Italian Festive Baking

Tis the season for festive baking! Bejewelled with raisins and candied fruit, Pandolce ‘Baciccia’, or Genoa Cake, is a sweet bread often eaten during Ligurian winter feasts. Served by the youngest member of the household but sliced by the oldest, one slice is always donated to the poor. Meanwhile, another slice is kept until San Biagio (February 3), to ask the saint for protection against throat ache.