Recipe Background
This Glazed Italian Ring Cake is perfect for celebrations with a tender crumb and a sweet berry finish.
It was the evening of our wedding anniversary, a day that started off with a minor disaster I wouldn’t soon forget—a broken heating element in the oven. Desperate for a quick fix, we borrowed our neighbor’s portable oven, and I found myself gleefully over at her house to tackle this Glazed Italian Ring Cake. Always the one to have some semi-sweet chocolate tucked away in the pantry for emergencies, I figured improvisation was in my DNA.
Warming the cream on the stove felt like orchestrating a symphony. It was simplicity meeting a sweet crescendo, as I poured it over the chocolate and let it sing for a few moments. I added that sneaky tablespoon of butter and confectioners' sugar, stirring to coax a glossy finish. Meanwhile, breaking eggs and whipping whites to soft peaks gave a rhythm of its own, making me appreciate each airy swirl in the kitchen ballet. Folding egg whites gently into the batter was like bringing two forces together in harmony.
If you’ve ever tried to extract a cake out of a neighbor’s pan without mishap, you’d know the anxiety is real, but a gentle hand was all it took. The real art lay in the assembly; whipped cream filled the center like a cloud, with berries offering a touch of colorful class. Let it sit a few minutes before cutting to ensure impressively clean slices. When my partner took the first bite, eyes widened with delight, giving me that ineffable feeling only a successful bake can bring.
Ingredients
For the glaze:
- 3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate broken or chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
For the cake:
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 egg whites plus 3 egg yolks
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup plain whole milk yogurt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup neutral vegetable oil
For serving:
- whipped cream to taste
- 3 cups mixed berries tossed with 2 teaspoons sugar
- confectioners' sugar to taste
Directions
- Position a rack into the center of the oven, then preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Coat a 9-inch Savarin mold or a tube pan with cooking spray.
- In a heatproof bowl, add the chocolate.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the heavy cream until small bubbles form around the edge of the pan.
- Pour the heated cream over the chocolate and allow it to sit for 5 minutes.
- Add the butter and 1 tablespoon of the confectioners' sugar to the chocolate and stir until smooth.
- Set the chocolate mixture aside to cool.
- Sift the flour, the cornstarch, the salt, and the cocoa powder through a fine strainer into a mixing bowl and set it aside.
- In another large bowl, add the egg whites and whip until soft peaks form and set it aside.
- In another mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks, the granulated sugar, the yogurt, and the vanilla until smooth and airy.
- Slowly add the oil to the egg yolk mixture and whisk continuously to incorporate.
- Add the flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula just until the flour is no longer visible.
- Fold the whipped egg whites into the batter until just incorporated.
- Evenly pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake the cake until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Gently invert the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Place the cake, cracked-side up, onto a large plate or serving platter.
- Pour the glaze over the top of the cake.
- Fill the hole with the whipped cream and top with the sweetened berries.
- Sprinkle the cake with the extra confectioners' sugar, then slice and serve.
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