Colomba di Pasqua

Colomba di Pasqua is a traditional Italian Easter yeast cake, shaped like a dove (colomba). This rich, buttery cake is beautifully fragrant with fresh citrus zest and, before baking, is topped with almonds and pearl sugar or finished with an almond glaze. As it bakes, it develops a wonderfully crisp, golden almond and sugar crust. The dove is traditionally a symbol of peace, rebirth and love, with its symbolism rooted in the Bible. Don’t worry if you don’t have a special colomba mould – you can bake it in a springform tin too. It’s a little taste of Italian Easter that’s well worth trying! 🙂

Ingredients for Colomba di Pasqua:

• 20 g fresh yeast or 10 g dried yeast
• 175 ml lukewarm milk
• 480 g plain flour
• 100 g butter, melted and cooled
• 3 large eggs
• 1 egg yolk, from a large egg
• 100 g caster sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed orange
• finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
• 65 g raisins
• 65 g candied orange or lemon peel

Additionally:

• 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water, for brushing
• whole blanched almonds, for decorating
• pearl sugar or icing sugar, for sprinkling

Mix the flour with the dried yeast (if using fresh yeast, first make a yeast starter), add the remaining ingredients (except the dried fruit) and knead, adding the melted butter towards the end. Knead the dough for long enough until it is soft and elastic. Towards the end of kneading, add the dried fruit and knead until evenly distributed. Place the dough in a lightly floured bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1½ hours).

Once risen, remove the dough from the bowl and knead briefly. Prepare a Colomba di Pasqua mould (in the shape of a dove; paper moulds are available online). Place the dough in the mould. Press the almonds into the dough. Cover and leave in a warm place to rise again until doubled in size (the dough should rise to the top of the mould).

Just before baking, brush the colomba with the beaten egg and generously sprinkle with pearl sugar. Bake at 180°C for approximately 25–30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Do not bake for longer than necessary, as the cake will become too dry. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. If you didn’t use pearl sugar, you can dust the colomba with icing sugar once cooled.

Method for bread machine users:

Place all the yeast dough ingredients into the bread machine in the following order: liquid ingredients first, then dry ingredients, and finally the yeast. Select the ‘dough’ programme (kneading and first rise). Remember to add the dried fruit and candied peel when the bread machine beeps. Once the programme has finished, remove the dough, knead it lightly, and continue according to the main recipe above.

Enjoy!