Ciambellone - Easy Italian Bundt Cake

A ciambellone is a simple bundt cake that can be made in under one hour. Flavored with vanilla and lemon, it makes a great breakfast or snack!

Growing up in an Italian household in Canada, I have adopted many Canadian customs, like having a savory breakfast of bacon and eggs. You see, for Italians, breakfast starts on the sweet side.

When I was little, I would see all my friends and TV characters eating bacon and eggs for breakfast, and so I would ask my mom to make this for me too. For my Italian mother, this was literally a foreign concept - she would simply say " I don't know how to make them! We didn't grow up eating those things for breakfast in Italy. Here - have a piece of ciambellone." And so for me, breakfast was often a cup of warm milk and ciambellone, crostata, or biscotti.

A ciambellone is a simple bundt cake (nothing fancy here), and many Italian nonne make it. There's so many versions of ciambellone. Some recipes use oil, some use butter instead, some include milk, others yogurt. This is my version.

It's usually eaten for breakfast or as a snack in the afternoon. It's not something I would serve for dessert personally, but it's up to you!

Jump to:

• 🥛 Ingredients
• 📋 How to make ciambellone - step by step
• How to store
• 👩🏻‍🍳 Top tips
• 🍰 More authentic Italian dessert recipes
• Recipe

🥛 Ingredients

• Unsalted butter
• Granulated sugar
• Eggs
• Whole milk
• All purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Lemon zest
• Vanilla extract

📋 How to make ciambellone - step by step

Preheat oven to 350°F. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk, or with a hand mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Cream together until combined and soft, about 3 minutes (photo 1)

Add the eggs and beat until combined. Add the milk. Continue mixing until incorporated (photo 2)

Add the flour, baking powder, lemon zest and vanilla extract. Beat until mixture is smooth (photo 3)

Add mixture to a buttered and floured bundt pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Remove from the oven (photo 4)

After 10 minutes invert the cake on to a wire rack. Dust the imperfect side with powdered sugar.

How to store

At room temperature:

Keep the ciambellone at room temperature in an air tight container, or wrapped in tin foil for up to 3-4 days. Not slicing it will help keep the slices moist for when you do cut them. But if you do slice it up, the slices will keep nicely at room temperature for about 1-2 days.

Freezing:

You can freeze this ciambellone in large pieces (ie. by cutting it into 3-4 pieces), wrapping it in saran wrap and then tin foil. It will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. When it comes time to eat it, remove it form the freezer and let is come to room temperature, and slice.

👩🏻‍🍳 Top tips

• I used this ring mold pan (10 inches by 3 inches), but you can use any bundt pan you'd like
• Traditionally, a ciambellone is served with the imperfect side up. If you'd like, you can serve it with the perfect side up, it's up to you!

🍰 More authentic Italian dessert recipes

• Crostata (Italian Jam Tart): Just Like Nonna’s!
• Fresh Peach Tart With Lemon Cream Filling
• Pastiera Napoletana: The Traditional Italian Easter Dessert

If you’ve tried making these Ciambellone, or any other recipe on the blog please let me know what you thought of it in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’ve been up to.

Recipe