There’s something about Christmas that brings out the European sweet tooth amongst us Brits. Alongside the usual fare of stodgy mince pies, Christmas pudding and fruit cake, around this time of year, supermarkets start stocking German festive treats such as lebkuchen, pfeffernusse and stollen, as well as Italian panettone and its less well-known cousin pandoro.
With a name that means ‘golden bread’, pandoro arose from Verona and became well known in the 18th century before chef later Domenico Melegatti patented a method of mass production. The critical difference between the two cakes is the lack of dried fruit used in pandoro, which makes it more popular among younger people.
Originating in 13th century Milan, panettone is a sweet, light yeasty dome-shaped cake that contains candied fruit and raisins, considered a symbol of good luck and prosperity. Often coming in large shiny jewel-toned boxes, this airy delicacy makes an ideal gift and afternoon snack but doesn’t usually get centrepiece status.
Read more: Aldi and Lidl's sausage roll Christmas centrepieces compared in our taste test
Thanks to its solid shape, pandoro can easily be sliced up to create an attractive tiered cake that’s easy to share. With its eight-pointed star shape traditionally dusted in icing sugar, its appearance is reminiscent of snowy peaks and has a festive feel that makes it perfect for rounding off your Christmas dinner.
While supermarkets often have several flavours of panettone on the shelves, you'll usually just find one type of pandoro. This year, Waitrose is offering a limoncello-flavoured version for £10, while Lidl has a plain version for less than half the price at £4.69.
Both boxes show the cake as tiered, but inside their plastic wrapping, they are solid. The Waitrose box suggests tossing the included sachet of icing sugar in the plastic bag to coat the cake before cutting it into 2-inch thick slices, but this seems like it might inadvertently produce more mess so instead, I set about carefully dividing it up first.
The Waitrose pandoro is shorter but heavier than Lidl, and as I cut, little pockets of limoncello filling appeared, distributed toward either end of the cake. Lidl pandoro has a firmer texture and was easier to split neatly without ruining its shape, meaning it ended up producing a more impressive-looking star stack.
.
Its flavour was delicate and sweet but plain and a little dry, whereas Waitrose’s was much richer and moister, with very subtle hints of tangy lemon. To eat on its own, the Waitrose version, although double the price, is more enjoyable.
However, if you were to layer the cake with cream or mascarpone and fruit, I’d recommend the simpler option from Lidl.
Verdict
In the same way that a plain sponge works best in a tiramisu because it soaks up the other flavours, Lidl’s pandoro is the perfect base for a tired dessert that will look deceptively impressive. Whereas if you decked out Waitrose’s pandoro in the manner shown on the box, it would likely be too sickly to enjoy. But on their own with a cup of strong black coffee, Waitrose's pricey limoncello pandoro just about takes the cake.
Read More:
We cooked an Aldi Christmas dinner but did not find the ingredients as cheap as we expected
The JFC festive Christmas Bucket is a take on KFC with an added dollop of Japanese festive tradition
I tried the famous Yorkshire pudding wrap at Bristol's Christmas Market
'Stylish' new rooftop food and drink bar planned for Bristol harbourside
