When I travel around Italy I often come across a special cake or pastry particular to the town or city I am in. Sometimes it is only available in that place. In some cases it has become so popular and famous it has travelled further.
One of my favourites is the sfogliatella from Naples. I can’t go to Naples without sampling several of these. Fortunately the sfogliatella is available far and wide.

In Puglia we hunted down the pasticciotto in the town where it began, Galatina. We continued our search for more in different towns in Puglia and were rarely disappointed.

We found Polenta e Osei in Bergamo and had to try several to be sure we liked them. Research can be tough work.

Schiacciata all’uva appears in Florence around Carnevale time. I like to get mine at Caffe Gilli on the edge of Piazza Republica, but they are found around Tuscany.

We went to Guardiagrele in Abruzzo to sample Nun’s breasts.

There was a large sculpture devoted to this delight, but it has been taken away and we had to make do with a smaller one outside the pasticceria where they are made.

Lucca has a special Buccellato which has a slight aniseed flavour. Taddeucci is the place to buy them.

Cantucci, a special type of biscotti, originated in Prato in the Middle Ages, and are now eaten world wide – as they should be.

All these delicious special cakes made me think Bagni di Lucca should have a local cake, only available in our local bars and bakeries.

I made a possible contender. Chestnuts and honey are plentiful in our area so my cakes are made with chestnut purée with marscapone and honey icing on top.

I invite anyone interested to come up with a cake or pastry to represent Bagni di Lucca and maybe we can encourage local bakeries to make them and start a tradition…they have to start somewhere.

Leave a comment or send me an email…debrakolkka@gmail.com if you have a cake suggestion.