In a medium-size saucepan, cook the rice in the milk with the lemon peel and a pinch of salt. In the meanwhile, soak the raisins in a cup with a little lukewarm water until they are soft (about 10 minutes), then drain them thoroughly. Stir the rice frequently, leaving it over the heat until it has absorbed all the milk and is well cooked. Turn the heat off and leave to cool. Stir in the sugar, a spoonful of icing sugar, the vanilla extract, the eggs (one at a time) 20 g of melted butter and the raisins (patted dry with kitchen paper), amalgamating everything thoroughly with the rice. Grease a 28 cm round, non-stick cake tin with the remaining butter, and then sprinkle it with the breadcrumbs. Put the rice mixture into the cake tin and cook in a preheated oven, at 150 °C, for about 1¼ hours (after an hour, test it by inserting a toothpick, if it comes out clean the cake is ready). When it has cooled down a bit, turn the cake out onto a serving dish and sprinkle the remaining icing sugar over the top using a tea strainer. 

 Giuliana Lo Franco keeps this recipe in her recipe folder, handwritten by the mother of a dear senior school friend, Signora Marta. Both mother and daughter were keen cooks and very possessive when it came to their precious recipes. Giuliana prepares this cake frequently because one of her daughters-in-law, Antonio’s wife Sabina, is gluten intolerant.