Mini Pandoro con Gelato


The big question playing in my brain was how do I keep the kids seated until dessert and interest them in eating their pandoro?  A Christmas or New Year meal is not complete without any of them.  It didn't take enough researching to reach this now common idea to stuff the cakes with gelato or different kinds of cream.

Giving them a mini pandoro each is a waste because I know that they will not finish the whole cake but well, it's New Year.  It's okay to waste just this once as long as they are happy.   But, uhhmmm, I was wrong.  They both ate their cakes and just left some crumbs.

Pandoro is a star-shaped cake, sprinkled with icing sugar on top and eaten in Christmas and New Year in all parts of Italy just like the panettone.  The latter originated in Milan while pandoro came from Verona.  It has a number of possible origins but the most certain is its official birth in 1894 when Domenico Melegatti obtained a patent for a procedure to be applied in producing pandoro industrially. 

While my husband and I were speaking about the pandoro, he vividly remembers the sight of these cakes on the house heaters while they are eating.   It was the best and most economical way to warm them up slightly because they don't fit in microwaves (but then you will kill the pandoro this way!) and it's much more practical than switching on an oven. 



Mini Pandoro con Gelato

Ingredients:
Serves 1
  • 1 mini pandoro
  • about a cup of ice cream
  • cake decors
  • icing sugar
Directions:
  1. Cut the bottom part of the pandoro horizontally, which is the wider part.   Cut the sides of the pandoro with a sharp knife.  Empty with the help of a spoon.  
  2. Fill up the cavity with softened ice cream.  Cover with the pandoro you sliced away.  Freeze for at least a couple of hours.
  3. Before serving, decorate and sprinkle with icing sugar.