Ah, it smells so delicious that I could eat all at once!
This is definitely my favourite Christmas cake.
It’s an excellent kind of typical Italian Panettone, enriched with chocolate pieces and candied pears
Proper Panettone is a light, airy, melt-in-the-mouth affair, designed to dissolve on contact with hot coffee.

There are many legends about the origin of this wonderful cake, the name of which might be translated as “Big Bread”;
the one I prefer is the legend of 15th century which credits the invention to the nobleman of Milan falconer Ughetto Atellani, who fell in love with Adalgisa, the daughter of a poor baker named Toni.

To win her over, the nobleman disguised himself as a baker and invented a rich bread to which he added flour and yeast, butter, eggs, dried raisins and candied lemon and orange peel.

The duke of Milan, Ludovico il Moro Sforza (1452-1508), agreed to the marriage, which was held in the presence of Leonardo da Vinci, and encouraged the launch of the new cake-like bread: Pan de Toni (or Toni's bread).