My Grandmother's
Shamulato

Also called Ciambella, this is simply a citrus-flavored Italian pound cake.

About this recipe

As I have noted elsewhere, my paternal grandmother loved to please her extended family with her Italian specialties.  Somehow, she always seemed to have a freshly baked Shamulato on hand whenever we visited her.  If I didn't eat at least two slices, she would proclaim, "You don't like it?"

It was a particular favorite of hers at Christmas.

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup shortening, melted
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract
  • 2 teaspoons orange extract
  • 1½ tablespoons baking powder
  • confectioner's sugar
  • vanilla extract
Shamulato.

Directions

  1. Beat the eggs and sugar very well.  Add the melted shortening.  Alternate adding flour and milk, saving ½ cup of flour.  Add the salt, baking soda, lemon and orange extracts.  Combine the baking powder with the ½ cup flour which was reserved and add to the batter.
  2. Place the batter in a greased twelve-inch Bundt pan and bake at 350° F for 40 t0 45 minutes. 
  3. Remove the cake from the pan while hot and place on a cooling rack. 
  4. After about fifteen minutes, but while the cake is still warm, drizzle a mixture of a half-cup of confectioner's sugar, three or four teaspoons of water, and a quarter-teaspoon of vanilla extract over the cake.
Posted: February 2014.