Buccellato

Buccellato is a traditional ring-shaped sweet bread from the Tuscan city of Lucca, often called buccellato di Lucca to distinguish it from other Italian ring cakes that share the name. The name comes from the Latin buccellatum, a small bite or mouthful, and the cake has been baked in Lucca at least since the Middle Ages, when it was carried by pilgrims and soldiers on long journeys because the dried figs and aniseed kept it moist for weeks. Today it remains the signature Christmas sweet of Lucca and is also enjoyed at Easter and at family gatherings throughout the year.

The classic dough is enriched with eggs, butter, and sugar, kneaded until silky, and flavored with a generous amount of aniseed and a little lemon zest. It is rolled out, layered with a filling of dried figs, raisins, candied orange and lemon peel, pine nuts, and sometimes a splash of vin santo or rum, then shaped into a ring and baked until deep golden. The finished buccellato is brushed with a thin sugar glaze and traditionally decorated with a few pine nuts and a dusting of powdered sugar.

The most famous place to buy buccellato is the historic Taddeucci bakery on Via San Paolino in Lucca, which has been baking the cake since 1881 and serves it in thick slices with a glass of vin santo or a small espresso. Look for it in pasticcerie across Lucca and the Versilia, at the December Christmas markets in Lucca, Pietrasanta, and Viareggio, and at Tuscan food fairs such as the Lucca Biedermeier Christmas Market. Outside Italy it appears occasionally in Italian delis in London, New York, and Buenos Aires.