Bauducco Panettone with Raisins and Candied Citrus
Manresa Bread’s Triple Chocolate and Candied Orange Panettone
Scoring the most first-place votes was this trendy, baked-in-Los Gatos panettone made by Avery Ruzicka, head baker for Manresa Bread, which supplies bread to the Michelin-starred Manresa restaurant and its three bakeries. Let’s face it: You can’t go wrong with chocolate (it’s Valrhona), even if tasters weren’t sure if this needed more candied orange or less. The dough is not as light as a traditional panettone, but tasters adored the super-crunchy, sugar crystal-flecked dome on this one.
PRICE >> $45 at the new Manresa Bread Cafe in downtown Campbell. Also available at the Los Gatos and Los Altos bakeries and online at ManresaBread.com. (Call bakeries first for availability.) Different types of panettone were put to the taste test recently to see which are worth their candied fruit (and high price tags).
half-Sicilian-American on staff described this luxurious dessert as “like King’s Hawaiian bread with raisins,” so we are stripping him of his Italian card.
PRICE >> $38.99 at La Villa delicatessen in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood
PRICE >> Jose
$24.99 at La Villa deli, San
This budget-priced panettone by an Italian family that immigrated to Brazil — and whose company still bakes there — came in for faint praise. One taster thought it had a “solid, classic taste” and another commented on the “good texture,” but others thought it was “average” and “unremarkable.” However, if you’re new to panettone and not sure you want to spend some bucks, this could be the brand to try.
ALSO RANKING HIGHLY
THEY LOVED IT OR THEY HATED IT
SCORING AT THE BOTTOM