Colomba Pasquale

A typical Festive Easter Cake eaten all over Italy is the Colomba. The Colomba represents the Dove of Peace. To make it, follow this simple recipe:

Ingredients:

 225 g plain flour  
 90 g raisins
 90 g castor sugar   
 40g softened butter          
 50 g crushed sugar cubes         
 2 eggs   
 40 g almond meal    
 1 egg separated     
 30 g almond flakes   
 2 tsp yeast                                                                                                                                   

 For the start mix: 

  1 tsp vanilla     110 g plain flour    rind of 1 orange      ½ tsp yeast

Method:

1. To make the starter, mix ingredients and 90 mls water in bowl until smooth and leave stand 12 hours.                                                                                                 
2. Transfer the mix to an electric blender with dough attachment; add flour, 60 g castor sugar, butter, 2 eggs, yolk, yeast, vanilla and orange rind. Mix at medium speed until dough is smooth and starts to leave the sides of the bowl (approx. 15 mins). Mix in fruit. Cover and let stand until mixture doubles in volume (1-2 hrs ).       3. Preheat oven to 190C. knock down dough and place in tin, not quite touching sides. Allow to stand and rise – 40 minutes.   
4. Combine crushed sugar, almond meal, almonds, remaining raw sugar and egg white. Scatter over dough and bake for 15 minutes, reduce heat  to 160 and bake until gold and cooked through ( 15-20 minutes).