Description
This traditional Easter Cake recipe yields soft, airy, and lightly flavored sweet bread enhanced with lemon zest and anisette liqueur. Perfectly topped with a smooth lemon glaze and colorful edible sprinkles, these cakes are ideal for festive celebrations. Utilizing either a bread machine or stand mixer, the dough is gently kneaded and allowed to rise slowly before baking to golden perfection.
Ingredients
Scale
Dough Ingredients
- 1 cup warm milk
- 6 eggs, beaten
- 6 oz light olive oil
- 3 Tbsp anisette (or Sambuca, or other liqueur)
- 1 large lemon rind, grated
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- 6 cups all-purpose flour (up to 7 cups or 840 g if using metric)
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
Icing & Decoration
- 4 cups confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
- 4 ½ Tbsp lemon juice and/or water
- 1 Tbsp edible sprinkles (as needed for decorating)
Instructions
- Prepare Dough in Bread Machine: Place all liquid ingredients—warm milk, beaten eggs, light olive oil, and anisette—in the bread machine container. Add grated lemon rind on top. Add dry ingredients except yeast—sugar, flour (start with minimum), and salt. Make a well in the flour and add yeast. Set the bread machine to dough cycle and run. Add more flour as needed for a slightly sticky dough consistency.
- Prepare Dough Using Stand Mixer: Dissolve yeast in warm milk and let activate. Beat eggs and sugar in the stand mixer for 3–4 minutes. Change to dough hook and add milk with yeast, oil, anisette, and lemon rind, mixing on low to combine. Gradually add flour until dough is soft and slightly sticky. Knead with dough hook for at least 10 minutes until smooth. Shape into a ball and cover.
- Prepare Pans: Butter and flour three 9-inch springform pans, lining bottoms with parchment paper for easy cake removal.
- First Rise: Allow dough to double in size. Then gently turn dough onto a floured surface, knead lightly, and divide into three equal parts.
- Shape Dough: Shape each part into round balls. For regular cakes, place balls directly into prepared pans. For bundt-style cakes, form a hole in the center of each dough ball using fingers and stretch it to create a ring shape before placing in a bundt pan or buttered jar filled with rice.
- Second Rise: Cover shaped dough and allow to rise for 3 to 5 hours, until well risen. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) during this time.
- Bake Cakes: Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes, until golden brown and very light in weight. Cakes should be fully baked through.
- Cool Cakes: Let cakes cool in pans for about 45 minutes. Carefully remove sides, parchment paper, bottoms, and any jars used for shaping.
- Prepare Icing: Mix lemon juice and/or water gradually into powdered sugar until smooth with the consistency of thick honey. Keep covered until ready to use.
- Ice and Decorate: Spread icing generously over tops of cooled cakes one at a time. Quickly add edible sprinkles before icing sets, allowing it to drip down naturally. Let icing set fully before serving or storing in airtight containers.
Notes
- For smaller batches, scale ingredients accordingly: ⅓ cup warm milk, 2 beaten eggs, 2 oz olive oil, 1 Tbsp anisette, 6½ Tbsp sugar, 2 to 2⅓ cups flour, pinch of salt, and ¾ tsp yeast.
- Adjust flour quantity as needed; dough should be slightly sticky but manageable.
- Use parchment paper in pans to prevent sticking and for easier cake removal.
- Bundt cake shaping can be done using a buttered glass or jar filled with rice if a bundt pan is unavailable.
- Allowing the dough to rise slowly contributes to the light and airy texture of the cake.
- The lemon icing should be spread quickly before setting to achieve a beautiful decorative effect.
Keywords: Easter cake, festive bread, lemon cake, sweet bread, holiday dessert, baking, anisette cake