Barcelona has the best panettone in the world, and now a cheesecake with panettone flavor

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 flavor. And the second is that he has just opened a new bakery in the Sant Andreu neighborhood (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 facing down. They are dissected, if the adjective can be used to explain that, on the inside, they are empty, 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-flavored cheesecakes," explains Ton Cortés one spring afternoon, just a few days after opening the shop. Each slice of the new cake sells for five euros.

Since the new shop opened in the Sant Andreu neighborhood, Ton Cortés is selling panettone cheesecake, and he assures that as soon as they are put 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 clear that people know me for the award, which has given us a lot of exposure, and that's despite us 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. While he explains it, I observe 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 dough proofing box; 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 loaf 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 crazy; 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".

Bread sticks, also the star

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

In the pastry shop, croissants, cinnamon rolls, cardamom rolls, pesto sauce rolls, sobrassada, and goat cheese stand out. "All this diversity is pleasing, because in Catalonia people have a very good palate; it's no coincidence that Catalonia has so many incredible restaurants, with Michelin stars and among the best in the world." In about thirty restaurants you can eat his bread, for example at the Pamb deli, where they even use sugar bread to make sandwiches. "I make the sugar bread to remember the ones that used to be made, in the old days, and I see that people like it".

can eat their bread, for example at the Pamb deliThe 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 within 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.