The last few months have swept by, including a golden Melbourne January that I won’t be forgetting. Now I am here in Sydney with a whole new little life, but it won’t be for too long and then I will be on the move again, for a much bigger adventure this time. So much change leads me to put my blinkers on a little and snuggle down into my little routines, especially in Melbourne, which I was so sad to leave behind. Sydney is such a different city, and feels much less like home, but the beauty of that harbour stops me every time and I feel lucky to be here. Baking a cake is a perfect way to settle or snuggle in.

This Ciambella cake is very easy, but the yoghurt and olive oil keep it moist and a little dense, cutting into it when it is still warm releases a wonderful orange fragrance. The two times I have made it I just added in whatever extras I had on hand. The raspberries and orange zest recommended below were perfect, however my second attempt with grated apple and raspberry took longer to cook and came out a little to brown and dry on the outside. I’m not sure if it was the additions or my oven, or just murphy’s law since I was making to take to a “meet the parents” dinner, but just to be sure I have kept the ingredient list as stated in the recipe. Perhaps experiment with it when you don’t need to impress anyone! The photos I have included were of the orange and raspberry version, baked in my lovely Melbourne kitchen. Seeing them takes me right back, I hope I will be back baking in Melbourne one day not too far off.

Ciambella Cake

Adapted from Rachel Eats

• 125g pot of whole-milk plain yoghurt
• 2 (yoghurt) pots of plain flour
• 1  (yoghurt) pot ground almonds
• 1 very generous  (yoghurt) pot brown sugar
• 3/4  (yoghurt) pot extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 3 medium eggs
• 2/3 cup frozen raspberries and zest of one orange. (Alternative extras:75g coarsely chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips/zest of a whole unwaxed lemon or orange plus 50ml juice/ a mashed banana/a grated apple, handful of sultanas and grating of nutmeg/ 50g coarsely chopped hazelnuts and 50g chopped chocolate.)

Set the oven to 180°C and grease a ring or bunt tin

Tip the yogurt into a large bowl.

Using the yogurt pot as a scoop, add 2 pots of flour, 1 pot of ground almonds, 1 pot of brown sugar and 3/4 pot of olive oil and the baking powder to the bowl and stir.

Break three eggs into the bowl and stir the ingredients very energetically until you have a smooth batter.

Add the additions and stir again.

Pour the batter into the ring tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool for 20 minutes or so before turning out onto a cake rack.

15 Apr This entry was published on April 15, 2012 at 7:25 pm. It’s filed under Cakes and tagged frozen raspberries, ground almonds, orange zest. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.