Perugia Easter Ring Cake with Alchermes and Meringue | Ciaramicola Umbra
Ciaramicola is the Easter cake of Perugia, and it is impossible to mistake: a tall ring of soft cake dyed deep red with Alchermes, the crimson spiced liqueur of central Italy, covered in snow-white meringue and scattered with tiny colored sprinkles. Under its festive look it is a simple ciambella, the ring cake that Umbrian families bake for breakfast, scented with lemon and enriched with eggs. This version keeps the Perugian recipe and its colors, and gives it the control of a pastry kitchen: a fine, moist crumb that stays tender for days, and a meringue cooked safely and baked crisp outside and soft within.
Yield: 12 servings. Prep: 40 minutes. Cook: 1 hour 10 minutes. Rest: 2 hours. Course: dessert or Easter breakfast. Region: Umbria.
The Story
Ciaramicola is a sweet of Perugia and the countryside around it, and it belongs to Easter. In many Umbrian homes the morning of Easter Sunday opens with a long breakfast after Mass, the colazione di Pasqua, where the table holds salty and sweet things together: the tall cheese bread called torta di Pasqua, cured meats such as capocollo, hard-boiled eggs blessed in church, and the ciaramicola, red and white at the center of the table. It is a cake that marks the end of Lent, rich with the eggs and sugar that the fast had put aside.
Its colors are the colors of Perugia. The city's flag is red and white, and Perugians read their Easter cake as a small homage to it: the red crumb inside, the white meringue outside. Tradition says that the young women of Perugia baked a ciaramicola at Easter for their sweethearts, and that the cake was a declaration in itself. Like many Easter stories it lives in family memory rather than in documents, but it explains why the ciaramicola is still a gift as much as a dessert.
The red comes from Alchermes, a liqueur born in the apothecaries of Florence, where the Dominican friars of Santa Maria Novella made it as a cordial. It is flavored with spices such as cinnamon, clove, cardamom and vanilla, scented with rose, and colored traditionally with cochineal, the red pigment extracted from an insect, which is why a cake made with Alchermes is not vegetarian. In the kitchens of central Italy Alchermes became the color of celebration: it soaks the sponge of zuppa inglese, it tints the peach-shaped cookies called pesche, and it gives the ciaramicola its unmistakable crumb.
Every Perugian family has its own proportions, and the old recipes use lard as often as butter. What does not change is the ring shape, the red crumb, the white meringue and the sprinkles, called confettini or diavoletti. This recipe follows that structure and refines it: the batter is built for an even, moist crumb, and the meringue is a Swiss meringue warmed to a safe temperature before whipping, so it holds its shape, bakes crisp outside and never weeps onto the cake.
Ingredients
Alchermes is sold in Italian specialty stores and online; buy an Italian brand and check the label, since some modern producers color it with synthetic dyes instead of cochineal. Do not replace it with food coloring and water: the liqueur brings spice, rose and sweetness, and without it the cake is only red. Use large, very fresh eggs at room temperature, a fragrant unwaxed lemon, and Italian 00 flour or a soft all-purpose flour with about 10 percent protein. For the sprinkles, the traditional choice is tiny round nonpareils in mixed colors.
For the cake
Italian 00 flour or all-purpose flour, 3 1/4 cups (400 g)
Baking powder, 1 tbsp (12 g)
Fine sea salt, 1/4 tsp (1.5 g)
Large eggs, at room temperature, 3 (150 g)
Granulated sugar, 1 cup (200 g)
Unsalted butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm, 7 tbsp (100 g)
Alchermes, 1/2 cup (120 ml)
Whole milk, at room temperature, 1/4 cup (60 ml)
Unwaxed lemon, finely grated zest of 1
Butter and flour, for the pan
For the meringue and the finish
Large egg whites, 3 (about 100 g)
Granulated sugar, 3/4 cup (150 g)
Fresh lemon juice, 1/2 tsp (2 ml)
Fine sea salt, 1 small pinch
Colored nonpareil sprinkles (confettini), 2 tbsp (25 g)
Preparation
Step 1
Prepare the pan and the oven. Heat the oven to 340°F (170°C), with the rack in the lower third. Brush a 9 1/2 inch (24 cm) ring pan, or a savarin or tube pan of about 10 cup (2.4 liter) capacity, with soft butter, dust it with flour and tap out the excess. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together twice. A moderate oven is essential: Alchermes and sugar color quickly, and a hotter oven browns the outside of a ring cake long before the thick center is baked.
Step 2
Whip the eggs and sugar. In a stand mixer, whip the eggs with the sugar and the lemon zest at medium high speed for 8 to 10 minutes, until the mixture is pale, has tripled in volume and falls from the whisk in a thick ribbon that rests on the surface for 3 seconds before sinking. This foam is the structure of the cake. Rubbing the zest into the sugar for a minute before whipping releases the lemon oils, which perfume the whole crumb.
Step 3
Build the batter. With the mixer on low speed, pour in the lukewarm melted butter in a thin stream, then the Alchermes and the milk. Stop the mixer. Fold in the sifted flour with a large spatula in three additions, cutting down through the center and turning the bowl, just until no dry flour remains. The batter will be a deep pink red that darkens in the oven. Fold gently but completely: streaks of flour bake into hard white spots, while overmixing knocks out the air and develops gluten, which makes the crumb tight and rubbery.
