Originally from Verona, the classic Christmas cake Pandoro is inevitably found on the table of Italians during the holidays. Its flavor satisfies the tastes of everyone and is a good alternative to the Panettone, for those who don’t like raisins and candied fruit.
Why is it called Pandoro?
Legend has it that the name came from a cry of amazement from a boy at the sight of this gold-coloured cake! In fact, the Pandoro’s golden yellow colour is due to the eggs used. Light and fluffy like a brioche, it has a mild flavor, scented with vanilla. The shape is that of a truncated pyramid, with an 8-pointed star base.
It is Angelo Dall’Oca Bianca, a painter from Verona, who designed the mould which characterizes this Christmas cake.
The history of Pandoro.
‘Pandoro’, as we know and appreciate it today, is one of the very few desserts whose date of birth can be identified with certainty: the 14th of October, 1894. It was precisely on that day at the end of the century that the Veronese pastry chef Domenico Melegatti filed the patent for his exquisite invention, easily recognizable by its typical truncated cone shape, with an eight-pointed star section.
If all this is indisputable, what continues to elude experts and admirers is the source of inspiration that guided Mr. Domenico.
There are many views on the subject: some, digging into the distant past, claim that the ancestor of the specialty could be a ‘panis’ (‘bread’) with golden reflections dating back to the 1st century AD, made with butter, flour and oil by the cook Vergilius Stephanus Senex and mentioned several times by the famous writer Pliny the Elder.
How to enjoy it?
The main ingredients of Pandoro are: flour, sugar, eggs, butter and yeast. Its preparation is quite demanding: it must rise for more than 10 hours and requires 6-7 rounds of dough…making this “homemade” quite difficult, which is why most people simply buy it.
Unlike the Panettone, the traditional Pandoro is not garnished with candied fruit or cream. However, there have been attempts to vary the classic recipe: there are now custard-filled Pandoro or those covered with a layer of chocolate.
Often, the Pandoro comes with a bag of powdered sugar that can be sprinkled on the cake at the outset, for sweet-lovers.
Calories and nutritional values.
It goes without saying that Pandoro, as great part of the specialties served during the Christmas celebrations, is not exactly ‘dietetic’. Here follows a short list showing the calories and nutritional values per 100g of this delicacy:
- Calories 400kcal (ca.)
- Carbohydrates 26gr (ca.)
- Sugars 24gr (ca.)
- Fats 19gr (ca.)
- Proteins 8gr (ca.)
