Bergamot drizzle cake

Sticky, moist, light, fluffy with the heady aroma and flavor of bergamot

Published originally on my blog on 18 January 2022

In Greece, bergamot is synonymous with our famous bergamot spoon sweet, a preserve using the peel of the fruit, but even though I love eating citrus fruits, I’ve never been a fan of citrus peel preserves or marmalades. Whenever I come across bergamots, I prefer using them in cakes or in savory dishes.

This time, I chose to use this gloriously heady citrus fruit in a drizzle cake. It was an experiment that proved successful, resulting in an utterly scrumptious cake. I baked it once more to test it, and voilà. I’m sharing with you the recipe to make and enjoy.

The cake is flavored with bergamot zest and once it’s out of the oven, it gets drizzled with a mixture of bergamot juice, bergamot zest and Demerara sugar. This is a raw mixture, not a syrup, and it works beautifully because as the cake cools, the sugar almost crystallizes on top and creates a unique, crunchy texture that contrasts the juicy, moist interior.

It’s a deliciously sticky and moist cake that is light and fluffy at the same time. It is, as expected, full of the aroma and flavor of bergamot without it being overwhelming but definitely present. Bergamot is not a shy fruit, it has a bold flavor, and this, after all, is a cake for the lovers of this extraordinary citrus fruit.

Bergamot drizzle cake

You will need two bergamots for the cake. Choose bergamots whose skin is somewhat smooth rather than too “bumpy” because they’re easier to grate. Also, you just want the outer yellow-greenish part of the skin. Make sure not to grate any of the pith (the white, inner part) because it’s very bitter and you will taste it in your cake.