Step 4
Bake the cake. Pour the batter into the pan, smooth the top and tap the pan once on the counter to release large bubbles. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, without opening the oven for the first 30 minutes, until the top is domed and springs back when pressed, a skewer inserted in the thickest part comes out clean, and the center reaches 205°F (96°C) on a thermometer. Let the cake rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack. Cool it completely, at least 1 1/2 hours: meringue spread on a warm cake slides and weeps.
Step 5
Make the Swiss meringue. Put the egg whites, the sugar, the salt and the lemon juice in the clean, grease-free bowl of the mixer and set it over a pan of barely simmering water, without letting the bowl touch the water. Whisk constantly by hand until the sugar has dissolved completely and the mixture reaches 160°F (71°C), about 4 to 5 minutes; rub a drop between your fingers and it should feel smooth, with no grains. Move the bowl to the mixer and whip at high speed for 6 to 8 minutes, until the meringue is glossy, firm, holds stiff peaks and has cooled to room temperature. Heating the whites to 160°F (71°C) makes them safe to eat and dissolves the sugar, so the meringue is denser, more stable and does not weep.
Step 6
Cover the cake. Lower the oven to 230°F (110°C). Set the cooled cake on a parchment-lined baking sheet. With an offset spatula spread a thin layer of meringue over the top and the sides, inner ring included, to seal the crumb. Then cover it with the rest, either with the spatula, lifting it into soft peaks and swirls, or with a piping bag and a large star tip, in small rosettes close together. Scatter the sprinkles over the meringue at once, from a height of about 12 inches (30 cm), so they fall evenly and stick before the surface dries.
Step 7
Dry the meringue. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meringue is dry and crisp to the touch, still white or at most the palest ivory at the tips. Turn off the oven, prop the door open with a wooden spoon and leave the cake inside for 15 minutes, so the meringue cools slowly and does not crack. Transfer it to a cake stand. The low oven drives off surface moisture and creates a thin crisp shell over a soft, marshmallow-like layer, without coloring it or drying the cake underneath.
Plating
Present the ciaramicola whole at the table, on a white cake stand, so the red and white can be seen before it is cut. Cut it with a long serrated knife dipped in hot water and wiped dry between slices, using a light sawing motion through the meringue and then a single clean pressure through the crumb. This keeps the meringue shell from shattering and the red crumb from tearing.
Lay each slice on its side on a dessert plate, so the guest sees the full section: the white crown, the line of meringue against the crumb, the deep red inside. At Easter breakfast it is served alone, with coffee. At the end of a meal, add a spoon of lightly sweetened whipped ricotta flavored with lemon zest and a few fresh strawberries, which bring the acidity that balances the sweetness of the meringue.
Professional Technique
The key number is the ribbon. The eggs and sugar must be whipped until they triple in volume and hold a ribbon for 3 seconds, because this foam, and not only the baking powder, gives the ciaramicola its light, even crumb. Under-whipped eggs give a heavy, damp ring; whipping past the point where the foam is stable gains nothing, so stop when the ribbon holds.
The hidden variable is the alcohol. The Alchermes adds liquid, sugar and alcohol to the batter, and alcohol evaporates quickly in the oven, helping the rise but also drying the surface. That is why the oven stays moderate, at 340°F (170°C), and why the milk is part of the recipe: it balances the liquids so the crumb stays moist. Adding more Alchermes for a deeper color makes the cake heavy and sticky; the red deepens naturally as the crust bakes.
The doneness test is the internal temperature. A ring cake bakes from both sides, the outer wall and the central tube, so the thickest point is in the middle of the ring. At 205°F (96°C) there the crumb is fully set and still moist. The meringue has its own test: a properly dried meringue sounds hollow when tapped lightly with a fingernail and does not stick to the finger.
Meringue and Moisture Control
The meringue is the part that fails most often, and almost always because of water and fat. A single drop of yolk or a trace of grease in the bowl keeps the whites from foaming, so separate the eggs one at a time into a small cup, and wipe the bowl and the whisk with a paper towel moistened with lemon juice before you start. Dissolve the sugar completely over the water bath: undissolved crystals attract moisture and form the small amber droplets called beading.
Humidity is the enemy of a crisp meringue. On a rainy day the shell absorbs moisture from the air within hours and turns sticky. Bake and dry the meringue on the day you serve the cake, ideally a few hours before, and never cover the finished cake with plastic wrap, which traps condensation. If the meringue softens, return the cake to a 200°F (95°C) oven for 10 minutes to dry it again.
The crumb has its own moisture balance. Sealing the cake with a thin first layer of meringue protects the crumb from drying in the second bake and keeps it soft for days. Letting the cake cool completely before covering it prevents the steam of the crumb from wetting the base of the meringue, which would make it slide and weep.
Professional Mise en Place
The cake can be baked the day before, and the meringue finished on the day of serving. Weigh every ingredient before starting, and separate the eggs for the meringue while they are cold, when the yolks are firmer and break less easily.
