Genoese cake pandolce alto 750g

The Genoese Pandolce alto, the quintessential Christmas cake in Genoa, is the traditional, naturally leavened version.

Although many people also know it as panettone, they are not the same thing even though they are both Christmas cakes (although pandolce however is a cake that is also eaten on other holidays and occasions). For example, the tall pandolce is without eggs in the dough and in fact remains lighter and more delicate to the taste while not losing the comparison in gluttony.

What's the difference between pandolce alto and pandolce basso

At the end of the 1800s, given the ever-increasing demand for pandolce, the city's pastry shops and bakeries had to invent a recipe that would reduce processing time and increase production: the type of leavening was then changed, which with the innovations that had been introduced at that time could be done in less time. Thus the low pandolce (pandolce basso) was born.

Yes, although the low pandolce (pandolce basso) has characteristics that make it unique in the panorama of Christmas cakes, the older one is the high one (pandolce alto), produced in Genoa since at least 1500: then, by now, they can both be said to be traditional because the low pandolce (pandolce basso) also has more than a century of history and its success among the Genoese was lightning fast, making it immediately enter the group of typical Genoese specialities.

The quick rise of the low pandolce (pandolce basso) makes it more compact and crumbly, and for some this makes it taste richer; for others, however, the high pandolce (pandolce alto) being more airy is preferred because it is lighter.

The ingredients inside the dough are practically the same (sultanas, candied fruit, pine nuts, etc.), except for the presence of the egg in the low pandolce.