Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Panettone di Casa



No sifting, separating or fussing.  Now thats my kind of baking. This Homemade Panettone is quick and easy to make. With just 6 common pantry ingredients, you can create a mile high spongy panettone even my Italian Nonna would be proud of.

Serve this as an Italian breakfast, with an espresso and some milk or as a decadent after dinner dessert, either way you'll love this delicious cake.

This cake is often sold in stores, at least here in NY during Christmas. The one you typically see has raisins and fruits in it...not my favorite. Then there's Pandoro, which is the panettone cake without the fruits. It's a spongy, soft and fluffy cake with a vanilla taste that's so wonderful. Now you no longer have to wait for the holidays to have fresh panettone.




You need:

9 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1  1/2 cups flour, unsifted
6 ozs vegetable oil
9 teaspoons of baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix really well for at least 10 minutes,  the trick to fluffy panettone is to mix the batter for 10-15 minutes.   Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13 pan and dust with flour.  Pour in batter. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Once cooled, top with powdered sugar.

Notes:
Since ovens vary a bit, toothpick test it at 40 minutes to see if it's ready. If it comes out clean, then it's done regardless of the time remaining.
If using a dark pan, decrease the heat to 375 degrees.
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14 comments:

  1. For those of us with an aversion to all things coffee -- what is an espresso spoon?

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  2. Looks so good! Can't wait to try it. It looks so light and fluffy.

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  3. Would this be self raising flour or plain flour, yum my Italian mother-in-law will love this!

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  4. Looks so beautiful Julia, yes what is the espresso spoon measurements in teaspoons?

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  5. I would love to know the answer to the espresso spoon measurement question too. I love coffee and espresso but I don't have special spoons. :)

    This looks delicious and I would love to make it.
    Thanks!

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  6. Julia... help! I just made this cake - well, partially made - I took it out of the oven at 45 min. because it was burning. If I had left it in the additional 15... well, there would have been firemen involved. Can you please confirm the temperature and time this cake is to bake? I feel like I really wasted the ingredients right now :( HELP! Thank you. dinah.miller@gmail.com

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  7. Hi all, ok I guess you can tell I never measured anything I bake! Espresso spoons are the tiny spoons one uses when drinking espresso. I'm Italian and think everyone else is too. Ok, I measured 9 espresso spoons to be the same as 9 teaspoons, who'da thought!

    It's plain flour, unsifted.

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  8. Dinah, so sorry to hear that. The temp is correct. I know ovens vary a bit. I have 3 ovens in my kitchen and know which runs hot and which runs a little cool, so I adjust accordingly when following a recipe. This recipe should be at 400 degrees, perhaps for a little less time, so long as a toothpick comes out clean. I will add that to the notes. One other item, in a dark pan cakes will cook faster. I've seen that in lots of recipes. Perhaps I shoul add if using a dark pan to reduce the heat by 25 degrees. Tell me, did you taste it, was it done, was it soft inside?

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  9. Hi, Julia- no the cake was not done inside. I have a thermometer in my oven to make sure my temps are correct, but I did have a darker pan. I will try again with a different pan and watch it closely! Thank you for your help.

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  10. Hi Julia - I made this last nite, and it turned our wonderful. We served it with pineapple and strawberries macerated in some rum and sugar, it was phenomenal !! Thank you again for an easy but fabulous recipe.

    Susan

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  11. Yum Susan!! That does sound good!! I m gonna try that myself.

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  12. We just moved to NYC last year, and a friend bought us a Panettone with fruit and raisins for Christmas...I wasn't a big fan of it, but this looks wonderful! Can't wait to make it!

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  13. I made this today, in fact, I just took it out of the oven and it's wonderful...I am from the Lombardy region of Italy where Panettone is king. This is what is known as a pane di spagna..Sponge Cake, not really a true panettone. However, no matter what you call it, it' great. I baked mine in a shiny pan, at 400 for 45 minutes. It's perfect. We had to taste it, so I cut it hot and it was great with just a bit of powdered sugar and I have macerated some strawberries to have it tonight with espresso.

    This makes a fantastic birthday cake, split it, and use a mocha buttercream in the center and top, or buttercream in the center and whipped cream on top.

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  14. Wow! I love the height and ultra sponginess of this cake. You can actually lightly press cake in between hands and cake will bounce back. It is really good. 2 things though. Next time i will add some orange or lemon zest (maybe 2 tsp). Also, it took me 38 minutes at 400 degrees. I thought at some point crust would get too dark. It is rare to see cakes baked at such high temperature son next time i may experiment with 350 degrees and longer baking time of course. I also found that middle shrank a bit while the sides did not. I think the lower temperature may minimize this. This cake has a wonderful texture. Regine

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