Simnel Cake is the traditional British fruitcake, often associated with Easter, featuring a layer of marzipan and eleven balls of marzipan on top representing Jesus’s disciples (minus Judas of course)
But it seems the traditional desert is being overtaken by a stylish Italian rival. New data from online supermarket Ocado reveals a significant spike in demand for Colomba cake, with Brits increasingly interested in this Italian Easter bake.
Colomba cake is an Italian Easter cake shaped like a dove and made with a yeasted sweet dough, eggs, and butter, and often studded with candied orange peel.
Searches for ‘colomba cake’ on Ocado.com, the world’s largest online supermarket, have soared 270%in the last month as shoppers stock up ahead of Easter.
Google trends data also reveals how searches for ‘Colomba Cake Easter’ have shot up 100%compared to this time last year.
This isn’t the first time Italian bakery staples have taken centre stage during seasonal events – in recent years both panettone and pandoro have become wildly popular in Britain at Christmas. Google trends data also revealed ‘panettone’ searches soared 53%higher than ‘Fruit cake’ during last December in the UK.
And it’s not just at Christmas, TikTok insight data reveals that searches for ‘how to eat panettone bread’ are up 1000% (1.87k searches) in the past seven days, showcasing a rising trend for Brits embracing stylish Italian baked goods year-round.
In response to this growing popularity, Ocado has expanded its range of colomba cakes this year to cater to customers’ evolving tastes.
The traditional ‘dove-shaped’ Colomba di Pasqua or Colomba Pasquale has been a firm fixture on the Easter calendar in Italy for almost a century.
Its origins date back to the 1930s to Motta, a company in Milan already famous for its Panettone and Pandoro, two classic sweet breads associated with the Christmas season in Italy, according to wantedinrome.com
The Colomba was dreamed up as a way of using the same baking equipment and many of the same ingredients to cash in on the Easter market. The plan worked.
Milanese baker and businessman Angelo Motta commercialised the Colomba, which was marketed successfully by his advertising director Dino Villani.
In the 1940s the recipe was taken up by Angelo Vergani who founded Milan’s Vergani company which still produces colombe today.
The dough for the Colomba is produced in a similar way to Panettone, with flour, eggs, sugar, natural yeast and butter.
After being fashioned into a ‘colomba‘ or dove shape, the dough is topped with icing and almonds before being baked.
Whereas the Panettone contains raisins and mixed candied fruit, Colomba contains only candied orange peel and no raisins, with a sugary almond topping.
There are also differences in form, with the Panettone being dome-shaped and the Colomba in the shape (more or less) of a dove.
These days, the Colomba comes in a variety of versions, with flavours including chocolate, cherry, pear, and the super popular pistachio.
Rachel Glaysher, Buyer for Sweet Bakery at Ocado Retail, describes Colomba cake as “similar in texture to panettone, but lighter, with lovely citrusy notes from candied peel and those crunchy almonds. The Colomba is a great alternative to the traditional British simnel fruitcake for Easter, as it’s rich and buttery but not too sweet, making it just as perfect for breakfast, as an afternoon snack or post-dinner treat.”
She adds, “While simnel cake is still popular with customers, with site searches for ‘colomba’ +53% higher this year, it’s clear that many are interested in exploring other options too and we predict this trend will continue to grow, given the popularity of panetonne at Christmas. We want our customers to have the most sought-after special occasion treats, and that’s why we’ve expanded our selection of colomba cakes.”
