How to make
Beat the softened butter and the sugar to a fluffy cream in a bowl. Then, 1 by 1, add 2 whole eggs and 4 yolks. Continue beating.
Next, add the sifted flour that you've mixed with the baking powder, in portions. Stir everything with a spatula, add the oil and liqueur.
The liqueur will grant the mixture a saturated pink to red color. Stir until the dough is fully homogenized, then transfer to a buttered and floured cake form.
Bake the cake in a preheated 360°F (180 °C) oven. Check to see if it's ready with a toothpick. When you poke it and it comes out dry, it means it's well baked. Take out of the oven and leave to cool.
Weigh the remaining egg whites and beat them to snow with sugar (1:2) and 1 tbsp lemon juice.
Smear the cake with the egg white glaze, sprinkle on sugar pearls and put to dry in the oven at 210°F (100 °C) about 40 min. What you'll get is a white, firm, meringue coating around the cake.
This is an Easter cake but it's made almost year-round and is traditional for the Italian province of Perugia. Traditionally, Easter lunch concludes with a slice of Ciaramicola.
The red color symbolizes the blood of Jesus, while the white symbolizes the light of the Resurrection.
