Italian Panettone Cake
The Panettone cake is actually a sweet bread, filled with candied lemon, orange peel, and raisins, and it must be baked in a cylindrical cake pan, which is important because it gives the cake its distinctive character. But a pot with a high rim can also do the trick.
Do you know the traditional Italian Panettone cake?
There are many different versions of this classic Christmas bread. This Panettone recipe yields a beautiful, soft, and pliable dough – almost like a brioche. The Panettone cake is incredibly soft and sweet and filled with Christmas flavors thanks to the many wonderful fruits.
It takes a bit of time to make. Two days including 2 x 8 hours of rising and 45 minutes of baking – but it's all worth it.
Serves: approx. 8-12 people
Ingredients for Panettone cake:
800 g wheat flour
15 g yeast
150 g butter
2 eggs
4 egg whites
400 g sugar
80 g candied fruit, cut into small pieces (orange peel, candied lemon, cherries, candied citron, bitter orange, etc.)
50 g Sultana raisins (preferably soaked in Marsala, rum, or sherry)
25 g vanilla sugar
1 small pinch of salt
60 ml milk
Day 1
Pre-dough:
10 g yeast
2 dl lukewarm water
1 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. buttermilk or other sour milk product
75 g durum wheat flour
75 g wheat flour
Mix yeast and milk. Add salt and a good half of the flour to the milk and knead the dough with a hand mixer or stand mixer. Let it rest in the refrigerator until the next day.
Soak the raisins in water or Marsala, if you want a cake with a bit of "bite" to it.
Day 2
Dough:
3 dl cold water
10 g yeast
1/2 vanilla bean
1 1/2 dl sugar
100 g durum wheat flour
500 g wheat flour
Mix water and yeast. Add the pre-dough and the seeds from the vanilla bean along with sugar and half of both the wheat flour and durum flour. Now let the dough rise for 3-4 hours at room temperature.
After 3-4 hours, stir the melted butter and egg yolk into the dough along with the rest of the wheat flour + durum flour, bitter orange peel, candied citron, and raisins. Knead the dough until smooth and pliable but still soft. Form a ball and place it in a greased pot or other baking pan that is at least 10 cm high. The classic shape for a Panettone cake is a high dome. Let the cake rise for another 3 hours. Turn on the oven and heat it to 200 degrees. Cut a deep cross into the Panettone cake and place it on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake for approx. 20 min. Turn the oven down to 175 degrees and finish baking the cake for another 30-40 min., or until it has a beautiful brown color.
Let it cool upside down, so the raisins and candied fruit do not settle at the bottom. Your homemade panettone cake is now ready to serve.
Panettone, on the other hand, originates from Milan, and legend has it that a baker accidentally let the dough rise for too long, thereby creating the airy and tall sponge cake.
The raisins in Panettone symbolize money, the candied pieces of cider fruit mean health, and the pieces of candied orange bring luck in love…
Wrapped in baking paper with foil around it, panettone stays delicious for at least two weeks.
Buon appetito!
Written by Elisabeth Hjorth
May 2025
