Dark Chocolate + Orange Ciambellone DF + GF
To Ciambellone or not to Ciambellone. That is the question.
When I think about the regional Italian kitchen, I close my eyes to see not one, but many blank canvases - each one representing the common base elements of this cuisine. Blank. As they wait to be painted with the vibrant local produce of a territory and its seasons.
In the book La Cucina Sabina by Maria Giuseppina Truini Palomba there are five recipes for a “Ciambellone”. For those of you who have never come across this word or this cake, you are probably wondering what on earth this may be. The root word for Ciambellone is Ciambella which signifies a round fried “donut” OR a ring-shaped baked good of certain ingredients which we know in the English speaking world as a bundt cake. The “one” (oh-nay) often added to the end in places like Central Italy, gives us the zero-confusion word to confirm the expectation of a “big” cake. The plural forms of “e” (ay), “ine” (ee-nay), “ette” (et-ay) and “etti” (et-ee) are added to the end of Ciambella to signify smaller ring like treats or biscuits that are baked or fried. A little complicated, I know.
As a bit of a lazy baker who always seems to be short on time, I often rely on this no fail one bowl cake to get me through life’s cake demanding moments. Breakfast? Ciambellone. Afternoon snack or merenda? Ciambellone. Last minute guests arriving for coffee? Ciambellone. Bake sale? Well, you get what I mean. And it is the ease of this cake which is said to have originated in Le Marche that has probably allowed the humble Ciambellone to diffuse throughout the country to become one of the most typical homemade desserts of the Italian tradition. Italyside, a Ciambellone is kind of like a nemesis. It just seems to show up everywhere. With rural roots as part of the cucina povera, this dessert typically graced the menus of family and community celebrations. And while this sweet ring still shows up in all of these places, it is more commonly served as a soft and nutritious start to the day to enjoy with your morning coffee or glass of milk.
“In the peasant (farmer) tradition, the Ciambella was the dessert always present on the tables during holidays, during a baptism, a communion, a birthday or even during the celebration of a wedding. "The sweet of the crowds", this dessert was called, and generally concluded the seven courses foreseen for the libations on the day of the wheat threshing, served in slices with cream cooked in a copper pot. Its recipe varies from region to region. The most common variants of this cake are the two-coloured ones, obtained by adding cocoa powder to part of the batter, then decorated on the surface with icing sugar.”
The Ciambellone has become such a part of the culinary fabric of Italy that some regions and their municipalities have included variations of the Ciambella on their list of Prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale (PAT), which is an official approval for traditional Italian regional food products.
The five basic recipes for a classic Ciambellone which Maria Giuseppina Truini Palomba chose to include in her book after spending years visiting the kitchens of home cooks throughout the region of Sabina don’t agree 100% on any one ingredient. Four out of five recipes use three eggs and the addition of milk. After that, the commonalities are fat in the form of olive oil or butter, a leavening agent and sugar. Then, you may have to use your best judgement as to how much flour to add to these ingredients (quanto basta). A few recipes offer you the chance to go wild if you wish by adding some ground almonds or liquor.
And in these basic recipes I see the best of what regional Italian cooking has to say for itself. It’s not that one of the recipes highlighted by la signora Truini Palomba is better than the other, she is just giving us a reflection of a traditional Italian kitchen truth - every family, house and home cook has their own recipe for a Ciambellone, and this holds true for all of the traditional recipes that one might find in these borders. Every family, house and home cook also has their own set of canvases and seasonal paints. It’s just like this. And this is what I adore about the Italian kitchen. This non-rigid possibility and inspiration and sharing that allows you to make a recipe your own if you wish. And with this diffusion comes the fantasy that allows for the myriad of ingredients that can be added to a Ciambellone while keeping tradition in mind - citrus and seasonal fruit, sweet vegetables, nuts, spices, ricotta, yogurt, chocolate, liquor or whatever seasonal notion that might strike one’s fancy.
When we are in Contigliano, I tend to tip toe next door into my mother-in-laws kitchen in the silence of the morning when the air is still warm from the night’s fire to quietly lift and remove the flimsy ringed tin pan that belonged to Nonna Viola, una vera contadina. A pan that tells a thousand kitchen stories, a pan that my hands read before everyone wakes.
In Ireland, I am writing new stories on a store-bought ring ridged pan. Last weekend I woke in the early hours of the morning while the air was still warm from the night’s fire to prepare this dairy and gluten free Dark Chocolate and Orange Ciambellone covered with a dairy and gluten free chocolate ganache to transport to Giacomo’s post rugby match jamboree. Another one of life’s cake demanding events.
The flavours of dark chocolate and orange are great on their own, but are even better when combined making for a popular choice. I’m currently looking for any excuse to use citrus in my cooking as the season starts to slip away. This was the only gluten-free dessert on the table and it was probably for this reason, in an area that has one of the highest rates of celiac disease in the world, that it quickly disappeared.
This recipe went for round two later in the week when I whipped it up for an afternoon play date which coincided with my mother’s arrival from the States. I quickly coated this version with powdered sugar while it was still warm, because little and big hands can’t wait.
Dark Chocolate + Orange Ciambellone DF + GF
Ciambellone al cioccolato fondente e arancia
Ingredients:
275g gluten free flour blend for baking
25g dark cocoa powder + 1 tbsp more for the pan
150 grams of raw cane sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3 free range eggs
200ml extra virgin olive oil
200ml almond milk
1 tsp of vanilla
Juice of half an orange
Zest of an entire orange
100g 70% dark chocolate chips
Sea salt, a generous pinch
Butter or Coconut Oil for the pan
Method:
1. Butter or Coconut Oil and “flour” a ringed cake or bundt pan with some sifted cocoa powder. Heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together in a big bowl. Make a well in the middle with your fingertips. Crack the eggs into the middle and whisk them together with the tip of a fork. Add the sugar and whisk it together with the egg. Then add the olive oil, almond milk, vanilla, orange juice and zest blending with a whisk or a wooden spoon until you have a smooth batter. Add the chocolate chips and gently stir them through.
3. Pour the batter into your pan and bake for 30-45 minutes depending on your oven type. Flip the cake onto a serving dish when slightly cooled and cover with a dairy-free chocolate ganache or cover with sifted powdered sugar.