Panettone

The most widely made and eaten of the regionally based Christmas cakes in Italy, panettone or ‘the big bread’ is the tallest and largest cake of all; a result of the lengthy procedure required to make it, including many proving periods. It is a difficult cake to make at home because it involves the mixing of two sets of dough — one made with flour, yeast, butter and sugar that needs to prove for about 10 hours, and the other a mixture of flour, butter, eggs, sugar, salt, cubes of candied citron and orange peel, and raisins, which has to be mixed with the first dough and the whole thing left to prove for another 4 or 5 hours. It is then baked in precise, temperature-controlled ovens, which allow the cakes to mushroom up and gently cook until they are dark brown but not burned, leaving the insides wonderfully fluffy and moist. Like the other traditional Christmas cakes, panettoni are only baked from October until November.