The creator of the best panettone in the world has allied with the pastry chef Jon Cake

BarcelonaThe winner of the competition for the best panettone in the world, Ton Cortés, has two new developments: the first is that he has teamed up with pastry chef Jon Cake to create an innovative cheesecake with panettone flavour. And the second is that he has just opened a new bakery in the Sant Andreu neighbourhood (c. Sant Andreu, 232). As soon as you enter, your gaze is drawn to the counter, with all the breads and pastries, and also to the ceiling, from which hang three rows of nine panettones downwards. They are dissected, if the adjective can be used to explain that, on the inside, they are hollow, and only the outer shell remains, brushed with varnish to keep them dry. "Jon Cake has kept the inside, which he uses to create the panettone-flavoured cheesecakes," explains Ton Cortés on a spring afternoon, just a few days after opening the shop. Each slice of the new cake sells for five euros.

Since they opened the new shop in the Sant Andreu neighborhood, Ton Cortés is selling panettone cheesecake, and he assures that as soon as he puts them on the counter, they disappear. Perhaps if he hadn't won the award for the best panettone in the world in 2024, he wouldn't have opened this new bakery today. "I don't know, but it's evident that people know me because of the award, which has given us a lot of visibility, and that's despite winning the Spanish State championship in 2019." This coming autumn, in November, there will be a new competition, and Ton will participate as a judge. As he explains, I notice a large chest of drawers placed in the display window, with the drawers open, from which the loaves of bread emerge. "It's not a kneading trough; it's a fermentation cabinet, which some bakeries still use, because it allows the bread to rest; in each drawer there is a cloth, which helps the baguette maintain its shape."

The breads sold at the Suca'l bakery on Sant Andreu street come from the workshop on Congrés street, where he was able to make the panettones he sold after winning the prize in 2024. "It was a madness; we were making seven hundred kilos of panettone a day; very happy to make them because in 2019, when we won the State prize, we couldn't meet all the demand, we only had the workshop on Rosselló street, and at that time we could only make fifty a day".

The bread loaves, also the star

Today there are panettone shops every day, but as a neighborhood bakery, daily bread is the star. "We make many baguettes, because for breakfast, for sandwiches, to slice for lunch, they are always liked". They are bread baguettes with sourdough, long fermentation. They make rustic ones, white flour, wholemeal, and they make the Colomí baguette, which bears this name because it is the symbol of the Sant Andreu neighborhood.

In the bakery, croissants, cinnamon rolls, cardamom rolls, pesto sauce rolls, sobrassada and goat cheese rolls stand out. "All this diversity is pleasing, because in Catalonia people have a very good palate; it's no coincidence that there are so many incredible restaurants in Catalonia, with Michelin stars and among the best in the world." In about thirty restaurants you can eat his bread, such as at the Pamb delicatessen, where they even use the sugar cake to make sandwiches. "I make the sugar cake to remember the ones that were made before, in the past, and I see that people like it".

can eat their bread, for example at the Pamb delicatessenThe other bakeries that have just opened in Barcelona

Well-made bread is more appealing than ever, and perhaps that's why bakers are opening new workshops in different neighborhoods of Barcelona. Jordi Morera, who comes from the Vilanova i la Geltrú L'Espiga d'Or bakeries, has just opened an establishment inside Illa Diagonal. For their part, Pa de Kilo, known for their establishment in the Raval neighborhood, on Dr. Dou street, have just opened their doors on the street that has become one of the most gastronomic in Gràcia, at number 56 Verdi street.