Quick and Easy Colomba Recipe

Here is the recipe for homemade Colomba Pasquale, the classic Italian Easter cake decorated with almonds and sugar. The Colomba is one of the most popular Easter desserts on Italian tables, along with pastiera and Easter eggs.

As Easter approaches, we can find these leavened cakes in stores and pastry shops throughout Italy. But with this recipe, you can easily make an equally delicious one at home. In a simple way and with easy to find ingredients.

In this recipe, I wanted to flavor the classic dough with orange zest and candied orange. But you can also add other delicious ingredients, such as raisins or chocolate chips.

For my homemade Italian Easter bread, I used a 1 kg Easter mold. In Italy it's easy to find this molds for sale, but abroad I don't know. I have pointed you to one on Amazon, but let me know if you know of other sellers.

This Colomba recipe is quick and easy to make. No leavening time is required because I used instant yeast for savory pies. The Colomba rises directly in the oven, with no long waiting time!

Try this traditional Italian Easter cake that is so easy to make at home!

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Storage
• Kitchen Tools and Equipment
• Variations
• History and Origins
• Recipe Card

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Ingredients

Prep time: 20 Min | Cook Time: 40 Min | Servings: 10

Doses for 1 kg (2.2 pounds) Colomba mold

FOR THE DOUGH

• 3 medium eggs
• 500 g (3 ⅓ cup) "00" flour
• 110 g (~½ cup) sunflower oil
• 180 g (¾ cup) fresh whole milk
• 150 g (¾ cup) granulated sugar
• the zest of 1 organic lemon
• the zest of 1 organic orange
• 1 tablespoon acacia honey
• 80 g (~3 oz) candied orange peel (optional)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or the seeds of 1 vanilla bean
• 16 g (4 teaspoons) instant dry yeast

THE GLAZE

• 50 g (~½ cup) almond flour
• 80 g (~⅔ cup) powdered sugar
• 2 egg whites (about 80 g - ~3 oz)

FOR DECORATION

• 2 tablespoons raw whole almonds
• 2 tablespoons pearl sugar

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Instructions

Make the Dough

Step 1) - Start by taking the eggs, separating the whites and yolks into two separate bowls and beating the whites until stiff. Set the beaten whites aside for now.

Step 2) - Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light and fluffy. It is best to use a stand mixer. It's much easier.

Step 3) - Then add the grated zest of 1 orange, the grated zest of 1 lemon, 1 tablespoon acacia honey and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or the seeds of 1 vanilla bean).

Step 4) - Continue mixing to incorporate the ingredients well. Then add the sunflower oil and milk.

Step 5) - Finally, add the candied orange peel cut into small pieces. This ingredient is optional because not everyone likes candied fruit. You can omit it or substitute it with raisins, chocolate chips or other ingredients (see variations below).

Step 6) - In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the yeast. Then sift these ingredients together. Add the flour a little at a time to the dough, always mixing with the electric mixer on low speed.

Step 7) - Finally, add the beaten egg whites. Mix gently with a wooden spoon from the bottom to the top. The dough for our Colomba is ready! Pour it into the Colomba mold and garnish the top.

Make the Glaze

Step 8) - In a bowl, mix the egg whites with the powdered sugar and almond flour. Pour the resulting cream mixture over the surface of the Colomba dough. Decorate with whole almonds and pearl sugar.

Bake

Step 9) - Once the decoration is complete, bake the Colomba in a pre-heated static oven at 180°C (356°F) for 40-45 minutes, or in a pre-heated ventilated oven at 170°C (338°F) for the same time.

Your homemade Colomba is ready! Just be patient and let it cool before you take a bite!

YOU MUST ALSO TRY:

• Scarcella Recipe (Italian Easter Cookies with Eggs)
• Easter Eggs filled with Chocolate Ganache
• Easter Cheese Bread | Crescia di Pasqua Recipe

Storage

To properly store a homemade Colomba Cake, first allow it to cool completely.

Then you can wrap it tightly in plastic wrap or an airtight food bag. Or you can store it on a plate covered with a cake dome. This will help protect it from moisture and oxidation.

Store the colomba in a cool, dry place at room temperature. Avoid putting it in the refrigerator, as the moisture in the refrigerator can affect the texture and flavor of the cake.

Although properly wrapped and stored Colomba di Pasqua will keep for several days, it's best to eat it within a week to ensure the best quality and freshness.

Kitchen Tools and Equipment

To make a homemade Colomba Pasquale, you will need some kitchen tools to mix the ingredients and bake the cake in the oven:

• Bowls of different sizes: for mixing dry and wet ingredients and forming the colomba dough.
• Electric whisk or stand mixer (recommended): to blend the dough ingredients evenly and achieve a fluffy texture.
• Wooden spoon or spatula: for mixing the dough and incorporating the beaten whites
• Colomba mold: a 1 kg (2.2 pounds) dove-shaped mold specially designed to bake and shape the cake.

Variations

Chocolate chip: A mouth-watering variant enriched with dark chocolate chips in the dough. Keeping the other typical ingredients such as almonds and glaze, add chocolate along with the flour.

Whole-wheat flour: A more rustic version using whole-wheat flour and brown sugar, enriched with butter, eggs, instant dry yeast, orange and lemon zest, almonds and a glaze of whole-wheat powdered sugar.

Candied fruit: A more traditional version with the addition of candied fruit, such as orange, lemon and citron, to the dough, keeping the icing of powdered sugar and almonds as decoration.

Raisins: A delicious variant enriched with raisins in the dough. In addition to the basic ingredients, this version also includes raisins that are softened in water or liqueur before being added to the dough. The presence of the raisins adds sweetness and softness to the cake.

Pistachios: A gourmet variation that includes the addition of pistachios to the dough. Pistachios add a unique flavor and crunchy texture to the colomba.

History and Origins

There are many legends, myths and stories about the Italian Colomba Pasquale. Different places claim the authorship of this delicious product: from Lombardy to Veneto, down to Sicily. According to tradition, the Easter dove is considered a Lombard dessert because the most important legends come from these areas.

The Colomba di Pasqua as we know it today has a very recent origin. In Milan, in the 1930s, it was the Motta company that had the intuition to offer a leavened cake at Easter. That was a purely commercial operation! In fact, it was Dino Villani, the advertising director from Mantua, who suggested using the same machinery used to make panettone to create a new Easter cake.

A version of the Colomba also exists in the Veneto region. The recipe calls for flour, sourdough, eggs, sugar, butter, honey, salt, vanilla, cocoa butter, almonds, hazelnuts, cornstarch and candied fruit. It seems to have existed in Verona as early as the late 1800s.

Another thing is the Sicilian Easter Dove, also known as "palummedda": thick pastry cakes that, in their oldest and most traditional version, are exactly shaped like a dove, often with a hard-boiled egg in the center.

Recipe Card