Nadalin is Verona's older Christmas cake; Flego dates its recipe to 1260, when the Della Scala asked a court pastry chef for a cake, and calls it pandoro's ancestor.

Pasticceria Flego writes that the nadalin recipe goes back to 1260, when the Della Scala, lords of Verona, asked a court pastry chef for a cake that represented their city, and that the pandoro grew out of this leavened cake at the end of the 1800s. Italian Wikipedia gives the same 13th-century origin, says it has no precise shape (often star-shaped, sometimes dome-shaped), lists flour, butter, eggs, sugar, pine nuts and almonds, and notes it received the Comune's De.C.O. certification in 2012.

Where to eat Nadalin in Verona

1 editor pick for Nadalin in Verona, ranked by editorial score. All Verona signature dishes · Nadalin across every city.

  • Pasticceria Flego

    Pasticceria Flego is a Verona pastry shop led by the brothers Marco and Matteo, joining art and technique in modern pastry cakes, at Via Stella 13.

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Make it at home

Serves 228 hrAdvanced

Ingredients

  • 400g 00 flour
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 150g unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 large eggs
  • 20g fresh yeast (or 8g dry yeast)
  • 100ml whole milk, lukewarm
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
  • For the glaze: 1 egg white, 100g icing sugar, 60g whole blanched almonds, 2 tablespoons coarse sugar

Method

  1. Make a yeast starter: dissolve the yeast in milk with 1 tablespoon sugar and 80g flour. Rest 1 hour until bubbly.
  2. Combine the starter with the remaining flour, sugar, 3 eggs, salt and the zests in a stand mixer. Knead 10 minutes until smooth.
  3. Add the softened butter in 4 additions, kneading until each is fully incorporated.
  4. Cover and proof 4 hours at room temperature, or refrigerate overnight.
  5. Shape into a flat 22cm star (use a star-shaped pandoro tin if available, or a 22cm round tin and score the surface into 8 segments).
  6. Proof 2 hours until risen.
  7. Brush with the beaten remaining egg. Beat the egg white with the icing sugar and spread on top. Press in the almonds and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
  8. Bake at 170C for 35 to 40 minutes until deeply golden.
  9. Cool completely before slicing into 8 wedges.

Editor tip. The glaze-and-almond topping distinguishes Nadalin from pandoro; if you don't want it, you've made pandoro instead.

Common allergens: Gluten, Eggs, Dairy, Almond and pine nuts.