Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl mix your flour, baking powder, and salt together
- Combine. Combine wet and dry ingredients until it becomes a somewhat of a smooth batter
- Pour. Pour your batter into your prepared cake pan
- Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees or until a cake tester comes out clean
- Cool.
- Flip. After it is cooled, flip it out of the cake pan and let it cool on a cooling rack for another 20 minutes
Storing
This Italian cake stores well. I like to store mine on the counter under a cake dome (or cover) for the first day then I will cover it and place it in the fridge after that. It will last in the fridge for a week. It won't be as fresh and moist the longer it sits though, so be aware of that.
My Top Tips
- Bang the pan before baking! This style of Italian cake is prone to large air bubbles. After I pour the batter into my prepped cake pan, I like to lift it about 1 inch above the counter and drop it down on the counter once or twice to release the air bubbles.
- Prepare the cake pan! Whenever you are baking with a ciambella pan or bundt pan, make sure to grease or butter the pan first which will help the pan release after it cools.
- Make this your own! I always like to remind my readers to add their own touches and this cake is no exception. Maybe add chocolate chips or nuts to the batter.
More Italian Desserts:
If you love this ciambella cake, you may also like these:
Ciambella Yogurt And Olive Oil Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup of plain or vanilla yogurt Greek yogurt you can also use regular yogurt.
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup honey
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
- Grease a tube pan (or cake/bundt pan) with butter
- In a large bowl, whisk the oil and honey until it comes together¾ cup honey, ½ cup extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
- Next add your eggs to this mixture, one at a time until they are all mixed in3 large eggs
- Beat in your yogurt and vanilla until it is well incorporated1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1 cup of plain or vanilla yogurt Greek yogurt
- In a separate bowl mix your flour, baking powder and salt together2 cups All Purpose Flour, 2 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- Add this flour mixture to your wet ingredients and mix until it all comes together and becomes a somewhat of a smooth batter
- Carefully pour your batter into your prepared cake pan
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean
- Once it is finished baking, remove from the oven and let rest for 20 minutes in the pan
- After 20 minutes, flip it out of the pan and let it cool on a cooling rack for another 20 minutes
- Top with powdered sugar and enjoy
Comments
No Comments