Ciambellone senza buco al cioccolato è tè verde

chocogreenteaweb

cocoagreenteawebcocoanibletsweb1Sometimes my childhood memories bring my back to Italy where my grandmother used to make ciambella or ciambellone, which is somehow a traditional Italian cake from their region (the Marche), originally round with a hole in the middle, not too sweet and very moist. Ciambellone used to be served for various occasions such as family gatherings, baptisms, and other fun and festive event. It was served with cream but nowadays, the cream has been left out since the meals end up being quite substantious and by the time dessert is served, your hunger has been satisfied. Ciambellone is still considered the typical “Marchigiano” cake, flavored with rum, lemon, chocolate, etc…  The proportions of butter, sugar and chocolate are half of the proportions of the flour. This is my own ciambellone version but with chocolate and green tea powder, so it looks like a marble cake. I used a regular cake mold so no hole in the middle. I found some wonderful Matcha green tea at the Rainbow and some cocoa niblets that are just perfect for a crunchy bite. The green tea slight bitterness and deep chocolate flavor is a marriage from heaven.

Ingredients for 6 people

  • 3 eggs
  • 100 g sugar
  • 100 g melted butter
  • 50 ml milk
  • 200 g unbleached flour
  • 100 g bittersweet chocolate chips
  • 1 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tbs green tea powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 tbs cocoa niblets
  • 1 1/2 tsp cocoa extract
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder

Instructions

In a mixing bowl, add eggs and sugar, with an electric mixer, mix well for a couple of minutes.

Melt butter in a pan and add to the egg/sugar mixture, add milk, vanilla, flour, baking soda and baking powder. Mix the batter vigorously to make it smooth.

In another mixing bowl add half of this mixture. In the meantime, melt chocolate in the microwave. Basically at this point, you end up with two bowls with same amount of batter.

In one bowl, add the green tea powder and mix well, and in the other one, add the melted chocolate, the cocoa powder and the cocoa extract. Mix well.

In a non-stick cake pan, add a layer of cocoa mixture, then add another layer of green tea mixture until you have used all the batter.

Preheat oven at 360F and cook cake for about 40-45 minutes, or until the middle is cooked. Insert a knife after 40 min to see if the center of the cake is no longer liquid.