Ciambellone

Thank you, Smitten Kitchen, for the inspiration for my parent’s Anniversary Cake.

INGREDIENTS

Cake

400 grams sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons fine sea or table salt
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Finely grated zest of half an orange
325 ml of neutral oil (such as sunflower, safflower, grapeseed or another vegetable oil)
285 grams plain yogurt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
390 grams flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries

GLAZE

120 grams powdered sugar
Scant 2 tablespoons corn syrup
About 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat bundt or tube cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and coat with granulated sugar. Knock out any excess sugar from pan.
Place sugar and salt in the bottom of a large bowl and use your fingertips to rub the zest into it. Whisk in oil, yogurt, and then eggs and vanilla until smooth. Sprinkle baking powder over batter and whisk it thoroughly into the batter, about 10 good turns. Sift flour onto batter and use a rubber spatula to stir just until batter is smooth. Gently fold in strawberries.

Drop batter in large scoopfuls equally around your cake mold, then smooth, and drop on counter a few times to ensure there are no trapped air bubbles. Bake for about 40 minutes (times will range by shape and volume of pan), checking in at the 30 minute mark to rotate the pan for even coloring, and to ensure it’s not baking faster than anticipated. Cake is done when a toothpick or tester comes out batter-free.

Glaze: Whisk sugar, corn syrup, and 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice together until smooth, adding the last tablespoon of juice just if needed. You want this glaze thick, thicker than your regular drizzle glaze, because we want it to stick to the sides of the cake when it’s hot.

When cake is done, let it rest on a cooling rack for 3 to 5 minutes, then remove it from the pan. Brush glaze evenly over the top of the cake, and sides if you wish.

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