Colomba: Easter cake with symbolism

Colomba versus panettone

The two cake recipes are relatively similar. Like panettone, colomba is also baked from a rich yeast dough with eggs and butter. While panettone typically contains raisins, these are not found in Easter cake. Only candied orange peel is traditionally added here. The crowning glory of every Easter colomba is its crispy baked crust made from sugar and almonds.

What definitely sets the Easter cake apart from panettone is its shape: While panettone looks like a huge, round hatbox, the shape of the Easter cake is based on a large flying dove with spread wings.

Easter symbolism

Colomba pasquale means Easter dove in Italian. At Easter time in Italy, the dove symbolizes the sacrifice of Christ, who died on the cross to save mankind. However, there are also many other legends that try to explain the symbol of the dove. One of these interprets the dove as a promise of divine assistance: In 1176, during the Battle of Legnano, two doves are said to have appeared to the Milanese soldiers fighting against Emperor Barbarossa as a sign of victory…

A springtime treat

Before Easter, you can find the colorful cakes packaged in pretty big boxes in bakeries all over Italy. The cake is eaten for breakfast, as a dessert or in the afternoon with a coffee. It is a custom to elaborately decorate home-baked colomba and give them as gifts to relatives, friends and acquaintances.