Sweet Romagna: the traditional cakes

Morning is always the best moment of the day to dedicate a sweet, slow moment to ourselves. You will probably be surprised by the opening of this post, but we think that traditional cakes are always the best way to enter the mood of a place.

They simply invite the sharing of a nice moment with people who are there to begin their morning. It’s Italian breakfast, mainly done by sweet food: cakes, ciambella, crostata and many others.

This post is dedicated to the traditional cakes in Romagna, as the way we use to prepare them. Simple recipes for a unique taste that comes from local ingredients and some touch of creativity of women in the kitchen.

Ciambella: Romagna is here

Flat and white, with some sugar on that gives that brilliant light, so tasty: this is the typical Romagna cake that everyone eats since childhood. Mainly with fresh milk but also with Sangiovese or dry Albana. Weird as it can be, but it was a way to have the right energy in the morning, before going in the fields and do the hard work there.

The ingredients are very simple: white wheat, sugar, eggs, oil and yeast. Some put lemon skin in, but you can do it without. Work all the ingredients together and make a couple of loafs and cook them in the oven.

This ciambella will last at least a week, but we guess it will not remain all that long!

Red peaches: cream and fantasy

The classic version of the sweet stuffed Romagna peaches with cream has always been the excellence cake for in every celebration of every family; it was a baptism, a confirmation, a birthday or just a Sunday.

In old tradition (but still now sometimes) sweet peaches were offered to guests or the first day of the year, together with the best service cups and a few bottles of the liqueur type Liqueur, Sassolino or Strega liqueur.

They are not difficult to prepare but the recipe is a bit long. The secret is the cream and also the shell, done exactly as a peach and covered with a red liqueur called Alchermes. You can find them in every good bakery around the region, but not so often in a restaurant.

Castagnaccio: chestnuts from the woods

In the past, even during the war, it was considered a dish to nourish all the family, because with "little expense and lots of result", it was able to cater to an entire house. Born as a sweet but as good as lunch or dinner, the chestnut is (or rather was) a cornerstone of the Italian cuisine.

It is a sweet poor cake of autumn by the full-bodied texture and a very particular taste: obtained with chestnut flour, water, extra virgin olive oil, a handful of raisins, pine nuts and rosemary sprinkled on the surface, is baked in the oven until it becomes a beautiful dark brown. Castagnaccio is also prepared during the winter and spring months with flour jealously preserved throughout the year.

Every area in Romagna has its own typical cake, but as they are considered “poor”, sometimes they are hard to be found. You can eat them during the traditional fairs or in some good bakery or in some restaurants, as Vecchio Convento, that still propose them.