Equipment and tools
Stand mixer with whisk, a second clean bowl for the meringue
9 1/2 inch (24 cm) ring, savarin or tube pan
Sieve, large spatula, offset spatula, piping bag with a large star tip
Instant-read thermometer, wooden skewer, cooling rack
Long serrated knife, cake stand
Prepared ahead
Cake baked, cooled and wrapped, up to 1 day ahead, at room temperature
Eggs separated, whites kept covered at room temperature for up to 2 hours
Pan prepared and dry ingredients sifted
Service setup
Meringue made, spread and dried 3 to 6 hours before serving
Hot water and a towel for the knife
Whipped ricotta, strawberries and plates ready for a plated dessert
Chef Tips
Use a light-colored metal pan, not a dark nonstick one. Dark pans absorb more heat and darken the red crust before the center is baked, while a light aluminum pan bakes the ring evenly.
Save the three yolks left from the meringue: they make a small batch of pastry cream or crema pasticcera, perfect for filling a few leftover slices the next day.
For sharper sprinkles that do not bleed their color into the meringue, add them only after the meringue is spread and the surface has started to set, and use nonpareils rather than sugar strands, which melt more easily.
If you need a cake for children or for guests who avoid alcohol, remember that most of the alcohol in the Alchermes evaporates in the oven but not all of it, and that the cake is not vegetarian because of the cochineal. Say so to your guests before serving.
Common Mistakes
Replacing the Alchermes with food coloring. The cake turns red but loses the spice, the rose and the sweetness that make it a ciaramicola. Buy a real Italian Alchermes.
Under-whipping the eggs. Without a stable foam the crumb bakes dense and damp. Whip until the ribbon holds for 3 seconds.
Baking too hot. The sugar and the liqueur brown the outside, and a dark crust hides the red crumb while the center is still raw. Keep the oven at 340°F (170°C).
Covering a warm cake. Steam rising from the crumb makes the meringue slide, weep and separate. Cool the cake completely, at least 1 1/2 hours.
Using a simple raw meringue. Raw whites are not safe for everyone and a French meringue weeps on a moist cake. A Swiss meringue heated to 160°F (71°C) is safe and stable.
Browning the meringue. A golden meringue spoils the red and white contrast and tastes of caramel. Dry it at 230°F (110°C) and stop while it is still white.
Refrigerating the finished cake. The cold, humid air of the refrigerator turns the crisp meringue sticky within hours. Keep the cake at cool room temperature, loosely covered.
Wine Pairing
Montefalco Sagrantino Passito DOCG: The great sweet red of Umbria, made in the hills of Montefalco from Sagrantino grapes dried after the harvest. Its notes of black cherry, blackberry and sweet spice echo the cinnamon and clove of the Alchermes, and its tannins give structure to a soft, sweet cake. Serve at about 60°F (16°C).
Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG: A light, sweet, sparkling red from Piedmont, fragrant with rose and fresh strawberry. The rose notes speak to the rose of the Alchermes, and its bubbles and low alcohol make it a joyful choice for Easter breakfast. Serve well chilled, at about 46°F (8°C).
Vin Santo del Chianti Classico DOC: From neighboring Tuscany, an amber wine of dried grapes aged in small barrels, with dried apricot, honey and toasted nuts. It matches the lemon and the meringue and is the classic glass of central Italy for dipping a slice of cake. Serve at about 54°F (12°C).
Moscato d'Asti DOCG: Gently sparkling, sweet and low in alcohol, with peach, sage and orange blossom. Its freshness lightens the sugar of the meringue, and it is the best choice when the ciaramicola is served with fresh strawberries. Serve at about 43°F (6°C).
Storage & Reheating
Room temperature: keep the ciaramicola under a cake dome or loosely covered with a clean towel, in a cool, dry place, for up to 3 days; the meringue slowly softens but the crumb stays moist. Refrigerator: not recommended, because the humidity turns the meringue sticky and the cold firms the butter in the crumb. Freezer: freeze the cake without meringue, tightly wrapped, for up to 1 month; thaw it wrapped at room temperature, then finish it with fresh meringue on the day of serving. A cake already covered in meringue does not freeze well.
The cake is not reheated. If the meringue has softened after a day or two, dry the whole cake in a 200°F (95°C) oven for 10 to 15 minutes and let it cool before serving. Leftover slices are excellent toasted lightly on the cut sides and served with coffee for breakfast, the way Perugians finish their Easter cake in the days after the holiday.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 12 servings:
Calories: 345 kcal
Total Fat: 8 g
Saturated Fat: 5 g
Trans Fat: less than 1 g
Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
Cholesterol: 65 mg
Sodium: 180 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 60 g
Fiber: 1 g
Total Sugars: 35 g
Added Sugars: 34 g
Protein: 6 g
Lactose: less than 1 g
Principal micronutrients: selenium, riboflavin, folate, thiamin, iron
These figures are estimates, calculated on the quantities listed and rounded to the nearest whole number, assuming that most of the alcohol in the Alchermes evaporates during baking. They vary with the brand of Alchermes and the amount of meringue used.
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