Ahmed Fattouh (R) celebrates Zamalek s second goal with his teammates (Photo: the club s official Twitter account)
An early header from Tunisian striker Seifeddine Jaziri and a late goal from left-back Ahmed Fattouh lifted Zamalek past Ceramica, who were unlucky not to get something from the game.
The visitors wasted several goal-scoring chances and had two goals disallowed for offside as the result hardly reflected the true picture of the match.
Zamalek will still be satisfied to bag all three points, five days before meeting perennial Cairo rivals Ahly in an anticipated Egyptian Super Cup game in Abu Dhabi.
Ceramica remain third on three points after they claimed an impressive 3-0 opening win over Masry last week.
Zamalek looked to be cruising when Jaziri gave them an eighth-minute lead after finishing off a fine team move.
A superb threaded pass from Fattouh released versatile midfielder Emam Ashour, who dinked the ball over the keeper for Jaziri to head into an empty net.
However, they could not build up on their early goal as Ceramica took control for long spells.
Ceramica scored from a corner shortly before the break but striker Ahmed Rayyan, who was in an offside position, was adjudged to have interfered in play.
Ceramica's Nigerian striker John Ebuka was a constant thorn in Zamalek's side and he came close on 48 minutes when he outpaced defender Mohamed Abdel-Ghani and drilled an angled shot just wide.
Zamalek only improved when veteran schemer Mahmoud Shikabala was introduced to give his toothless side much-needed zeal in the final third.
Fellow substitutes Amr El-Sissi and Samson Akinyoola had a couple of shots which narrowly missed the target but Ceramica had another goal by Rayyan chalked off for a tight offside call before the striker missed his side's best chance.
With six minutes remaining, he was picked out unmarked at the far post by an inviting cross but his header went just wide.
Fattouh eased Zamalek's nerves when he made a bold run at the defence and sent a shot with his weak right-foot that wrong-footed the badly positioned keeper.
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